Flywheel is the leading research data platform that provides the tools needed for data import, automated curation, image processing, machine learning workflows, and secure collaboration. By leveraging cloud scalability and automating research workflows, Flywheel helps organizations scale research data and analysis, improve scientific collaboration and accelerate discoveries.
Flywheel offers a comprehensive solution for life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotech, academic, and clinical research. Flywheel is headquartered in Minneapolis and has offices in the Bay Area, Washington DC, and Budapest.
Flywheel is a data management platform for medical research and collaboration.
TEAM
Jim Olson
CEO
Jim Olson is CEO of Flywheel, a biomedical research informatics platform leveraging the power of cloud-scale computing infrastructure to address the increasing complexity of modern computational science and machine learning. Jim is a “builder” at his core. His passion is developing teams and growing companies. Jim has over 35 years of leadership experience in technology, digital product development, business strategy, high growth companies, and healthcare at both large and startup companies, including West Publishing, now Thomson Reuters, Iconoculture, Livio Health Group and Stella/Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota.
Travis Richardson
PRESIDENT & CPO
Travis Richardson is President & Chief Product Officer of Flywheel. He brings over 25 years of executive leadership experience in product development, strategy, and innovation at both large and small companies including Schneider Electric, Oracle, cloud information service provider, DTN, and Minneapolis-based White Pine Consulting Group. Travis’ career has primarily focused on his passion for data management, data quality, and application interoperability to provide real-world solutions in industries including telecommunications, energy, and supply-chain. He is particularly excited to be leveraging his data management and analytics experience to enable a new generation of innovative solutions for healthcare with enormous potential to accelerate scientific discovery and advance precision care.
Gunnar Schaefer
CO-FOUNDER & CTO
Gunnar Schaefer is Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Flywheel. He has over 10 years of experience working in scientific and computational environments. Prior to Flywheel, Gunnar was Chief Software Engineer at Stanford University’s Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Imaging, a neuroscience-focussed MRI research facility. A central part of his work there was the development of the scientific data management system that has become the foundation of Flywheel. Previously, he worked on wireless sensor networks for environmental monitoring in the Swiss Alps. Gunnar holds a Master of Computer Engineering degree from the University of Kiel in northern Germany. Gunnar thrives on applying his computer engineering know-how to facilitate and accelerate academic and clinical research. In particular, he enjoys using his extensive experience in computer programming, modern web technologies, and distributed and scalable systems design to enable large-scale data management and highly-scalable computing.
Sarah Fazio
COO
Sarah brings more than 10 years of strategic leadership in operations, HR, and insights research from a string of companies linked through acquisition—Iconoculture, CEB, Gartner, and SHL. High-growth, interdependence, and flexibility were key themes as she consistently focused on elevating performance and profits. Sarah holds an MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Sarah is excited to support scientific discovery through technology and orchestrate Flywheel’s expansion beyond the development stage. She enjoys drawing on her experience in strategy and research-driven decision making to optimize operations and empower the best in software talent, all while navigating changes in the healthcare industry.