Dr. Alejandro Badia — Founder and Chief Medical Officer

Alejandro Badia, MD, FACS is an internationally renowned hand and upper extremity surgeon at Badia Hand to Shoulder Center in Doral, Florida. Dr. Badia graduated from Cornell University and completed his medical degree at NYU. He served as the worldwide president of ISSPORTH and co-founded the globally recognized Miami Anatomical Research and Training Center (M.A.R.C.) and The Surgery Center at Doral, an elite state-of-the-art ambulatory surgery center.

After years of a successful medical career and a prestigious speaking legacy, he saw a need for specialized orthopedic urgent care centers to efficiently assess and treat a range of orthopedic and sports injuries and founded OrthoNOW®, the only network of orthopedic urgent care centers in the country. Each OrthoNOW® has a team of orthopedic specialists on staff that treat broken bones, sprains, torn ligaments and muscles, cuts, sports and worker’s compensation injuries.

Dr. Badia, a two-time South Florida Business Journal Top 100 Power Leaders in Healthcare and a Top 100 Under 50 Diverse Executive Leader by Diversity MBA Magazine, has also been honored with Legacy Awards from Today’s Work Comp Professionals and The Doral Business Council. OrthoNOW® was named a “Top Ten Franchise Opportunity” in healthcare by Entrepreneur Magazine and featured in the following media: Franchise Times, Orthopedics This Week, South Florida Business Journal, Franchise USA Magazine and The Miami Herald.

Susana Badia Rylander — Treasurer

Susana is responsible for monitoring the finances of the franchise as well as developing financial plans that allow for future growth and expansion. She also provides potential franchisees with the list of pre-approved lenders and is available to answer questions and guide them through that process.

Eric Rylander — VP of Operations and Marketing

Eric is responsible for creating and monitoring OrthoNOW’s brand. He oversees marketing campaigns and helps create tools to support franchisees. He also plays an important role in the research of available territories and population demographics for each new location.

Thelma Cela – Director of Clinical Operations

Thelma Cela serves as the Director of Clinical Operations for OrthoNOW®, a network of specialized urgent care centers focused on sports medicine and the treatment and prevention of the full range of orthopedic injuries, all on a walk-in basis. Thelma is responsible for all franchise clinical matters. She sets the direction of clinical policies and procedures, monitors healthcare policy changes and provides the executive franchisor team with data analysis and reporting for all sites.

Prior to joining OrthoNOW®, Thelma held a senior position with Leon Medical Centers; a private healthcare company operating comprehensive medical centers. There she launched a new business line addressing the health and wellness of an aging population and oversaw the development of the organization’s Healthy Living Centers, a first of its kind facility in the Florida market. Prior, Thelma served as Senior Program Director for the Diabetes Treatment Center and Director of the Surgical Weight Loss Program at Mercy Hospital. There, she enhanced service lines by building community awareness and improving clinical outcomes while simultaneously building volume growth and maintaining ongoing physician support. During her tenure, she also negotiated the transition of the business relationship from a contracted vendor working for a publicly-held company based in Nashville to a hospital-based department. She then continued to be the lead negotiator for subsequent agreements between the companies.

Thelma began her career as a Case Manager for the Epilepsy Foundation and has since served on the board of directors of the Multiple Sclerosis News and Views and the healthcare business council of the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She holds a degree in Psychology from the University of Miami and is a graduate of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Class XV. 

Arminda “Mindy” Figueroa — Founder and President of L2L and Marketing Partner of OrthoNOW®

Arminda “Mindy” Figueroa is the Founder & CEO of L2L Marketing, Proud Marketing Partner of OrthoNOW. Mindy is a true maverick, and recognized leader in the traditional, multicultural, direct and digital marketing fields. She has built a successful career focused on generating awareness of the essential role of the multicultural market in corporate America. Prior to launching L2L, Mindy was Project Director for Scholastic Media, and oversaw the launch of the children’s TV series, Maya & Miguel, the #1 new TV show for kids on PBS. Figueroa previously held senior marketing positions at The Bravo Group (a Young & Rubicam agency), Univision.com, Verizon and Anheuser-Busch. Ms. Figueroa is a frequent presenter at industry seminars and conferences, and is a board member of the Hispanic Federation of New York among others.

L2L Marketing is an award winning, boutique Agency headquartered in Fort Lauderdale who has gained an outstanding reputation connecting brands, talent, businesses, communities, government and media partners to create winning solutions for its valued client partners on a local, regional, national and international basis. L2L Marketing specializes in healthcare and franchise marketing.