Russel Hicks
President

Russel Hicks is president and co-founder of Martin, Fletcher. He oversees company operations, corporate strategy and new business development. With the addition of a Locum Tenens division in 2008, he has added direct oversight for the growth and viability of the new service line.

In 1999 Hicks and his partner, John Buffa, Martin, Fletcher's CEO, saw a market need for a streamlined and technologically advanced approach to healthcare recruiting. Pulling from the combined knowledge of more than 24 years experience in healthcare recruiting, the two college classmates have succeeded in re-engineering the process and culture of the typical healthcare staffing firm through the founding and sustained growth of Martin, Fletcher.

Over the past nine years, the company has grown from five employees to more than 180. Hicks' leadership and vision has resulted in Martin, Fletcher's recognition as: the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year; a top 25 company in The Dallas 100; a finalist in the Dallas Financial Association's Business Ethics Award; and a Best Company to Work for in Texas.

Prior to Martin, Fletcher, Hicks served in various roles from recruiter to vice president at one of the largest medical staffing companies in the nation. While there, he was named one of the youngest vice presidents in the history of the company.

Hicks is credited with the development of the Physician Compensation Survey, published in Modern Healthcare, recognized as an industry gauge of healthcare salaries and trends in the market. He continues to provide his insight as an industry leader through his appointment as a DNP Advisory Council Member for Texas Woman's University College of Nursing, a leading educator for the nursing profession. He is also a member of the Dallas Business Journal's 40 under 40, class of 2006 and a member of the American Staffing Association.

Recognized for his leadership and innovation, Hicks provides expert insight on a variety of topics from entrepreneurial endeavors and executive level management to healthcare industry trends. Specifically, corporate culture design and implementation, business development, physician compensation and staffing, locum tenens trends and C-suite issues are among key topics.

He earned his bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University and lives in Flower Mound, Texas with his wife and three children.

John Buffa
Chief Executive Officer

As CEO and co-founder of Martin, Fletcher, John Buffa has helped establish the company as one of the premier healthcare staffing firms in the nation. He oversees company operations, including the finance department and the marketing and recruiting divisions. He is responsible for new business development and corporate strategy and vision including the development of strategic recruiting and marketing methodologies for the company.

Buffa is an industry expert on multiple facets of healthcare and business development. He lead the development of the Nursing and Allied Healthcare Compensation Survey that is now widely published and has become a valued resource for a number of industry associations, organization and media outlets.

He is frequently called on as a resource for issues ranging from medical staffing to leadership and staff development. Many leading news organization and trade publications have relied on his insight for: the optimal utilization of nurse practitioners and physician assistants; recruiting and retaining top healthcare talent; compensation and benefits.

His innovative approach to coaching and mentoring the next generation of business leaders is also an area he has addressed in peer leadership forums. He attributes the sustained success of Martin, Fletcher to the ability to cultivate young employees into the role of company leaders.

In 1999 Buffa and his partner, Russel Hicks, Martin, Fletcher's president, saw a need in the market for a higher quality and more comprehensive approach to healthcare recruiting. Pulling from the combined knowledge of more than 24 years experience in the healthcare recruiting industry, the two college classmates have succeeded in re-engineering the recruitment process and level of service seen in the typical healthcare staffing firm.

Prior to Martin, Fletcher, Buffa spent the majority of his career at one of the largest medical staffing companies in the nation serving as vice president of the Allied Health Division. Before entering the healthcare recruiting industry, Buffa was a commodities trader for Mistral Trade (MTC), where he was promoted to vice president at the age of 22.

Buffa is a supporter of the American Diabetes Association and juvenile diabetes education and research. He lives in Flower Mound, Texas with his wife and three children.

Gabriel Heckt
Executive Vice President, Permanent Placement Division

As executive vice president Gabriel Heckt is responsible for operations of Martin Fletcher’s Permanent Placement Division. He oversees both marketing and recruiting divisions covering three product lines: physician, allied health, and nursing. He plays a vital role in the strategic direction of company recruitment efforts, leadership development, achieving company objectives and success through training, personnel development and forecasting recruitment trends.

Heckt has been with Martin, Fletcher for nine years when he began as an account manager. He quickly moved into a senior and subsequently a director role in 2002. He was promoted to divisional director in 2003, vice president in 2005, and executive vice president in 2008.

He is a noted opinion leader on healthcare staffing trends and issues. His oversight and monitoring of three recruitment divisions, along with screening thousands of healthcare job seekers monthly, produces information and statistics that support the writing of two industry-recognized compensation and benefit reports. One report focusing on nursing and allied health professionals and a second focusing on physicians.

Heckt has been quoted in leading publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Modern Healthcare and MGMA Connexion discussing a variety of issues from the impact of natural disasters on communities' ability to hire healthcare professionals, to compensation and the impact work-life balance has on physician recruitment practices. He also identifies the effect legislation, such as Tort reforms and mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios, has on recruitment and retention patterns.

Heckt is a member of the National Association of Physician Recruiters and the Medical Group Management Association. Prior to Martin Fletcher Heckt was a Sales Representative and Account Manager at Dell Computer Corporation where he earned the coveted Rookie of the Year Award while exceeding sales quotas.

He has a bachelor's degree in business administration and management from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. He lives in Grapevine, Texas with his wife and three children

Richard M. Horst
Chief Financial Officer

Richard M. Horst, CPA, is the Chief Financial Officer for Martin, Fletcher. As CFO, he plays an integral role in directing the company's finances and financial reporting as well as overseeing the audit processes, corporate taxes and developing a finance team to meet organizational goals. He assists management decisions by providing timely data analysis and forecasting trends to the company's leadership team and board of directors.

As a member of the Martin, Fletcher team, Horst brings more than 27 years of accounting and financial management experience in the areas of strategic business planning, business expansion and acquisitions, cash management, designing financial reporting systems and regulatory reporting.

He has had financial oversight of companies in a diverse set of industries ranging from banking and finance, mortgage banking, deregulated natural gas distribution and health care. His specialty has been in SEC regulated industries where he has improved the procedures, content and timing of internal and external financial reporting information.

Horst's tenure with Martin, Fletcher, began in 2007 and has coincided with a time of expansion for the organization with the addition of a new division and continued financial and production growth.

He is a graduate of Michigan State University and is a Certified Public Accountant. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA).

Horst is an avid hockey player and is a member of two teams in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He lives in Frisco, TX and has one adult daughter who currently attends medical school.

Fabiana Gower
Vice President, Information Systems

Fabi Gower is the vice president of Information Systems at Martin, Fletcher. She is responsible for managing and directing the voice and data networks. This includes planning, developing, and implementing enterprise information systems to support both distributed and centralized business operations. In order to achieve the most effective and efficient IT systems, Gower additionally:

• Provides strategic and tactical planning, development, evaluation, and coordination of the information and technology systems for the health care recruiting and staffing network.
• Facilitates communication between staff, management, vendors, and other technology resources within the organization.
• Oversees the back office computer operations of the management information system, including local area networks and remote access.
• Responsible for the management of multiple information and communications systems and projects, including voice, data, imaging, and office automation.
• Designs, implements, and evaluates the systems that support end users in the productive use of computer hardware and software.
• Develops and implements user-training programs.
• Oversees and evaluates system security and back up procedures.
• Supervises the Network Administrator.

A graduate of Tarleton State University with a master’s degree in information systems, Gower has 25 years experience in the IT industry; the last 10 of these involving system management. This gives her a unique perspective in providing resources that enable and align with business strategy.

Gower enjoys spending time outdoors with her family, volunteering at a local children’s home, and teaching computer science classes at the local junior college.

Jeff Files
Vice President, Martin Fletcher Locums

Jeff Files has helped establish the Locums division as the fastest growing locums agency in the marketplace. He was able to take a start-up division and build it on the core values of the Martin, Fletcher brand.

Files serves as the key liaison for hospitals, clinics and healthcare facilities nationwide that need additional physician support. He leads a team focused on providing clients with an unparalleled service and support in meeting their interim physician staffing needs.

He started with Martin, Fletcher in March 2007 with the permanent division marketing team and was able to get promoted quickly to Territory Manager of the Northeast. He was in charge of managing the staffing services of physician, allied, and nursing searches for New York and all the New England States.

While working with the permanent division, he was approached by Russel Hicks with a great opportunity to be a part of a new start up team at the end of 2007. Jeff accepted this offer and became the first employee of Martin Fletcher Locums. His 6 years in business-to-business sales within the healthcare industry has allowed him to make an immediate impact with clients nationwide. His team since starting in December of 2007 has grown business development rapidly and has now secured numerous clients in all 50 states.

He was promoted to Vice President in 2009 with Cory Kreig where they work closely together to ensure that they continue to be the best Locums agency around. Files is a member of National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations (NALTO) where he works directly with other healthcare staffing executives to give recent market trends analysis and helps to maintain the code of ethics within our staffing agencies.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Corporate Communications from the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C. where he was captain of the men’s soccer team. He lives in Frisco, TX with his wife Christen and is actively involved with Fellowship Church.