Health care IT firm nabs new exec

SARASOTA — Kenda West, a former IT executive with Johns Hopkins Medicine, was named chief operating officer at Voalte, a mobile health care firm that started in 2009 and now has more than 100 employees.

West will oversee operations and finance and support the executive staff at Sarasota-based Voalte, which stands for voice, alarm and text. Voalte developed technology that allows nurses and hospital employees to communicate with each other over smartphones. The firm doesn't disclose revenues, though in previous interviews executives have said annual sales exceed $10 million.

West has more than three decades of IT and business development experience in the health care industry. She was most recently the chief information officer for the community division at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. She has also worked in executive positions at MedStar Health in Washington, D.C., and Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Md., in addition to consulting and leadership roles at McKesson and Booz Allen & Hamilton.