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Lawyer Marc Bonora was hired in 2021 to help unify multiple healthcare organizations—including Trustaff, Fastaff, HealthCare Support, and several others—into one cohesive company: Ingenovis Health.
Bonora, Ingenovis Health’s first chief legal and compliance officer, was charged with combining multiple disparate legal functions across subsidiaries. He needed to create the company’s first official compliance department and program. And he needed to do it as acquisitions were still being solidified.
In 2022, Bonora was recognized by the Denver Business Journal as a C-Suite Award recipient. In 2024, he was named in Marquis Who’s Who list, demonstrating exactly what he’s able to bring to an organization that needs to grow, find its center, and come together. So how was Bonora able to do it?
“The first gap I saw that we needed to address was really building out an official compliance program for this entire organization,” the CLO explains. “We were suddenly a pretty large company, and the buck really needed to stop with someone, so that person became me.”
The double title doesn’t always create ideal situations for Bonora; he regularly must deliver news no one wants to hear. But having spent the last half of his career in-house, Bonora is far from a “department of no.” He just understands the guardrails that need to be in place to prevent unforeseen problems rearing their heads later. The CLO can’t afford to be swayed by popular sentiment—he must see the larger picture while still finding ways to propel the business forward.
Bonora speaks firmly and carefully, which may stem from the considerable weight he carried early in his career. While the back half of the attorney’s career has been driving innovation in-house, the first half was spent primarily in roles at the Department of Justice.
While just beginning his first real law firm job, Bonora watched the Twin Towers fall in New York City on 9/11. “I wanted to be part of not letting something like that ever happen again,” the CLO remembers. “I already had an inkling that I wanted to get into government work, and that was the real push.”
Bonora wound up working on the highly divisive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants with the Office of Intelligence Policy Review (OIPR). The work became hotly contested, but Bonora says he believed in what he was doing, believed it helped keep the US safe, and doesn’t feel the need to apologize for doing what he knows was right on behalf of the residents of the US.
The attorney would ultimately move into healthcare and broader issues that have allowed him to shine at organizations like Ingenovis, and he credits his wide variety of experience—from New York firms to the DOJ into in-house roles—as what makes him a relative rarity in his world. But those different perspectives offer Bonora a multitude of ways to see any challenge and some new approaches to boot. Those skills are already coming in handy in the new administration that is bucking the status quo.
The CLO maintains his commitment to helping those who need it most. As a board member for SungateKids, whose primary purpose lies in conducting forensic interviews for children who may have been victims of sexual or other forms of abuse, he has found a calling outside the world of corporate legal challenges. The organization’s mission isn’t to convict more suspects; it’s about creating safe and supported spaces to get to and work with the truth, whether that leads to working with prosecutors or counseling survivors.
“Forensic interviewing of children is a relatively unknown need and requires some very specialized talent to be able to work with children in that way,” Bonora says. “This organization does incredible things, but it’s hard to explain in just a few words, so it can create some challenges for us. But I hope others will consider supporting our mission and getting involved if they can.”
Bonora is also a board member for the New York University School of Law Alumni Association and participates in the Hispanic National Bar Association’s PODER25 program, a competitive achievement designed to promote Hispanic general counsels into Fortune 500 company roles.
The grandson of a Bethlehem Steel worker who moved the family from Puerto Rico, the son of a car salesman, and the father of three children says when he’s away from work he still spends as much time as he can on Colorado ski slopes with the rest of his family or playing Ping-Pong in the basement against his kids.
“I see the progression of my family, and now my kids, and it’s been amazing to take them back to the rural farmland where my mother was born in Puerto Rico,” Bonora says. “In a few generations, we’ve moved from such humble origins, and it makes me proud. It makes me grateful. And I hope I am being the kind of role model for my kids that shows them what it means to keep moving forward while also giving back to your community.”
The Polsinelli Health Care practice group represents one of the largest concentrations of health care attorneys and professionals in the nation. The firm has built a team that is made up of health care industry experts, including a mix of former in-house counsel at national health care institutions, the FDA, CMS and the Department of Justice. Polsinelli seamlessly partners with clients to effectively navigate complex state and federal regulations that significantly impact health care. We consider it our business to understand the opportunities and challenges that face the health care industry and, more importantly, our clients’ businesses. Polsinelli is proud to partner with Marc Bonora and Ingenovis Health.
Greenberg Traurig, LLP congratulates Marc Bonora for this well-deserved recognition, which we are certain will be one of many to follow. We are honored to work with such an intelligent and dedicated legal professional who has made a positive impact at Ingenovis Health and throughout his career. We are grateful for our successful, long-standing partnership with Marc through the years to provide legal support in the health care industry.