A Q&A with MERGE CEO Stephanie Trunzo
January 10, 2025
Learn more about Stephanie Trunzo's dynamic vision as MERGE's new CEO. Explore her plans to fuse consumer trends, health, and tech with bold innovation and collaboration.
January 10, 2025
Learn more about Stephanie Trunzo's dynamic vision as MERGE's new CEO. Explore her plans to fuse consumer trends, health, and tech with bold innovation and collaboration.
Welcome to MERGE! What specifically interested you most about joining MERGE?
A: The people, of course! The team at MERGE demonstrated shared values, drive, and energy. There’s something special about an organization where collaboration and curiosity thrive. MERGE’s focus on a spectrum of verticals also resonated deeply with me, especially the health and consumer focus.
That focus reflects my belief that work, while challenging, should inspire and excite you. We are embracing that idea even further by rallying around a message of health, wellness, and happiness.
The opportunity to integrate consumer trends, agency creativity, and intelligent technology with health audiences is both meaningful and energizing—I see tremendous potential for exploration and transformation at a moment when these industries most need it.
I’m excited to bring my entrepreneurial spirit and strategic enterprise experience to a company that is poised to redefine how we impact health-focused communities.
What inspired you to pursue a career at the intersection of technology, health and wellness, and business?
A: I think of curiosity as my inner compass. Even as a teenager with a subscription to Psychology Today, I’ve always been fascinated by how humans think and what motivates them. Over time, that curiosity evolved into a passion for blending insights into behavior through technology and business.
My career—whether leading transformational businesses at IBM, launching Oracle Health, or studying human-computer interaction before that was a phrase anyone knew—has always sought to connect storytelling and innovation to create lasting impact.
I’ve been interested in not only how the mind works, but also the body. I have had a movement and meditation practice for nearly a decade now, and I became a certified yoga instructor during my pandemic free time simply because I love learning.
When you’re excited about the questions you’re trying to answer, hard work feels less like a task and more like purposeful discovery. For me, this path has been about crafting solutions that meet real needs and drive wellness forward.
What are MERGE’s greatest strengths that will allow us to stand out in the field?
A: It may sound simple, but MERGE connects dots in unexpected ways—pairing consumer-driven insights with the precision required in regulated industries—to identify and connect audiences with meaningful experiences.
Whether it is helping payer and provider networks safely adopt new life changing therapeutics for chronic conditions, or consumer brands share personalized recommendations to new audiences, we are scaling awareness in novel ways.
Our strength lies in embracing a sense of wonder to ask thoughtful questions that yield imaginative solutions. From the artistry of storytelling to technology and data-driven thinking, MERGE bridges gaps and helps clients stay ahead in evolving environments.
Our core values—ability, agility, and humility—guide us as we explore new opportunities with boldness and an open mind. By partnering with our clients in collaborative, human-centered ways, we make challenges exciting and rewarding to solve, ensuring that life and work connect seamlessly for true impact.
What’s one way you think the industry needs to evolve to serve healthcare and wellness organizations better?
A: To me, transformation begins with rethinking what we consider the “work.” Healthcare as a business must see patients as people first, the way that careworkers do. The technology and processes need to be designed for a holistic view of the person, rather than a series of siloed transactions.
The brand needs to engage with them as customers in need of curated, timely experiences. For MERGE to better serve our clients, we can’t rely on traditional marketing or agency offerings.
This evolution calls for inquiry—asking what patients truly need and letting technology enable better answers. Building interconnected systems and fostering ecosystem-wide collaboration makes care more equitable and impactful.
These aren’t just professional hurdles; they are challenges that encourage exploration and innovation. We have to become translators for audiences, taking complex concepts—from an un-navigable sea of product offerings to medical jargon—and turning them into personalized and understandable content.
At MERGE, we’re approaching this as an exciting intersection of health and consumerism, creating smart solutions that remind us how much fun it is to keep learning, adapting, and growing together!
What are the three most exciting things for you as you lead MERGE into the future?
A: First, I think the opportunity to innovate at the intersection of health and consumerism is thrilling. This space is ripe for exploration, with reams of blank paper to write on.
Second, the freedom MERGE has to think beyond traditional constraints opens the door to bold strategies that make work feel rewarding, even when it’s hard.
Third, I am buzzing with ideas on a partnership ecosystem—unifying technology players and clients—to offer a model for impactful collaboration.
Can I add a fourth? I can’t leave out AI! I want to see how MERGE can flip the script that AI is assisting humans and instead lead with a human-assisted AI approach, where human-generated creativity and ideas are fueling and upleveling the work of AI.
Is there a particular mindset or approach to life you strive to follow, and why does it resonate with you?
A: There’s a quote on my wall from a poem I love called Desiderata and it says, “And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” That is something that I think about every single day.
My approach to life revolves around trust—trust in myself, in others, and in the unfolding of events. I am guided by intuition, which I see as informed intelligence, and a growth mindset. It’s about staying adaptable, authentic, and connected to what truly fuels you. But, it is also about remembering that it is almost never personal—the good or the bad!
There are always an infinite number of variables at play, and the best you can do is keep playing the hand you are dealt, moment by moment. Even better than the impact this mindset has on my own life, is that it organically often contributes to others having aha moments that improves their lives, even in small ways. That is a joy and privilege to witness.
What’s one unexpected thing about you that most people wouldn’t guess?
A: Well, if you haven’t met me, let me spare you the surprise—I am a tiny peanut at 5 feet 3 inches tall. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve met people and they say, “I thought you were taller.” I take it as proof that you can’t judge a cover by its book. :-)
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