The Nashville Entrepreneur Center named local health care entrepreneur Michael Brody-Waite as its new chief executive officer.

Brody-Waite emerged as a startup leader after co-founding InQuicker.com, a Nashville company that reduces patient wait times through online scheduling. He led the company as CEO until it sold to a publicly traded company last year.

Nashville Entrepreneur Center Chairman John Ingram and Beth Chase, chairwoman-elect, led the search committee for the role and interviewed candidates from outside of Nashville, as well as locals.

“Going into this process, I did not know Michael, but he impressed me not only with his business success but also with his character and his thoughts about the future of the EC,” Ingram said in a prepared statement.

Brody-Waite will be the third CEO hired since the nonprofit was created in 2010 as a resource for Nashville entrepreneurs and startups. Sam Lingo, president of the nonprofit, has served as acting CEO after Stuart McWhorter stepped down in April to lead local investment firm Clayton Associates.

“It's a unique opportunity to be able to inherit an organization that is already succeeding and being effective,” Brody-Waite said in a statement. “I see my role as a facilitator — to make it an excellent place to work, to preserve and enhance a world-class culture based on giving back and to help other people achieve their dreams."

Brody-Waite, who previously worked for Dell, accessed mentors at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center while building InQuicker. Before selling the company to Stericycle Inc. in Illinois, Brody-Waite and his team had provided InQuicker services to more than 100 health systems in more than 30 states. 

The Entrepreneur Center includes 750 members and a network of more than 250 mentors and service providers. Under McWhorter the Entrepreneur Center added several new accelerators — for those in the publishing sector, health care and veteran-owned companies. Project Music, a program for music tech startups, was launched in 2014.

"He is a proven entrepreneur, he built his company, had success, made money for himself and investors," said Vic Gatto, Nashville investor and Jumpstart Foundry CEO. "He knows health care but has a tech background too. ... He will be credible with the young entrepreneurs." 

Brody-Waite has been a mentor to companies working out of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center and more recently he joined the advisory board of Project Healthcare, the new health care accelerator. Heather McBee, director of the nonprofit's accelerators, said his ongoing involvement and background in health care startups will benefit the program.

"I'm glad to have someone who has been a startup operator in the role," McBee said. "That's who we are here to serve."