A seat at the table | Businessman and health care leader Donato Tramuto tasked with two high-profile assignments
Photo/Jackie Farwell
Donato Tramuto, an Ogunquit businessman, joins Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others on the Leadership Council of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
Donato Tramuto looks forward to the day when he can walk up to Bill Clinton and seek the former president’s insights on the challenges of doing business in America. Thanks to two recent appointments the Ogunquit businessman has garnered, the scenario’s not all that unlikely and could impact businesses here in Maine.
Tramuto, CEO of Physicians Interactive Holdings, a health care technology company headquartered in New York, and an investor in several Ogunquit businesses, was recently chosen to serve on the Leadership Council of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. He’s in good company — the council also counts Archbishop Desmond Tutu as a member and Bill Clinton among its representatives. Whatever wisdom Tramuto manages to glean from Clinton will surely make its way back to Maine, where Tramuto has just been named to the Maine Economic Growth Council, a 19-member panel that produces the annual “Measures of Growth” report on the state’s economy.
Robert Kennedy’s vision for justice and human rights across the world has inspired Tramuto since he was a child. “It’s important to balance your life by giving back, and I think Senator Kennedy certainly demonstrated that,” he says. Kerry Kennedy, RFK’s daughter, approached Tramuto about joining the council as a result of his company’s work helping doctors in Haiti, he says.
Following the devastating January earthquake, doctors in Haiti had no access to medical information, including the latest drug safety alerts, drug dosage manuals and scholarly journals. So Tramuto equipped physicians there with his company’s mobile technology, providing instant access to that information via smart phone. So a doctor could, for example, punch in a patient’s height and weight and learn the correct dosage of an IV antibiotic.
Among Tramuto’s other philanthropic efforts is heading up a scholarship and mentoring foundation that has, alongside other contributions, helped 25 students attend college and assisted three families affected by Hurricane Katrina. Tramuto founded the organization in 2001 after two of his friends and their 3-year-old son were killed aboard the second plane to hit the World Trade Center towers — a flight Tramuto was scheduled to join them on until he changed plans at the last minute. “Business people have a unique opportunity and platform to help others succeed and realize their dreams,” he says.
The success of Maine’s economy will also be on his mind as he joins the nonpartisan Maine Economic Growth Council in mid-January. With many predicting that state governments will comprise the next big financial crisis, devising a long-term economic growth plan for the state is crucial, he says. “We’re not immune to some of these issues.”
Job growth tops his list of priorities, says Tramuto, who oversees 300 employees as CEO of Physicians Holdings Interactive, plus another 100 full- and part-time workers as owner of two Ogunquit restaurants, Caffé Prego and Five-O. A proponent of regionalization, due in no small part to his experience as chair of Ogunquit’s Board of Selectmen, Tramuto sees the state’s unfriendly tax structure as a serious impediment to future growth.
He’d love to expand Caffé Prego or even open a Physicians Interactive office in Portland — the company’s five offices include Marlborough, Mass., and Mumbai, India — but the regulatory structure makes such a move difficult and costly, he says. “How do we address that challenge so we are inviting to entrepreneurial talent?” he asks.
Perhaps Bill Clinton will have some suggestions.
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