Matt Collins, Sales Director

Our mission at Protenus is to advance the science of healthcare by bringing together creative and skilled individuals who are passionate about the security, usability, and applicability of health data. As this information becomes more voluminous, comprehensive, and, as a consequence, more vulnerable, we are building scalable, insightful solutions that address critical issues preventing the efficient, safe, and effective delivery of patient care. 

Our team is comprised of a diverse group of people who come together to achieve this shared mission. To give a glimpse into our culture and highlight the diversity of our team, we’ve asked Matt Collins, Sales Director, to share more about his experience working at Protenus.

What’s your role at Protenus, and what do you do?

I serve as a Sales Director on the Protenus Sales team. I primarily focus on creating new partnerships with health systems within the Great Lakes Region. I have been working with the team for about a year. 

What did you do before coming to Protenus? 

Before coming to Protenus, I was working for a national physician practice organization, and prior to that, I spent several years in the healthcare diagnostics industry selling tests to hospital laboratories.  

What initially attracted you to Protenus?

I was attracted by a few things.  First, the combination of AI and Healthcare has always intrigued me. The more I learn about the industry, the more I realize it has the potential to positively reshape healthcare in America in the way that few other technologies have been able to do.  The second attraction was that the company is based in Baltimore, for which I have a soft place in my heart. I lived there for 5 years prior to moving to DC, and, just like AI, I think the city has a ton of potential. With the established healthcare expertise of Johns Hopkins downtown and the trove of cybersecurity experience throughout Maryland, I believe that Baltimore is very well-positioned in the space to help the company pull some of the best talent available.  Finally, the awards the company had been winning, like Best Places to Work in Baltimore and Best Places to Work in healthcare, was a major indicator that this was a place I wanted to be.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

My favorite part of the job is getting to see the lightbulb moment when I tell potential customers about our platform. For many compliance officers, they are either new to the idea of AI in healthcare compliance or have only heard about it at conferences and still have a lot of questions about how it will impact their teams and organization. Every day, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to shed some light on this evolving technology and  witness as people have their  “Ah-ha” moment about the potential that AI has to positively impact the challenges they face everyday at work.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned since starting at Protenus?

The most important thing I’ve learned (so far) is to embrace the entrepreneurial mindset.  So much of what our team is doing falls outside of the typical context of “salesperson” or “customer success” because everyone is involved in the success of the company in its entirety. We are all responsible for its mission, growth, inclusiveness, and drive. After having worked at very large companies in the past, I very purposefully sought out this type of mindset, and Protenus is a prime example of what growing team can accomplish when we all work together.

How has working at Protenus impacted your career?

As a result of working here, I’ve had the opportunity to work with training, interviewing, marketing, events, public speaking, legal, people operations, software development... pretty much everyone at the company at some point.  This has helped me understand the inner workings of other departments while building a more comprehensive knowledge of how everything fits together. This hasn’t always been possible in my previous jobs where employees were much more siloed and told to “stay in their lane”.  While we each have an important job to do here, collaboration is encouraged so that we can constantly solve the creative and challenging issues our clients face.

What has surprised you the most about working at Protenus? 

I have never met people with more on-point GIF references in my life. I have to step up my game!

In 10 words or less, how would you describe the culture at Protenus? 

Striding purposefully and collaboratively towards growth.  

We are growing! View our Careers page, if you’d like to see current job opportunities at Protenus.