Newfire Global Partners

Newfire Global Partners works with corporate leaders and founders on strategy execution and organizational transformation. Based in Costa Rica, the firm focuses on three overlapping areas: diagnosing where change needs to happen, turning strategy into executable initiatives, and scaling what works. The company has built a practice around long-term client relationships—50% of departing executives return to work with Newfire at their next organization, and its 10 largest clients stay an average of 5+ years. New clients come almost entirely from referrals (78%).

The firm's visible client base skews toward healthcare and digital health founders. Jim Bradley (founding CEO of Surescripts) has worked with them across 4 companies over 9 years. Eric Rosow (Diameter Health), Bill Olsen (Uptime Health), and George Haddad (Liaison International) have similarly deep, multi-company relationships with the firm spanning 9–10 years. What stands out in their language is an emphasis on operator thinking and willingness to push back on clients rather than simply execute requests.

Services and capabilities

Newfire's three-phase model anchors how they work. Understand involves diagnosing the real opportunities and risks specific to a client's market and current state. Apply moves from strategy to execution—turning plans into initiatives an organization can actually absorb and sustain. Scale focuses on proving value through a focused initiative before expanding further.

Beyond advisory work, Newfire operates a venture partnership called Newfire Operating Partners. They have hands-on capability in company formation, product and platform strategy, AI application in live operations, engineering and delivery, operating model design, and interim leadership. Their Care Lumen case study shows this in practice: they helped build a standalone digital health software company in partnership with a Fortune 20 healthcare company, handling everything from company formation and product strategy through engineering, CTO hire (John Puopolo, a builder of data-rich enterprise platforms), and executive leadership (Stephen S. Hau as Executive Chairman).

Their engagement can range from advisory on transformation strategy to taking operational roles in new venture builds. The Care Lumen work was positioned as "the fastest path to innovation and outcomes" when internal constraints and the need to absorb AI and operating-model change made a purpose-built company more effective than an internal pilot.

Notable work

Care Lumen is the most detailed public case study. Built in partnership with a Fortune 20 healthcare leader, it is a standalone digital health software company designed to apply AI in production and move faster than incumbent innovation could. Newfire provided operating partnership, company formation, product strategy, AI application, engineering, operating model design, and interim leadership. The team brought in Bobby Samuel as CEO (AI and data platform strategy background), Cara Munnis as Chief Product Officer (product-led transformation at scale), John Puopolo as CTO, and Stephen S. Hau as Executive Chairman (repeat company builder in digital health).

Long-running client relationships also signal repeatable value. Jim Bradley has engaged across 4 companies over 9 years, describing Newfire as bringing "operator mindset and directness that drives results." Bill Olsen has worked with them across 3 companies over 10 years, noting they "push back when it matters." These are not transactional projects but ongoing partnerships where executives bring Newfire to new roles.

How they work

Newfire's engagement model leans toward retained advisory and operating partnerships rather than one-off projects. Their 10 largest clients average 5+ years of engagement, suggesting ongoing strategy and execution work. The firm's ability to take interim leadership roles (as seen with Care Lumen's CEO hire and executive chairman role) means they can embed into organizations beyond pure advising. Specific pricing and detailed engagement terms are not disclosed on their website. The fact that 78% of new clients arrive via referral indicates their sales model relies on existing client networks rather than outbound lead generation.