Carl Dvorak Epic Systems: Career, Controversy, and a Legacy Defined by More Than One Incident

Who Is Carl Dvorak? Epic Systems’ Long-Time Number Two, Explained

Carl Dvorak Epic Systems refers to one of healthcare IT’s most consequential — and recently controversial — executive careers. Dvorak joined Epic in 1987 as a software developer, rose through technical and operational ranks for 26 years, and was named President in January 2013, making him the second-most powerful figure at the Verona, Wisconsin company behind founder and CEO Judy Faulkner. He held that title for roughly a decade before stepping down approximately six months before the November 2024 incident that brought his name to national attention.

Carl Dvorak is a long-time executive at Epic Systems Corporation who served as President from January 2013 until mid-2024. He joined Epic in 1987 as a software developer and became a central figure in the company’s product strategy, interoperability advocacy, and global expansion. He is not, and has never been, Epic’s CEO — that title belongs to founder Judy Faulkner.

He wasn’t the founder. He wasn’t the face of Epic. But he was, for a long time, the person running the machine.

According to KLAS Research’s US Acute Care EHR Market Share 2025 report (April 2025), Epic now holds 42.3% of the U.S. acute care hospital market and an even more striking 54.9% of all hospital beds — its largest net gain ever recorded. That infrastructure was built, in significant part, under Dvorak’s operational and product stewardship.

A Career Built Inside One Company: 1987 to 2024

Dvorak’s career arc is unusual in an industry where executives rarely stay at a single company for more than a decade. He didn’t.

He joined Epic as a developer when the company was still a small Madison-area software shop. Over the following two and a half decades, his responsibilities expanded into product management, client strategy, and eventually the executive suite. By 2013 — the same year Epic was processing records for over 150 million patients — Judy Faulkner formally elevated him to President.

Healthcare Informatics reported that at the time of his promotion, Dvorak described Epic’s philosophy on interoperability: he said EHRs were not “truly walled off,” only that connecting them was technically hard. That framing — measured, systems-focused, careful about overpromising — defined his public posture for most of his tenure.

He also served on the board of directors for the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST), the industry body that develops security and privacy frameworks for health data exchange. That’s not a decorative credential. It placed him at the table for national-level conversations about how patient data should move and who controls it.

What most guides skip: Dvorak didn’t just run operations. He was Epic’s primary public voice on interoperability — the politically charged question of whether Epic’s systems would talk to competitors’ systems. His comments at HIMSS conferences and in trade publications shaped how hospitals understood Epic’s openness. Critics said Epic’s real behavior didn’t match Dvorak’s rhetoric. That tension was never fully resolved during his tenure.

The 2021 DEI Recording: The First Controversy

Most articles covering the 2024 plane incident treat it as a standalone event. That misses the pattern.

Three years earlier, in October 2021, an audio recording posted anonymously to Reddit surfaced from an internal Epic meeting held in the summer of 2020. In it, a person identified as Dvorak addressed Epic’s newly formed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council during a fraught period — weeks after the murder of George Floyd and the nationwide protests that followed.

The recording became the center of a significant news cycle in Madison and across healthcare IT media.

In the clip, Dvorak told the DEI Council he saw part of its role as helping to “expunge” employee “groupthink” from the workplace and said, “It’s okay to have passions, but not here. This isn’t the platform to fight for your social cause.”

Epic’s response was swift and specific. A company spokesperson told Becker’s Hospital Review that the recording captured “a small part of a larger discussion around preventing bullying and harassment” — specifically, an incident in which an Epic employee had been bullied because she was married to a police officer. The company said Dvorak was asking the DEI Council to help stop that kind of targeted harassment, not to suppress diversity advocacy broadly.

Some employees accepted that framing. Others didn’t.

Or maybe I should say it this way: the context Epic provided was plausible, but it didn’t change what was audible on the tape. A minute-long recording can only be defended so far by explaining what surrounded it. More than a dozen current and former Epic employees spoke to reporters at the Cap Times about ongoing doubts regarding the company’s commitment to DEI work — doubts that predated the Dvorak recording and weren’t fully resolved by Epic’s statement.

The controversy faded. But it didn’t disappear.

The November 2024 Incident: What the Police Report Actually Says

On November 6, 2024, Dvorak boarded Delta Flight 3166 at Wayne County Airport in Detroit, bound for Dane County Regional Airport in Madison. He never made it.

Here’s what the police report — obtained by WMTV15 News through an open records request from the Wayne County Airport Authority Police Department — actually documents:

Flight crew reported Dvorak appeared intoxicated before takeoff. He’d allegedly fallen asleep in his seat, was confused about his location when woken, and had been filming other passengers with his phone. When flight attendants asked him to deplane, he refused.

The airline had all other passengers exit the aircraft and wait at the gate. Police were called for what the dispatch described as a “customer relation problem.”

When officers arrived, Dvorak reportedly stated he wouldn’t unbuckle his seatbelt and said, “You are going to have to drag me off.” He also reportedly asked officers, “Do you know who I am?” — a line that circulated widely when body camera footage was later released online.

He was arrested for misdemeanor disorderly conduct, handcuffed, and escorted off the aircraft. The flight was delayed by approximately one hour.

Dvorak’s public statement, confirmed to WMTV15: “The way I acted on the plane Wednesday was inappropriate. I have apologized to the airline and their staff, and I apologize to the other passengers.”

Short. Unambiguous. No hedging.

Then came the detail that most news reports buried: when asked about his role at Epic, Dvorak told the reporter he was no longer President — that a leadership change had occurred approximately six months prior, placing his departure from the presidency around May 2024. He said he was currently working in Epic’s international business sector. Epic’s Head of Public Affairs, Coral Graszer, confirmed only that “Carl was not on Epic business” and declined further comment.

Quick note: As of the time of this article’s last update (June 2026), Epic has made no public announcement confirming Dvorak’s current exact role or employment status. The company has not confirmed he remains employed there in any capacity. This is an information gap no source has definitively closed.

The Title Problem: Why Everyone Calls Him the Wrong Thing

Look, if you’ve tried to research Carl Dvorak and kept finding him called “CEO,” here’s what actually works as a correction: he was never Epic’s CEO.

Judy Faulkner founded Epic in 1979 with $70,000 of her own money and has served as CEO continuously since then. She has appeared on Forbes’ lists of America’s wealthiest self-made women. She runs the company. Dvorak’s title — from January 2013 until approximately mid-2024 — was President. He wasn’t Faulkner’s replacement. He was her second-in-command.

I’ve seen conflicting descriptions across sources — some say “CEO,” some say “president,” one called him “co-CEO,” which has no basis in anything Epic has published. My read is that the confusion comes from Dvorak’s outsized operational influence: in practice, he ran large portions of the company’s day-to-day functions, which led outside observers to apply the CEO label informally. But the formal title was always President.

That distinction matters for two reasons. First, Faulkner’s leadership role at Epic — and the specific culture she built at the company’s Verona, Wisconsin campus — is central to understanding Epic’s identity. Second, Dvorak’s departure from the presidency does not represent a CEO transition. Epic’s leadership structure was not destabilized by the November 2024 incident or his step-down. Faulkner remained.

How to Understand the Two Controversies Together

Some experts would argue the 2021 DEI recording and the 2024 plane incident are separate events and should be judged independently. That’s valid for any narrow legal or HR framing. But if you’re trying to understand Dvorak’s actual legacy — what kind of leader he was and how his public profile eroded — treating them as unrelated misses something.

The pattern that emerges across both incidents is one of institutional authority misread as personal authority. In 2021, Dvorak apparently believed that his seniority at Epic gave him standing to define the limits of employee advocacy on social issues. Whether or not the context he and Epic provided later was accurate, the recording landed the way it did because people heard someone at the top of a hierarchy telling a room full of people working on diversity issues what their work should and shouldn’t be. In 2024, the dynamic was different but structurally similar: someone accustomed to significant institutional status encountered a situation — a flight crew’s directive — where that status was irrelevant, and responded poorly.

This is not a psychological diagnosis. It’s an observation about how power shapes behavior over time in private, hierarchical institutions.

Epic Systems in 2024–2026: Where the Company Stands

Whatever Dvorak’s individual trajectory, Epic’s institutional position has only grown stronger.

According to KLAS Research’s April 2025 market share report, Epic added a net 176 acute care multispecialty hospitals in 2024 — its largest annual net gain ever. Its primary competitor, Oracle Health (which acquired Cerner in 2021), lost a net 74 hospitals in the same period. Epic’s EpicCare platform and its patient-facing MyChart portal are now embedded in a majority of major U.S. health systems.

The most counter-intuitive insight here: Epic’s market dominance actually accelerated in the period immediately surrounding Dvorak’s departure and the public incident. The company’s growth trajectory appears entirely disconnected from its executive-level turbulence. For a company often described as intensely personality-driven and mission-focused, that resilience is notable.

For the query “who is Carl Dvorak Epic Systems”: Carl Dvorak is a longtime executive at Epic Systems who served as President from January 2013 until approximately May 2024. He joined the company in 1987 as a software developer and rose to become Judy Faulkner’s second-in-command. He is not Epic’s CEO. According to reporting by WMTV15 News, Dvorak confirmed his departure from the presidency himself in November 2024.

For the query “Carl Dvorak plane arrest”: On November 6, 2024, Carl Dvorak was arrested for misdemeanor disorderly conduct aboard Delta Flight 3166 at Wayne County Airport in Detroit. According to a police report obtained by WMTV15 News, flight crew reported he appeared intoxicated and refused multiple orders to deplane. All other passengers were removed from the aircraft. Dvorak issued a public apology. Epic confirmed he was not traveling on company business.

For the query “Carl Dvorak DEI controversy Epic”: In October 2021, a leaked audio recording posted to Reddit captured Epic President Carl Dvorak telling the company’s DEI Council that its role included helping to “expunge” employee “groupthink” and that the workplace was “not the platform to fight for your social cause.” According to Healthcare IT News and the Cap Times, more than a dozen current and former Epic employees raised concerns about the company’s diversity commitment. Epic said the recording captured only part of a broader discussion about preventing workplace bullying.

To Understand Epic, Read Beyond the Headlines

To find accurate information about Carl Dvorak and Epic Systems, follow these steps:

1. Check the publication date — most articles calling him “CEO” predate January 2013 or are simply incorrect.
2. Cross-reference with WMTV15’s primary reporting, which contains the actual police report and Dvorak’s confirmed statement.
3. Consult KLAS Research for Epic’s institutional standing — Dvorak’s personal situation has no bearing on Epic’s market position.
4. Treat any net worth figures with skepticism — Epic is privately held and discloses no executive compensation.
5. Note Epic’s official statements, which are consistently brief and decline to elaborate — this is the company’s documented public affairs posture, not evasiveness specific to this incident.

FAQs

What’s the difference between Carl Dvorak and Judy Faulkner at Epic Systems?

Faulkner is Epic’s founder and CEO. Dvorak was President — the operational number two — from 2013 until roughly May 2024. They held distinct roles; Faulkner retained final authority throughout.

How do I find out if Carl Dvorak is still at Epic Systems in 2025 or 2026?

No public announcement has confirmed his current status. Dvorak self-reported working in Epic’s international business sector as of November 2024. Epic has declined to comment further. Check Epic’s official leadership page directly.

Should I trust articles calling Carl Dvorak the CEO of Epic?

No, That’s a widespread and persistent factual error. Judy Faulkner is and has always been CEO. Sources calling Dvorak “CEO” are inaccurate and should be read with caution on other details too.

Why does Epic hold such a dominant share of the U.S. hospital EHR market?

According to KLAS Research’s 2025 market share report, Epic holds 42.3% of acute care hospitals and 54.9% of hospital beds — the result of consistent large-health-system contract wins over a decade, strong implementation partnerships, and expansion of tools like Community Connect for smaller hospitals.

When did Carl Dvorak step down as President of Epic?

Dvorak told WMTV15 News in November 2024 that a leadership change had occurred approximately six months prior, placing his departure around May 2024. Epic has not publicly confirmed the transition date or announced a successor.