He isn't the face on the magazine covers. That's usually Judy Faulkner, the billionaire founder of Epic Systems who famously wears costumes to company meetings and keeps the software giant fiercely private. But if Judy is the "Vision Master" of the electronic health record (EHR) world, Carl Dvorak has spent nearly four decades acting as the "Execution Master."
Think about the last time you went to a doctor. If they used a computer to look up your labs, there is a better than 50% chance they were clicking through a system Carl helped build. He started at Epic in 1987. Back then, the company was a scrappy outfit in a Madison basement. Now, it's a behemoth in Verona, Wisconsin, controlling the medical records of hundreds of millions of people.
Honestly, it’s rare for a tech executive to stay at one company for 38 years. You’ve got the job-hoppers in Silicon Valley who bail after two years for a better vesting schedule. Not Carl. He climbed from developer to President, effectively becoming the second-in-command.
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The Architect Behind the "Epic" Growth
Carl Dvorak didn't just manage people; he wrote the code. He was the original developer for several of Epic’s core applications. When you hear critics talk about how "clunky" or "walled off" EHRs are, Carl is usually the guy who steps up to the microphone to defend the architecture.
There’s a famous story—well, famous if you’re a healthcare IT nerd—about how Epic landed the massive Kaiser Permanente contract in the early 2000s. It was a "make or break" moment. While their competitor Cerner was arguably more polished in their sales pitch, Carl reportedly stayed up all night modeling Kaiser’s actual data in Excel. He wanted to prove that Epic’s architecture could handle the sheer scale of a multi-state health system.
It worked.
Kaiser signed on, and the rest of the industry followed like dominoes.
Why the "Walled Garden" Narrative Bothers Him
If you sit Carl down for an interview, he’ll probably tell you that the idea of Epic being a "closed system" is total nonsense. He’s been a vocal advocate for standards like HL7 and the Argonaut Project.
He once said at a HIMSS conference that EHRs aren't "walled off"—they're just hard. Healthcare data is messy. A surgeon needs different info than a physical therapist. Carl’s philosophy has always been about "relevance." He’s pushed for the system to use AI to figure out what a doctor actually needs to see so they aren't drowning in 500 pages of notes.
The 2024 Controversy: That Delta Flight
You can't talk about Carl Dvorak today without addressing the elephant in the room: the November 2024 airplane incident. It was a bizarre moment for a man known for being a buttoned-up, media-averse executive.
Basically, Carl was on a Delta flight from Detroit to Madison. According to police reports and bodycam footage that went viral on Reddit and YouTube, he appeared heavily intoxicated. He allegedly refused to leave the plane, telling flight attendants, "You'll have to drag me off."
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It got ugly.
The entire plane had to be deplaned so police could remove him in handcuffs. At one point, he reportedly asked officers, "Do you know who I am?"—the classic line of someone having a very bad day.
He eventually issued an apology, calling his behavior "inappropriate." It was a rare crack in the carefully maintained corporate image of Epic leadership.
Transitioning and the "Retirement" Question
Starting around late 2023, rumors began swirling that Carl was stepping back. Reports from industry insiders like HIStalk suggested he was moving into a "semi-retired" state, keeping his seat on the board of directors but handing over the day-to-day grind of running a 10,000-plus person company.
Is he actually gone? Not really.
Epic doesn't really do "retirement" in the traditional sense. Long-timers often stick around in advisory roles. But the leadership structure has definitely shifted. While Judy Faulkner remains at the helm, other names like Sumit Rana and Stirling Martin have stepped into the spotlight more frequently.
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Where Epic Stands in 2026
We are now in 2026, and the landscape is shifting. The "Pilot Era" of AI in healthcare is over. Epic is no longer just a place to store data; it's a place that predicts things.
- Sepsis Prediction: The models Carl helped oversee now alert nurses to patient deterioration before the human eye can see the signs.
- Genomics: They are integrating DNA data directly into the workflow.
- Interoperability: Despite the old "walled garden" claims, Epic now facilitates millions of data exchanges every day through their "Care Everywhere" platform.
What You Can Learn From Carl Dvorak’s Career
If you're looking at Carl’s trajectory for career advice, it’s a masterclass in "depth over breadth." In an era of "quiet quitting" and "job hopping," there is something to be said for becoming the absolute master of a single domain.
- Technical Roots Matter: Even as President, Carl could talk shop with the youngest developers. He understood the "plumbing" of the software, which gave him more credibility than a CEO who just has an MBA.
- Execution is Everything: Strategies are cheap. Shipping software that doesn't crash when a hospital is at 100% capacity is hard. Carl focused on the "how," not just the "what."
- Reputation is Fragile: Decades of hard work and technical brilliance can be overshadowed in a single afternoon by a viral video. It’s a reminder that leadership doesn't stop when you leave the office.
How to Stay Updated on Epic Systems
If you want to track where Carl or Epic goes next, keep an eye on the UGM (Users Group Meeting) held every year in Verona. It’s the "Apple Keynote" of the medical world.
Whether he’s on stage or in the back of the room, Carl Dvorak’s fingerprints are all over the software that holds your medical history. He helped build the world’s most powerful—and controversial—health IT company from the ground up.
Next Steps for Healthcare IT Pros:
- Review the latest HL7 FHIR standards to understand how Epic is opening up its API.
- Check the HITRUST board updates, as Carl has been a longtime contributor to their security frameworks.
- Monitor Epic’s "App Orchard" (now the Connection Hub) to see how third-party developers are finally getting "inside the walls."