Technology is a crucial part of hospitals and health systems across the U.S.
It is used by clinicians during medical procedures, plays an increasing role in the patient financial experience, and helps document care to ensure appropriate payment for services.
At these organizations, as well as health IT vendors, there are women who have expertise in various technology areas, including EHRs, analytics and telemedicine.
Here, we highlight female leaders dedicated to health IT.
Note: This is not an exhaustive list. Leaders are presented in alphabetical order.
For questions or comments, contact Kelly Gooch at kgooch@beckershealthcare.com
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CSI Healthcare IT has been assisting healthcare organizations with the implementation of IT solutions for over 24 years. Today, CSI Healthcare IT is a leading national provider of healthcare IT talent, from customized EHR solutions to ongoing staff augmentation for the rapidly evolving healthcare IT market. Our experienced professionals have assisted hundreds of clients in achieving meaningful outcomes in the advancement of information-driven healthcare.
Laura Adams. President and CEO of Rhode Island Quality Institute. Ms. Adams helms the Rhode Island Quality Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to improving health and healthcare. Under her leadership, the institute has won several major HITECH health IT grants and a national 2018 Healthcare Informatics Innovation Award for work related to the opioid epidemic. Ms. Adams' health IT experience is vast, including participating on ONC's HIT Policy Committee's governance panel for the Nationwide Health Information Network and the HIMSS Center for Patient and Family Centered Care Advisory Group. She currently serves as co-chair of the National Academy of Medicine's Health Data Trust Initiative.
Robin Adams. Vice President of Business Development at Urac. Ms. Adams brings more than 20 years of experience in pediatric academic and community-based health systems to Urac. Before joining Urac, she worked at Children's National Health System in Washington, D.C., where she played a key role in the population health-based strategy supporting the development of the system's regional outpatient center strategy. She also was chief growth officer at Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health System.
Lisa Archer. Senior Vice President of People and Culture at American Well. Ms. Archer joined health IT provider American Well as the senior vice president of people and culture in March 2017. Most recently, she was Dynatrace's chief human resources officer. At Dynatrace, Ms. Archer built a global human resources team responsible for supporting 1,800 employees. Before joining Dynatrace, she held executive human resources roles at Microsoft, EMC and Parametric Technology Corp. At American Well, Ms. Archer plays a key role in human resources strategy in support of the organization's overall business plan and direction. She also offers guidance in talent acquisition, leadership development, succession planning and total rewards.
Pamela Arora. Senior Vice President of Information Services and CIO of Children's Health (Dallas) Ms. Arora brings more than 30 years of IT experience to Children's Health. She directs the organization's information services groups and oversees systems and technology, health information management and biomedical technology and support. Ms. Arora joined Children's Health in 2007, and the three-hospital health system achieved the HIMSS Stage 7 EMR Adoption designation three years later and earned the HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award for innovative use of EHRs in 2013. Her previous jobs include senior vice president and CIO of Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Memorial Health Care and CIO of Dallas-based Perot Systems.
Robyn Baek. Vice President of Analytics and Insights at SOC Telemed. At SOC, Ms. Baek leads the company's financial planning and analysis. The role involves forecasting, budgeting, corporate development and strategic planning. Before joining SOC, Ms. Baek was an investment banker at Citigroup and a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, a global management and IT consulting firm.
Denise Basow, MD. President and CEO of Clinical Effectiveness at Wolters Kluwer. At Wolters Kluwer, Dr. Basow helms the information services and solutions provider's clinical software solutions business unit. She took over the position, which is part of the healthcare division, in August 2015. Before that, she was vice president and general manager of clinical decision support at Wolters Kluwer.
Ann Marie Beasley. Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Allscripts. Ms. Beasley joined Allscripts in 2013 as vice president of market strategy. She then served as vice president of marketing for the company before becoming senior vice president and chief marketing officer last year. She is responsible for developing marketing initiatives.
Kelly Bliss. Chief Client Officer at Teladoc. Ms. Bliss focuses on Teladoc's global client services strategies. She is a former chief of staff at Best Doctors, a global health benefits provider that integrated with Teladoc. She also helped build and manage global teams at InterSystems and TRO-Design.
Jenna Bourgeois. CEO of Dynamics Intelligence (U.S. and Canada). Ms. Bourgeois helms Dynamics Intelligence, a software company that specializes in the Microsoft technology stack. She brings 25 years of technology consulting experience, as well as Microsoft trainer experience, to her role. She has several technical certifications.
Michele Brown. Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at Leidos. Ms. Brown joined Leidos is 2008. Her current responsibilities include administering the company's ethics and compliance program. She also is deputy general counsel with a focus on issues involving government and commercial contracting and regulatory compliance. She previously worked in private practice at Holland and Knight.
Julie Bushman. Executive Vice President of International Operations at 3M. Ms. Bushman is a veteran of 3M, joining the company more than three decades ago. She began her tenure there as a materials control analyst in 1983 and became CIO in 2003 after serving in various divisions and IT roles. Before becoming executive vice president of international operations last year, she also held roles including division vice president, executive vice president of 3M's safety, security and protection services business, executive vice president of the safety and graphics business group and senior vice president of business transformation and IT. Her current responsibilities involve operations in 70 countries with more than 55,000 employees.
Bobbie Byrne, MD. CIO of Advocate Aurora Health (Downers Grove, Ill., and Milwaukee). Dr. Byrne serves as CIO of Advocate Aurora Health, the organization formed by the merger of Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care and Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care. Before the merger, she was Advocate's CIO. Before Advocate, she was executive vice president of consumer-driven health and chief medical and quality officer for Naperville, Ill.-based Edward-Elmhurst Health.
Kelli Castellano. Chief Marketing Officer at TigerConnect. Ms. Castellano serves as chief marketing officer at TigerConnect, a provider of clinical communication and collaboration technology software solutions. An experienced marketing and communications strategist, she brings more than 15 years of business-to-business marketing experience to the role. Ms. Castellano has served as senior vice president of marketing and communications for NextGen Healthcare. She also worked at technology companies, including Affiliated Computer Services and Companion Technologies.
Christine Chapman. Vice President of InterSystems TrakCare. Ms. Chapman has nearly 15 years of experience at InterSystems. She currently serves as vice president of the company's unified health information system, TrakCare. She began her tenure as a service executive director at InterSystems, before becoming COO of InterSystems TrakCare. She also was executive vice president and COO of international healthcare company Picis, as well as vice president of the eHealth services division for Superior Consultant.
Eve Cline. Vice President of Marketing at TriBridge. Ms. Cline has more than 20 years of marketing experience. Her current responsibilities at tech services firm TriBridge include demand creation, product marketing and brand management, corporate communications, and digital marketing, among various other marketing functions. During her tenure at TriBridge, Ms. Cline has worked to develop and implement strategic programs and campaigns with the firm's practice, product and solution groups.
Rhonda Collins, DNP, RN. CNO of Vocera Communications. Dr. Collins' nursing career spans about three decades. Since January 2014, she has served as chief nursing officer for Vocera. Before joining the mobile healthcare communications company, she was vice president and business manager for Fresenius Kabi, USA. She also has served as vice president of women's and children's services at Dallas-based Baylor University Medical Center, as well as vice president of nursing at global medical technology company Masimo Corp.
Melinda Costin. Senior Vice President and CIO at JPS Health Network. Ms. Costin has more than four decades of healthcare and IT experience. Throughout her career, she has focused on healthcare informatics and the development of products that support EHRs. Her healthcare experience began with directing information systems at hospitals. She then moved to the vendor side of healthcare organizations, consulting, back to the hospital provider arena, and eventually to her current role as senior vice president and CIO at JPS Health Network since 2013. She has been active in the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, as well as the College of Health Information Management Executives in various positions. She was named been named one of the most powerful women in health IT by Health Data Management in 2016.
Janet Dillione. CEO of Bernoulli Health (Milford, Conn.). Ms. Dillione has more than 25 years of healthcare technology and services experience. Since 2014, she has helmed Bernoulli Health, a provider of clinical surveillance, medical device integration and real time data analytics solutions. She previously served as executive vice president and general manager of the Nuance Communications healthcare division, as well as CEO of Siemens Health Services, where she was responsible for 5,500 employees.
Ellen Donahue-Dalton. Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Medecision. Ms. Donahue-Dalton serves as executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Medecision. In this role, she is responsible for company's solution development and strategic marketing. he founded Dalton Marketing Group, which partners with for-profit and nonprofit organizations nationally in various sectors, including healthcare, insurance, professional services and technology. She is former vice president of worldwide marketing and former divisional president of Gtech Corp., a provider of global systems, software and services.
Karen Drenkard, PhD, RN. Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical and Nursing Officer at GetWellNetwork. Dr. Drenkard serves on the leadership team at GetWellNetwork, a patient engagement tech company. She is responsible for the development of a nursing model to improve patient experience through clinical practices and technology. She was chosen as co-chair of the Beryl Institute Nurse Executive Council, was executive director of the American Nurses Credentialing Center and is former director of the Magnet Recognition Program that recognizes nursing excellence.
Chiny Driscoll. Founder and CEO of MetiStream. Ms. Driscoll has vast experience in enterprise IT and as a business executive. In 2014, Ms. Driscoll launched MetiStream, a health IT company specializing in big data and analytic solutions. Before that, she was global head of services for IBM's Information Management's big data services practice. She previously served as vice president and general manager of global professional services at Netezza, which was acquired by IBM, as well as vice president of services and solutions at Tibco Software.
Bridget Duffy, MD. CMO of Vocera Communications and Co-founder of Experience Innovation Network. Dr. Duffy has more than 25 years of healthcare experience. Prior to taking on her current role, she co-founded and was CEO of ExperiaHealth, which was acquired by Vocera. ExperiaHealth is now known as the Experience Innovation Network and provides healthcare solutions and technologies focused on humanity. Throughout her career, Dr. Duffy has focused on the patient experience, and she established the first chief experience officer role in healthcare at the Cleveland Clinic in 2006.
Barbara Dumery. Senior Vice President of Product Management at Imprivata. Ms. Dumery brings about two decades of healthcare experience to Imprivata. During her tenure at the company, she has led product management for its single sign-on solution and its identity and multifactor authentication platform. She previously led product management at Verscend Technologies and spent seven years at Nuance.
Cheryl Lee Eberting, MD. Founder and CEO of Azova Health. Dr. Eberting, a board-certified dermatologist, brings strategic planning, e-commerce and health IT experience to Azova. She is a former clinical research fellow of the dermatology branch of the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health and a member of the American Contact Dermatitis Society. She founded CherylLeeMD Sensitive Skin Care and invented TrueLipids Skin Barrier Optimization and Repair Technology.
Carina Edwards. Senior Vice President of Customer Experience at Imprivata. Ms. Edwards has more than 20 years of healthcare technology experience. At Imprivata, she focuses on operational areas, including global professional services, global customer support and advocacy, business development and corporate IT. She also serves on the board of trustees of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
Judy Faulkner. Founder and CEO of Epic Systems. Ms. Faulkner founded Human Services Computing, now known as Epic Systems, in 1979 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a master's in computer science. The first office of Epic was in the basement of an apartment in Madison. The EHR giant has since grown to more than 9,000 employees and reported revenues around $2.6 billion in 2016. Ms. Faulkner made Forbes' annual list of "The World's Billionaires" for 2018, with worth of nearly $3.5 billion.
Virginia Feldman, MD. Co-founder and CEO of Nexus Health Resources. Dr. Feldman helms Nexus Health Resources, which provides transitional care software, services and patient engagement to healthcare organizations. In this role, she is responsible for the strategic direction of the company's operations and product design. She also co-founded Middletown, N.Y.-based Hudson Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center, staffed by 33 independent surgeons and physicians.
Helen Figge, PharmD. Co-founder and Chief Communications and Public Relations Officer of CareFully. Ms. Figge is an industry expert with vast health IT experience. Before joining CareFully, she was senior vice president of global strategic development for LumiraDx USA, a healthcare solutions care management company. She also served as vice president of global clinical integrations accountable care solutions with Alere. In 2018, she was named among Health Data Management's most powerful women in health IT for the third consecutive year. Additionally, Ms. Figge consults for organizations that have an interest in positioning healthcare technology solutions with product development and go-to-market strategies. She is passionate about mentoring other health IT professionals and volunteers for several philanthropic organizations.
Deborah Gage. President and CEO of Medecision. Ms. Gage helms Medecision, a population health management and software-as-a-service company. She oversees the company's mission and operations and directs its growth She worked at Medstat, now Truven Healthcare, and has served as CEO of various venture-backed healthcare IT firms.
Kourtney Govro. Founder and CEO of Sphere3. Ms. Govro helms Sphere3, which provides a patient data analytics platform called Aperum. An expert in nurse call design and point of care analytics, she founded the company after a hospital experience with one of her children. She has advised U.S. hospitals on patient communications platforms and was involved in published research notes in clinical nursing studies with the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Kylanne Green. President and CEO of Urac. Ms. Green has 45 years of healthcare experience. She currently helms Urac, a healthcare accreditation organization. Before taking on that role in 2013, she was on the Urac board of directors, two years as chairman. Other experience includes: executive vice president at Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health System; COO of Health Insurance Association of America; COO of Aetna Health Plans of the Mid-Atlantic; and area administrator of Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic.
Nat'e Guyton. PhD, MSN, BSN, RN. CNO of Spok. Dr. Guyton brings to Spok more than 15 years of healthcare experience. Prior to joining Spok, she was chief clinical informatics officer for Conshohocken, Pa.-based Trinity Health-Mercy Health System, where she directed IT integrations and was responsible for clinical workflow redesigns, among other duties. Previous positions include CNO of East Norriton, Pa.-based Mercy Suburban Hospital, now Suburban Community Hospital; senior director of nursing operations at Wilmington, Del.-based St. Francis Hospital; and nurse manager of cardiac transplant and telemetry at Philadelphia-based Temple University Hospital.
Kyra Hagan. Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Influence Health. Ms. Hagan has served in leadership at Cerner and Influence Health, a company specializing in numerous healthcare areas, including consumer experience, content management, hospital website strategy and design and digital marketing. In her current role at Influence, she creates marketing strategy and oversees various programs. Ms. Hagan also is a blogger, guest columnist and industry speaker.
Lindsay Hanrahan. Vice President of Product Management at Surgical Information Systems. Ms. Hanrahan is a professional with an array of health IT, software development and portfolio management experience. At SIS, she oversees product direction and strategy and ASC management and clinical software solutions. Previously she was director of product management at SourceMed, now part of SIS.
Michelle Harmon. Vice President of Client Services and National Accounts at Ludi. Ms. Harmon is an entrepreneurial, performance-based executive with 25 years of healthcare experience, Before joining Ludi, a healthcare technology company that helps hospitals and health systems improve their relationships with physicians, she worked at international and national healthcare executive search firm BE Smith.
Rebecca Hellmann, Chief Marketing Officer at Olive. Ms. Hellmann joined Olive, formerly CrossChx, in January. Prior to joining the healthcare artificial intelligence startup, she was vice president of marketing for pharmaceutical distributor Cardinal Health's hospital solutions and global supply chain division. During her tenure at Cardinal Health, she was a member of the acquisition and integration team for a radio-frequency identification, data- enabled technology product for operating rooms and catheterization labs, and she introduced an end-to-end generation and management program. Ms. Hellmann also previously served as vice president of marketing at MedPlus, the healthcare IT subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics.
Kathleen Hogan. Chief People Officer and Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Microsoft. Ms. Hogan is a veteran of Microsoft, joining the company in 2003. She is responsible for making the company an exceptional place to work for 100,000-plus global employees and creating a culture that draws top talent. Previously, she was corporate vice president of Microsoft Services, as well as corporate vice president of customer service and support. She also worked at McKinsey and Co. and Oracle Corp.
Dawn Howarth. Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Nuance. At Nuance, Ms. Howarth’s focus includes the company’s talent management programs, as well as its strategic organizational initiatives and its acquisition diligence and implementation strategy. Before joining Nuance, she worked at UFP Technologies and Future Electronics in human resources management jobs. She is also active in NEHRA, one of the largest human resources organizations in the Northeast, and the Society for Human Resource Management.
Renee Hulen. Senior Director of IT and Clinical Informatics at SBH Health System (New York, N.Y.). Ms. Hulen has served in her current role since January 2016. She is responsible for various IT functional areas across SBH, including applications, clinical informatics, training, customer support, technical services and healthcare analytics. She also plays a key role in the development of clinical informatics projects and oversees hospitalwide applications and training. Previously, she was IT director over applications and clinical informatics at SBH.
Karen Ignagni. President and CEO of EmblemHealth. Ms. Ignagni has helmed EmblemHealth since September 2015. In this role, she leads a neighborhood health plan formed from Group Health and Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York. Before joining EmblemHealth, she was president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans for more than 20 years. She also has been heavily involved with healthcare policy and was the director of the AFL-CIO's employee benefits department.
Rhonda Jorden. Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and CIO at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (Little Rock). An IT professional for more than 30 years, Ms. Jorden was named to her role in 2014. Before that, she was director of technical operations and chief technology officer at the university. Her other previous roles at the university were in management of patient systems, software development, clinical systems operations, and a brief stint as interim CIO.
Erin Karam. Chief Technology Officer at PreparedHealth. Ms. Karam has served as CTO of PreparedHealth since June 2015. She is heavily involved in the execution of product vision of the company's enTouch platform, which allows hospitals and home care providers to communicate about patients' at-home care. Before joining PreparedHealth, Ms. Karam was director of solution delivery at Solstice Mobile.
Mara Kaufman. Vice President of Client Services at Doctor.com. Ms. Kaufman joined Doctor.com, a marketing automation platform for physicians and health systems, in April 2014 as director of client success. She now oversees post-sale teams including client success, operations and analytics. She began her healthcare technology career at ZocDoc.
Janice Kelly, RN-BC. President of AORN Syntegrity. Ms. Kelly helms AORN Syntegrity, an evidence-based perioperative documentation solution. In this role, she offers evidence-based perioperative content for EHRs,\ and plays a key role in the strategic plan for the AORN Syntegrity solution. A board-certified clinical informatics leader, she also serves as a clinical informatics advisor to C-suite members at healthcare organizations.
Karlene Kerfoot, PhD, RN, CNO of GE Healthcare. Dr. Kerfoot is a healthcare veteran, publisher and speaker. She has served in corporate chief nursing and patient care officer positions at some of the nation's largest health systems, as well as in healthcare consulting and academic roles. Throughout her career, she has focused on retention, Magnet Recognition, patient safety, evidence-based staffing/scheduling, shared governance and staff and leader development.
Lisa Khorey. Executive Vice President and Chief Client Delivery Officer for Allscripts Healthcare Solutions. At Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Ms. Khorey plays a key role in delivering Allscripts professional services, managed services, support and hosting solutions to healthcare organizations. She previously was executive director in Ernst & Young’s healthcare advisory services practice, specializing in analytics. Ms. Khorey also served in technology leadership roles at Pittsburgh-based UPMC, including time leading UPMC’s enterprise analytics program and time as a UPMC hospital CIO.
Liz Kirk. Senior Vice President of Client Services and Continuous Improvement Solutions of Strata Decision Technology. Ms. Kirk brings more than 15 years of hospital administrator and consulting experience to her role at Strata. She leads Strata's client services team, and helps in product and strategy for the company. Ms. Kirk previously worked at Chicago-based Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she played a key role in a $220 million costreduction project.
Erin Kitchen. Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Doctor.com. A marketing communications strategist, Ms. Kitchen provides her expertise to marketing automation platform Doctor.com. In her current role, she helps healthcare providers and organizations engage patients in the evolving digital landscape. She previously served as Doctor.com's director of brand and communications.
Astrid Larsen. Director of Care Coordination at Centegra Health System (Crystal Lake, Ill.). Ms. Larsen is responsible for care management functions of Centegra Health System including Illinois hospitals in McHenry, Huntley and Woodstock, as well as medical offices and physician practices, the Centegra Health and Wellness Network insurance product, and ancillary clinics and wellness facilities. Prior to her current role, she was manager of crisis services for Centegra. She was also previously clinical manager of Pioneer Center for Human Services.
Patty Lavely. Senior Vice President and CIO for Gwinnett Medical Center (metro Atlanta). Ms. Lavely serves as senior vice president and CIO at Gwinnett Medical Center, a 553-bed nonprofit healthcare network serving the Atlanta metropolitan area. A leader in healthcare IT, she has served as CIO for multiple regional health systems in Georgia and as an interim CIO in New Jersey. At Gwinnett, she developed and implemented a strategy to improve overall accessibility and technology usage while enabling the health system to meet business goals. Currently, she serves on the Technology Association of Georgia board of directors, Georgia CIO Leadership Association advisory board, Georgia Chapter HIMSS board of directors and CHIME Opioid Task Force.
Melissa Leigh. General Counsel for Intermedix, an R1 company. Ms. Leigh has more than 25 years of healthcare legal and compliance experience. In 2012, she joined Intermedix, now part of R1 RCM. She has served in various roles at the company, including associate general counsel and chief compliance officer. She is currently general counsel at Intermedix, where she plays a key role in corporate, strategic and tactical legal initiatives.
Michelle Lichte. Executive Vice President of Client Partnerships at Nordic. Ms. Lichte brings to Nordic nearly 30 years of health IT experience. A veteran healthcare IT leader, her expertise includes managing EHR projects, implementation planning, solutions, and mergers and acquisitions. Before joining Nordic in July 2017, she held implementation executive roles at Epic, Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare, and an Epic consulting firm.
Kate Mays. Division President of CSI Healthcare IT. Ms. Mays was promoted to her current role in 2017 after serving as vice president of operations for the CSI Healthcare IT division. She first joined CSI in 2006, serving as sales director for healthcare staffing clients before joining the health IT division. During her career with the company, the health IT division grew 150 percent over three years.
Amy Merlino, MD. Enterprise Chief Medical Information Officer at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Merlino, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, has served as enterprise chief medical information officer at Cleveland Clinic since 2017. Before taking on that role, she served as director of clinical informatics, as well as associate chief medical information officer at Cleveland Clinic. She also continues to practice obstetrics and gynecology.
Pam Murphy. COO of Infor. Ms. Murphy joined Infor in December 2010. At the enterprise software provider, she served as senior vice president of corporate operations before becoming COO in October 2011. She previously worked at Oracle Corp., where her responsibilities included global sales operations and running consulting operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Kristin Myers. Senior Vice President of Technology at Mount Sinai Health System (New York City). Throughout her career as a health IT professional, Ms. Myers has worked as a vendor, independent contractor, consultant and hospital executive. She has served as senior vice president of technology at Mount Sinai Health System since April 2017. Prior to that, she was a vice president at the system, where she helped implement a $100 million Epic EHR program at Mount Sinai Medical Center. She also played a key role in developing a community physician EMR strategy and an interoperability strategy at the medical center.
Ashley Needham. Director of Corporate Initiatives at Validic. In her role, Ms. Needham is responsible for Validic's marketing, branding, public relations, communications and clinical research initiatives. She began this position in July 2016 after serving as the company's marketing manager. Prior to joining Validic, Ms. Needham was a marketing communications specialist at Innovative Learning Solutions, a business simulation company.
Jamie Nelson. Senior Vice President and CIO of Hospital for Special Surgery (New York City). Ms. Nelson brings about 35 years of healthcare experience to her CIO role, specifically in areas such as IT leadership and consulting, hospital operations, and performance improvement. At Hospital for Special Surgery, she played a key role in developing and implementing an IT strategy supporting the hospital's strategic plan, as well as in the hospital's Epic implementation across inpatient and ambulatory settings for clinical and revenue cycle applications. Before joining Hospital for Special Surgery, she held roles at Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital, New York City-based NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, also in New York City. She also worked at First Consulting Group, Ernst & Young and Innovatix.
Kristi Payne, LPN. COO of MDabstract. Ms. Payne, an SAS computer programmer and a certified NextGen Professional, has more than 23 years of healthcare experience. She has worked for UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida on cost containment and network development. She was also business office manager at Jacksonville (Fla.) Heart Center, now Baptist Heart Specialists, before becoming systems manager to oversee EHR implementation, training and programming. Most recently, she played a key role in growing MDabstract from a startup with one client into a multimillion-dollar organization that works with national clients including St. Louis-based Ascension and Boston-based Steward Health Care.
Gail Peace. Founder, President and CEO of Ludi. Ms. Peace helms Ludi, a healthcare technology company focused on helping providers with physician alignment. Before founding Ludi in 2012, she was vice president of business development for Vanguard Health Chicago, which was part of Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanguard Health Systems before VHS was acquired by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare in 2013. Ms. Peace also previously served as vice president of client solutions for WebMD Health Services, formerly Subimo.
Lindsay Phan. Director, Enterprise Project Management Office at Northwestern Medicine (Chicago). Ms. Phan has 12 years of health IT experience. Most recently, she led the systemwide Epic clinical implementation at Northwestern Medicine. Ms. Phan now leads an enterprise project management office at Northwestern Medicine with responsibility for IT implementations.
Susan Pouzar. General Manager of the North America Division at Genesis Automation Healthcare. Ms. Pouzar is the new general manager of Genesis' North America division, where she leads the value-chain solutions provider's operations, sales and marketing teams in the U.S. and Canada. Prior to her current role, she was vice president of sales at Genesis, leading the company's sales and account management teams for the U.S. Before joining Genesis, she was vice president of sales and marketing, clinical, and MorCare solutions at Herndon, Va.-based Harris Healthcare.
Jan Powell. CEO of Alpha II. Ms. Powell has more than 30 years of healthcare software development experience. At Alpha II, a provider of software as a service solutions and developer toolkits, she plays a key role in corporate development and business strategy, with an emphasis on product design and development. During her tenure with the company, she has directed Alpha II's focus on professional and institutional reimbursement rules, fee schedules and electronic data interchange. Alpha II has also experienced significant growth in recent years under her leadership and partnered with multiple prime contractors on national products licensed by the Veterans Health Administration.
Anita Pramoda. Founder and CEO of Owned Outcomes. Ms. Pramoda helms Owned Outcomes, a software company that helps healthcare organizations tackle the challenges of value-based care. She is also an executive adviser and venture partner to Technology Crossover Ventures and serves as a board director at Health Catalyst and Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in Los Angeles. Previously, she was the CFO of Epic and served on the board at Allscripts.
Pamela Pure. Founder and CEO of Pure Advisory. Ms. Pure founded Pure Advisory, a provider of strategic planning and advisory services, business consulting, and support for mergers and acquisitions and transactions. She brings more than 25 years of experience in health IT and services to the company. Before founding Pure Advisory, she was CEO of HealthMEDX, as well as president and executive vice president at McKesson Provider Technologies. During her time at McKesson, the business grew from $900 million in revenue to $3 billion.
Laura Quatela. Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Lenovo. At Lenovo, Ms. Quatela focuses on the company's legal strategy. She joined the company in 2016 after co-founding a global consulting firm in 2014. She was executive vice president of intellectual property for Alcatel-Lucent and previously worked at Eastman Kodak, where she served in various roles, including president, chief intellectual property officer and co-COO.
Susan Ragon. Vice President of Finance, Administration and Recruitment at InterSystems. For more than 30 years, Ms. Ragon has worked at InterSystems. Currently, she is responsible for finance, recruitment and human resources across the organization's global network. She also played a key role in constructing the core infrastructure of InterSystems. Her previous roles at the organization include director of finance, administration, marketing and documentation.
Sheela Ramamurthy. Chief Client Officer at VirtualHealth. Ms. Ramamurthy serves as chief client officer of VirtualHealth, which develops end-to-end technologies designed for value-based care. In this role, she focuses on product development strategy, prioritization and implementation. While at VirtualHealth, she has been involved in healthcare organizations improving the health of more than 6 million patients. Ms. Ramamurthy also spent more than 10 years at PwC's health industries practice.
Angela Rivera. Executive Vice President of Operations at CynergisTek. Ms. Rivera has 24 years of healthcare experience. She held various roles at Computer Task Group, an international IT solutions and services company, including vice president of health solutions. In her current role as executive vice president of operations at cybersecurity and information management consulting firm CynergisTek, she helps set the company's strategic direction and is responsible for its cybersecurity and information management consulting services. She also oversees the sales, marketing and professional services teams.
Alana Ward Robinson. President and CEO of Robinson Group Consulting. Ms. Robinson has more than three decades of technology leadership and innovation experience. She currently helms Robinson Group Consulting, where she began serving as a founder and managing principal in 2004. In this role, she advises healthcare organizations on strategic technology solutions. Her past positions include interim CIO at Madden Communications and strategic technology adviser to the president at Augusta, Ga.-based Paine College, among many others.
Fidelma Russo. Chief Technology Officer of Iron Mountain. Ms. Russo focuses on technology's role in Iron Mountain's current and future products, service delivery and overall business. Before joining Iron Mountain, she led Dell EMC's enterprise storage and software solutions team. She also was COO of Sepaton/HDS, a provider of storage and software products and services. Additionally, she has worked at Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems/Oracle, Data General Corp. and Digital Equipment Corp.
Deirdre Ruttle. Vice President of Strategy at InstaMed. Ms. Ruttle began her role in October 2017 as vice president of strategy for InstaMed, where she oversees the company's strategic objectives, corporate brand and thought leadership activities, including the publication of the Trends in Healthcare Payments Annual Report. Prior to her current role, she held leadership positions in product management and marketing at InstaMed, where she worked closely with U.S. payers and providers on launching healthcare payment solutions. She previously held senior marketing roles at alphabroder and Collages.net, where she led marketing strategy to drive use of business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce platforms.
Pamela Saechow. Associate CIO at Cleveland Clinic. Before joining Cleveland Clinic in October 2017, Ms. Saechow was a vice president IT executive at New York City-based NYC Health + Hospitals, one of the nation's largest public health systems. There, she was senior assistant vice president of the system's Epic program. She also was responsible for implementation, optimization and support of NYC Health + Hospitals' financial IT systems.
Vicki Schmanske. Chief Administrative Officer at Leidos. At Leidos, Ms. Schmanske oversees IT services, enterprise business operations, communications and marketing, corporate real estate and facilities, security, and strategic sourcing. Previously, she was deputy president and COO of Leidos' health group. During her 35-year career, she also was vice president of operations for Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions programs under strategic review in the civil, defense and intelligence solutions business lines. Ms. Schmanske was honored this year with a leadership award from the nonprofit Women in Technology.
Brenda Schmidt. Founder and CEO of Solera Health. Solera contracts with insurers to connect patients to a network of preventive health services, such as diabetes prevention and management programs and food insecurity interventions, as covered medical benefits. A social entrepreneur, she focuses on improving quality and costs. She is president of the Council for Diabetes Prevention and previously served on the board of the Population Health Alliance.
Lisa Shah, MD. Chief Innovation Officer of Sound Physicians. In her role as chief innovation officer of Sound Physicians, Dr. Shah is focused on designing innovative care delivery models, as well as technology-enabled clinical workflows and clinically integrated solutions. She previously was senior vice president of clinical operations and network for Evolent Health.
Rita Sharma. Vice President of Product Management for Healthcare and Life Sciences at Salesforce. Ms. Sharma brings more than 15 years of leadership experience to Salesforce, a provider of customer relationship management software. Experienced in enterprise, digital health and wellness, she currently serves as the company's vice president of product management. Before that, she was Salesforce's head of product, healthcare and life sciences. She was also vice president of marketing and product management at Glooko, a company that offers a unified diabetes management platform.
Jennifer Sheets. Chief Clinical Officer at Bayada Home Health Care. Ms. Sheets is chief clinical officer at Bayada, a provider of home nursing, rehabilitative, therapeutic, hospice and assistive care services. In this role, her responsibilities include a focus on clinical guidelines and procedures, along with growth and development opportunities. Ms. Sheets previously served as corporate chief clinical officer at Cornerstone Healthcare Group. She also was senior vice president of clinical operations at Gentiva Health Services, an affiliate of Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred Healthcare.
Shelly Spiro. Executive Director of the Pharmacy Health Information Technology Collaborative. Since 2012, Ms. Spiro has served as executive director of the Pharmacy Health Information Technology Collaborative, a health IT-focused organization founded by nine pharmacy groups. A national pharmacy leader, she also serves as president of health IT consulting firm Spiro Consulting. She has served as a pharmacy clinician, teacher, operations manager and corporate administrative executive in many healthcare settings throughout her career.
Erica St. Angel. Chief Technology Innovation Officer for Access Physicians (Dallas). Ms. St. Angel is CTIO for Access Physicians, a physician-founded medical group practicing inpatient telemedicine. Her experience also includes serving as an executive for publicly traded companies, digital health startups and a digital marketing agency. Additionally, she was policy adviser on health, commerce and education in the administrations of former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar and former Wisconsin governor and HHS secretary Tommy Thompson.
Tamara StClaire, PhD. Vice President of Innovation at GuideWell. Dr. StClaire has vast healthcare innovation experience. Before joining GuideWell, she served in various roles at Xerox, including CEO of Merisight — the company's corporate digital health startup — and chief business officer of its Palo Alto (Calif.) Research Center. Most recently, she served as chief innovation officer of Xerox's healthcare business. She also worked at Abbott Labs and Roche, and was COO of predictive health platform BaseHealth.
Lynne Stockstad. Chief Marketing Officer for Optum. Since December 2014, Ms. Stockstad has worked at Optum, UnitedHealth's health IT and services arm. She began her tenure at the company as senior vice president of product and consumer marketing. She is now chief marketing officer, responsible for Optum's strategic brand and marketing initiatives. At the company, Ms. Stockstad has led product, marketing and branding efforts and played a key role in company growth. She previously worked at Microsoft for 12 years.
Lisa Suennen. Senior Managing Director at GE Ventures. Ms. Suennen is an experienced venture capital investor and healthcare industry adviser. She currently serves as healthcare venture capital investor at the corporate venture capital arm of GE. Previously, she was an adviser on corporate venture capital and digital health strategy while operating Venture Valkyrie Consulting. She was also a partner at healthcare-focused venture capital firm Psilos Group. Outside her role at GE, Ms. Suennen is the managing partner of Venture Valkyrie, is a co-founder of women's leadership nonprofit C-Sweetener and has a digital health-focused podcast called "Tech Tonics."
Natalie Sunderland, Vice President of Marketing at Qventus. In her current role, Ms. Sunderland is responsible for leading marketing at Qventus, which provides an artificial intelligence software platform. Her responsibilities also include educating the market on the company's offerings. She leads the company's industry council and education programs with key healthcare forums. Previously, Ms. Sunderland led marketing at Castlight Health. She also held senior marketing roles at Citigroup and American Express.
Christina Sung. Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Product Marketing at Health Fidelity. At healthcare tech startup Health Fidelity, Ms. Sung focuses on product development and market strategy. She brings to the role vast experience in healthcare and technology. She has worked for Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, as well as for Vocera Communications, where she managed the development of existing and new products for the Vocera Care Experience web-based tool.
Lisa Stump. Senior Vice President and CIO of Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health and Yale School of Medicine. Ms. Stump has worked at YNHH since 1996. Throughout her career, she has held a number of jobs at YNHH, including director of pharmacy, administrative director in clinical informatics and vice president of the system's Epic project. She also previously served as associate CIO before taking on her current CIO role. At YNHH, she led integration of IT services staff systemwide, as well as consolidation of multiple technology platforms in bed management, infection control, laboratory information and YNHH's blood bank, among other accomplishments. In December 2017, she was chosen for the Carol Emmott Fellowship.
Jessica Sweeney-Platt. Executive Director of Enterprise Strategy at athenahealth. In her current role, Ms. Sweeney-Platt focuses on physician and care team burnout. Prior to this role, she was executive director of athenaResearch at the EHR vendor. She also was managing director of The Advisory Board Co., where she obtained healthcare expertise in areas such as accountable care strategy, medical group growth strategies and inpatient care redesign.
Sheila Talton. President and CEO of Gray Matter Analytics. Ms. Talton helms Gray Matter Analytics, which offers advisory services and analytics solutions for healthcare organizations. A global leader and big-data strategist, she has worked at Cisco Systems, EDS and Ernst & Young, and founded a consultancy focused on communications network integration. At Cisco, she built the company's globalization strategy for China, Brazil and Mexico.
Anncy Thomas, DO. CIO of Episcopal Health Services (Far Rockaway, N.Y.). Dr. Thomas, a board-certified family physician, has served in her current role since July 2017. In this position, she oversees the hospital's IT and services department, among other duties. She previously served as chief medical information officer at Far Rockaway-based St. John's Episcopal Hospital and has served as an adjunct clinical assistant professor of the family medicine program at EHS for both Erie, Pa.-based Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and Portsmouth, Dominica-based Ross University School of Medicine.
Tanya Townsend. System Senior Vice President and CIO of LCMC Health (New Orleans). Ms. Townsend brings an array of healthcare technology and administrative experience to her role at LCMC Health. Before joining LCMC Health in November 2014, she was vice president and CIO of Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She has also served as CIO of Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System's eastern Wisconsin division, where she oversaw IT, biomed and clinical engineering, and health information management for St. Mary's, St. Vincent and St. Nicholas hospitals, including provider practice Prevea Health.
Anna Turman. CEO of Chadron (Neb.) Community Hospital and Health Services. For nearly 20 years, Ms. Turman has worked at Chadron Community Hospital, a critical access hospital serving people in the panhandle of Nebraska and surrounding areas. She served as CIO for 10 years, COO for four years and interim CEO for six months before becoming the hospital's permanent CEO in 2017. During her tenure with the hospital, she has advised the U.S. Cyber Security Task Force. Her specialties include leadership, management of information systems, security and risk assessments, and IT and EHR implementation.
Lorraine Vargas Townsend. Senior Vice President of Human Resources at athenahealth. Ms. Vargas Townsend's early life has played a key role in her career. Experiences like having an immigrant single mother and battling bone cancer when she was 18 influenced how she approaches her human resources role. During her tenure at athenahealth, she has promoted a growth mindset and inclusiveness. She also played a key role in athenahealth's people-first strategy, which, according to the company, "empowers employees to bring their entire selves to work."
Jeanne Venella, BSN, DNP. Chief Nursing Officer of Bernoulli Health. Ms. Venella is an experienced leader in healthcare management, with expertise in emergency nursing, throughput, patient flow and efficiency, process improvement, and change management. Since 2015, she has served as Bernoulli's CNO. In this role, she focuses on developing strategic nursing workflow plans, data analysis and systems.
Stephany Verstraete. Chief Marketing Officer at Teladoc. At Teladoc, Ms. Verstraete's responsibilities include leading global marketing and communications efforts, overseeing market positioning of the company's brand, and product growth. Before joining Teladoc, she held marketing leadership roles at Match.com, Expedia, Kraft and Frito Lay. She also was chief marketing officer at healthcare technology company Truveris.
Emmy Weber. Chief Marketing Officer for Surgical Information Systems. Ms. Weber has more than 20 years of marketing and product management experience. In her current role, she is responsible for SIS' corporate marketing strategies, client experience and partnerships. Previously, she was vice president of product management at MedQuist, now M*Modal, and held various product and marketing roles with Lanier Worldwide.
Linda Whitley-Taylor. Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Change Healthcare. Ms. Whitley-Taylor has extensive healthcare experience. Before joining Change Healthcare, she was executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Amerigroup Corp., a provider of health insurance and managed healthcare. She was also previously senior vice president of human resources operations for Genworth Financial, formerly GE Financial Assurance. During her time there, she was involved in taking the company public in 2004.
Leigh Thomas Williams. Administrator of Business Systems, Health Information and Technology at University of Virginia Health System (Charlottesville). Ms. Williams is a senior health IT leader at UVA Health System. In this role, she manages enterprise financial and operational applications, is responsible for web and mobile app development and strategy, and focuses on the system's service management strategy. Outside of the system, she teaches for the department of health informatics and information management at Jackson-based University of Mississippi Medical Center. She is also president-elect of the Virginia chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
Karley Yoder. Director of Product Management and Artificial Intelligence at GE Healthcare. Ms. Yoder serves as director of product management and artificial intelligence at GE Healthcare. She moved into the role in April 2018 after serving as the company's senior product manager of AI analytics. She received a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School in 2016. While working on that degree, she interned at Apple, with a focus on digital health devices and services.