Now a highly successful entrepreneur, angel investor, philanthropist, author and public speaker with an honorary Ph.D., Amy Rees Anderson entered the business world as a 23-year-old newly single mom who had dropped out of Brigham Young University to raise her two young kids.
Anderson’s path to entrepreneurship was born out of necessity. She had to provide for her children and knew she wanted an (at the time) unconventional work environment in which she could watch her kids and work. So she started her own business — a reseller of healthcare software — and worked with her kids at their Fisher-Price desks beside her.
“I learned everything about business just by doing business. That and Google,” she says.
After working as a reseller, Anderson realized that she had a knack for software and could solve issues she found in the software her company was selling. So, she raised money to develop her own software. She then pivoted to physician practice management, then to electronic records, then to normalization of records, then to data analytics — each venture building on the last — until she launched MediConnect Global.
During her time as founder and CEO of MediConnect, Anderson led the company to become one of the largest cloud-based health information exchanges. She also started blogging to connect with her employees, writing real, vulnerable posts every work day without missing a day for ten years. In 2019, she published many of those posts in her book, “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life.”
In 2012, Verisk Analytics acquired MediConnect for over $377 million. After selling her company, Anderson spent more time with her children — who were almost grown — and founded REES Capital, an angel investing firm.
Anderson’s motto, “Do what is right. Let the consequence follow,” led her to found the In Pursuit of Perfection (IPOP) Foundation, a charity with a mission to promote entrepreneurship as a path to self-reliance — just like it was for Anderson. She chose the name as a reflection of her belief that no one is going to be perfect, but everyone can be a little better than they were yesterday and learn from failure.
In 2018, she launched the Amy Rees Anderson Academic Entrepreneur’s Program in partnership with the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. Anderson also serves on numerous boards as a way to give back, including BYU Founders, the University of Utah Center for Medical Innovation, and the USU Center for Growth and Opportunity.
Anderson has received many prestigious awards, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and Utah Business’ CEO of the Year. She was one of the first women to be BYU’s Entrepreneur of the Year. She has also been featured in Inc. magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek and many other national business publications.
But the achievement she is proudest of is being a mom to her two kids, Dalton and Ashley, and “Glam-ma” to her six grandkids.
“I look at (my kids), and I’m in awe of who they are. They’ve outperformed their mother. Every day, I’m so proud of them. Motherhood is the most fulfilling, most important work,” she says. To Main Page