Synergis Education has hired Tom McNamara as president of workforce development.
In this role, McNamara will 
connect the company’s higher education partners with health care providers who are essential to the training of the next generation of nurses.
“Tom’s position and his ability to develop these key clinical relationships is a game-changer for Synergis and our institutional partners,” said Synergis Chief Executive Officer Norm Allgood. “The establishment of this division has the potential to completely transform the nursing workforce of the future and will result in the immediate employment of graduates from the programs we have helped deliver.”
With numerous headwinds facing the nursing profession, including rising retirement rates, an aging workforce, a lack of nursing educators and an overall shortage of registered nurses, McNamara’s hiring comes at a critical juncture. “We have got to find a way to scale up rapidly and graduate and train double the number of nurses than we are currently,” McNamara said. “Synergis is perfectly positioned to be the connector between the health care providers and the education providers, and to lead the charge in reimagining health care education in a way that utilizes best-in-class technologies and provides a wonderful experience for students, faculty, and the hospitals and patients who will ultimately benefit.”
As a first-generation college graduate, McNamara has experienced the transformative power of higher education and is personally committed to student outcomes. Throughout his career he has founded, nurtured and grown organizations focused on unlocking student potential and was formerly the chief operating officer of West Coast University and president of American Career College, collectively the largest nursing schools in California.
McNamara brings more than 20 years of experience in the postsecondary education and edtech sectors to Synergis. Prior to joining the company, he was founder and CEO of Nuro Retention, a predictive analytics and student retention software company with the mission of improving student graduation rates at U.S. colleges and universities. He currently serves on the board of ThinkCERCA, and is chairman of the board at Nuro Retention. He has also served on a number of college and community boards, including the Saint Francis Medical Center Foundation in Lynwood, Calif., and the board of trustees for Columbia College Hollywood in Los Angeles.
The son of a fisherman, McNamara grew up on the west coast of Ireland. He holds a Master of Business degree from Dublin City University and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. He worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers for several years in Ireland before moving to America in 1998.