Glen Tullman: Life after Allscripts
By Shia Kapos April 15, 2013
Glen Tullman says the inspiration for his latest venture began after his oldest son invited him to a glassblowing demonstration.
After a short stint at Kendall College, Ben Tullman, 25, wanted to sculpt high-end vases in 2,600-degree kilns.
“People say, 'It's nice that you're so accepting of your son's decision not to attend college.' I say, 'You come to a point where you say whatever makes your kids happy makes you happy,' “ the former CEO of Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. in Chicago says.
Mr. Tullman was blown away by the artistry. “I was amazed. It was performance art. Stretching the glass, and the colors in front of the fire. I thought it was a shame that more people couldn't be exposed to it,” Mr. Tullman, 54, says, standing by kilns at Ignite Glass Studios, a 20,000-square-foot, $5 million glassblowing facility he built on the city's West Side.
It is just one of the ventures he is pursuing since leaving Chicago-based Allscripts, an electronic health-records company that grew from $30 million in revenue in 1997 to $1.45 billion last year, when he stepped down after he was unable to take the firm private.
“It remains a great company, and Paul Black (the new CEO) is a great guy,” Mr. Tullman says. “When you evaluate spending 15 years anywhere, there are things that you may have done differently.”
He calls Allscripts' controversial merger with Eclipsys Corp. in 2010 “very important strategically to position the company where it is today,” but with hindsight, he acknowledges some missteps.
“I would have moved faster in integrating Eclipsys. And I would have pushed more aggressively into interoperability, connectivity and care-coordination areas,” Mr. Tullman says.
He's most proud of the Allscripts technology that allows patients to communicate with physicians on a secure social network.
Of his departure, he says, “I think it was the right time to go off and focus on what I do best, which is the innovation part of building great new companies. That's my interest. It's hard to do that in a multibillion-dollar, publicly traded company focused on quarter-to-quarter earnings.”
Like his brother, Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy CEO Howard Tullman, Mr. Tullman is known to set up 5 a.m. breakfast meetings so he can fit everything into his day.
He is executive chairman of Argo Tea Inc. and chairman of SoCore Energy LLC, a solar power development. He's behind Digedu.co, which makes a tablet used in some Chicago Public Schools classrooms. And he's on the International Board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which he joined when his niece was found to have the disease. Later, his youngest son also would be diagnosed.
Glen Tullman (left) and son Ben Tullman
Mr. Tullman's 7 Wire Ventures invests in companies that deliver health information through phone or computer.
“We're working with innovators like Lightbank and others, hoping to refocus health care on patients first and how do we use technology, mobile phones and connectivity to allow you to look at health care the way you look at every other transaction you have.”
He's also busy with the glassblowing studio, which has a staff of more than a dozen, including seven full-time artisans who produce work for collectors and companies nationwide. His son is creative director.
Mr. Tullman also rents the building for private events, educational gatherings and charity fundraisers.
Corporations have signed up for glassblowing classes as team-building exercises. A Groupon deal prompted more than 700 people to sign up for lessons.
Watching his son at work, Mr. Tullman says, “There's a certain amount of trust in holding something that's a few thousand degrees. There's heat and there's feeling. Very little we do today allows that experience. It's a life-changer for some people.”
