About the author
Cherise Watkins, MS
Cherise Watkins is a healthcare revenue operations executive, entrepreneur, systems architect, and educator with more than 36 years of experience across the healthcare reimbursement continuum. Having worked on all three sides of the industry, provider, payer, and revenue cycle management vendor, she brings a uniquely comprehensive perspective to the challenges and opportunities that shape healthcare organizations today.
Throughout her career, Cherise has held leadership roles spanning medical billing and coding, payer operations, compliance auditing, academic medicine, specialty practice management, and national revenue cycle services. She has built departments, developed performance reporting frameworks, led teams of more than 100 professionals, and designed operational infrastructures that improve financial performance, accountability, and organizational effectiveness. Her work has influenced professionals at every level of healthcare, from new billers and coders to physicians, practice administrators, and executive leadership teams.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration and a Master's degree in Psychology with an emphasis in coaching. This blend of business, operations, and human development has shaped her belief that sustainable organizational success is achieved when strong systems and empowered people work together.
Known for her ability to transform complex operational challenges into practical, repeatable solutions, Cherise considers herself a systems builder at heart. Her approach centers on identifying root causes, creating clear processes, documenting best practices, and building frameworks that enable organizations to perform consistently and scale successfully. She believes that long-term success is not built on individual heroics, but on accountability, education, well-designed systems, and a culture of continuous improvement.
As the founder and leader of Emphanex, Cherise works with healthcare organizations to strengthen revenue operations, improve reporting and governance structures, optimize performance, and build sustainable business infrastructures. Her work reflects a lifelong commitment to helping organizations operate with greater clarity, discipline, and purpose.
While operational excellence has been the cornerstone of her career, education has always been her greatest passion. For decades, she has dedicated herself to mentoring professionals, developing future leaders, and helping others build meaningful careers. Whether coaching a new biller, advising an executive team, or guiding an entrepreneur through the process of launching a business, she finds her greatest fulfillment in helping others discover what is possible when knowledge, discipline, and opportunity intersect.
From Biller to Business Owner was written for professionals who are ready to move beyond technical expertise and embrace the mindset of entrepreneurship. Drawing from decades of real-world experience, Cherise shares practical insights, proven frameworks, and hard-earned lessons to help readers build scalable businesses, develop effective systems, and create organizations positioned for long-term success.
More than any title she has held or organization she has served, Cherise is most proud of the people she has helped develop throughout her career. She believes meaningful success is measured not only by what is built, but by the opportunities created for others. Her hope is that the lessons in this book inspire readers to build successful businesses, rewarding careers, stronger organizations, and lasting legacies of their own.
