Richard Close has been a Senior Research Analyst for nearly 20 years and has been covering the healthcare technology and services sector for more than ten years. Prior to joining Canaccord Genuity, he was Managing Director at Avondale Partners from 2011 through 2015 and at Jefferies from 2003 through 2010. Prior to covering healthcare, he published research on the business services and education technology sectors while at Jefferies and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. He has been recognized twice by the Wall Street Journal as a top-ten stock picker across all industries and earned “Best on the Street” in 2001 (Consumer Products & Services), 2003 (Consumer Services), and 2005 (Specialty Retailers & Services). Additionally, he has earned various top honors in StarMine/FT/Forbes rankings: as a top stock picker in 2005 (Commercial Services & Suppliers) and 2013 (Healthcare Technology); as a top earnings estimator in 2007 (Healthcare Technology); and as both a top stock picker and earnings estimator in 2009 (Healthcare Technology).