VA HIMSS is lucky to have some great and talented people that are willing to volunteer their time. We thought you might want to know more about these people, so we've included short biographies on each.
President : Reuben Southall, CPHIMS Reuben Southall is a 15-year veteran of the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (VCUHS) who has a desire to become involved with HIMSS out of a passion to enhance his professional knowledge and foster a “win – win” situation between VCUHS and HIMSS. In his current role, Manager - Clinical Information Systems, assumed in July of 2004, Reuben has a staff of 23 Analysts including Cerner Application Analysts, Interface Analysts, Cerner System Engineers, and Oracle DBAs. Reuben’s staff includes Nurses, Medical Technologists, Respiratory Therapists, and Health Information Management professionals who have decided to migrate to the healthcare technology realm. Currently, 15 consultants are augmenting his team as VCUHS prepares for a major Cerner Upgrade.
President - Elect / Sponsorship Chair: Shane Danaher Shane Danaher is the Client Services, Vice President for DIVURGENT, since 2008. Shane has over six years experience working with client services to develop strategic offerings, maintain client satisfaction, develop marketing strategies. He has also worked with Healthcare systems and providers to build relationships to help achieve the success of their IT project implementations and programs, as well as advance their future goals. In this manner, Shane has worked successfully with over 35 HealthCare systems. Shane has an Economics degree from Haverford College and is currently pursuing an MBA from Virginia Tech.
Treasurer: Christopher Reilly, MHA, CPHIMS Chris is currently a Senior Associate with Cognizant Technology Solutions, Inc. in their healthcare vertical. Cognizant Technology Solutions, Inc. is a global IT company providing outsourcing support and consulting services to such customers as the United Health Group. His responsibilities include software development life cycle implementation, business process improvement, and business analysis. Prior to joining Cognizant, Chris managed his own small consulting firm with offices in Massachusetts and Northern Virginia. His background includes a term at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Bon Secours Richmond Health System, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. Chris received his Master of Health Administration from the Virginia Commonwealth University in 1999.
Secretary: Elizabeth Ikenberry Elizabeth Ikenberry is Medication Process Lead and Senior Pharmacy Solution Architect for Cerner Corporation based in Kansas City, MO. In her role as Pharmacy Solution Architect Elizabeth is currently working with Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, on their Outpatient Pharmacy implementation as the technical lead for the project. Her responsibilities include design, build, training and conversion for five pharmacies. Elizabeth also serves as the Medication Process Community Lead and in this role she coordinates subject matter experts to present on topics for monthly conference calls with the members of the Medication Process Community worldwide. The calls are designed to share the latest information around corporate updates, code upgrades, future functionality, and other topics that associates bring up for discussion. In this role, Elizabeth also manages a group of ten associates, hires new associates, and ensures the appropriate resources are on site for each client.
Elizabeth has 8 years of experience in healthcare information technology. She graduated from Radford University with a Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing.
Past President / Board Member: Scott Bateman, PMP®, CPHIMS Scott has worked in Information Systems for over 20 years, with the last 4 years being in the Healthcare IT Industry. He is currently working with Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System as IS Director of Project Management, where Scott manages a team of project managers with the ultimate responsibility for successful outcomes for their many IS related projects. Scott has earned the PMP® certification from the Project Management Institute, Inc. and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems and a Six Sigma Black Belt. Scott is an active member of the local Hampton Roads Virginia Chapter of PMI and has held several board positions with the Local Virginia Chapter of HIMSS including President-Elect, Sponsorship Chair and Secretary. Scott holds a BS in Management Information Systems from Old Dominion University and Masters Certificate in IT Project Management from George Washington University.
Board Member: Tom Carr Thomas A. Carr joined SyCom Technologies in 2009 as Vice President of Healthcare and Emerging Markets. His work is focused on solution development and sales for vertical markets in addition to data center solutions, managed services and customer briefings. Tom will serve as a Partner and member of the Executive Team.
During his twenty-year career, Tom has been heavily involved in numerous areas of the healthcare sector. After holding a number of sales and sales management positions at Gambro Healthcare, Tom leveraged this experience at Cisco Systems as Major Account Manager, working solely with the hospital environment. His efforts led to the publication of several healthcare best practices by Cisco. In his ninth year at Cisco as Business Development Manager for the healthcare vertical sector, Tom was named Major Account Manager of the Year.
In 2007, Tom joined Packet360 as Director of Sales, and developed the sales consulting group specializing in vertical markets and advanced technologies. The company was recognized by Inc. magazine for its fast growth during his tenure.
Tom, founder of James Madison University Technology Alumni Group, has been actively involved with the James Madison University College of Business Executive Advisory since 2004 and was named Alumnus of the Year in 2003. He and his wife, Maribeth, also serve on the Board of the Cullather Brain Tumor Quality of Life Center at Bon Secours.
Program Co-Chair: Ashley G. Clary, MHA Ms. Clary has been with Sentara Healthcare for the past 2 years. She began her career as an administrative fellow. During her fellowship she was been involved with several post-acute, health plan and system-wide projects including the development and delivery of home care services to new markets, business analysis of telehealth monitoring, HME bar-coding implementation, and research studies involving RHIO initiatives, board governance, and information system construction cost projections. Ms. Clary was also a member of the system-wide Case Management Steering committee. In May 2007, she accepted a position as eCare Business Development Analyst in which she works with several teams throughout the organization in the development of electronic medical record solutions for community providers throughout Hampton Roads. Ms. Clary serves as Vice President and founding sponsorship committee member of Healthcare Administrators of Tidewater (HCAT), a local chapter of American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). Ashley Clary holds undergraduate degrees in Accounting and Finance from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA and a Master's degree in Health Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA.
Organizational Liaison: Kyle Fredette, MBA Kyle Fredette has over eleven years of information technology experience. He is the regional General Manager for Winthrop Resources Corporation, a technology financing specialist with expertise in healthcare. Prior to Winthrop, Kyle served on the board of directors for North Carolina's HIMSS Chapter and managed the Mid-Atlantic territory for Ascom U.S., Inc. He cut his teeth in the information technology arena providing IT Services as a government contractor, with experience in Project Management, Logistics, and Engineering. Kyle received his BBA and BS from James Madison University and MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Program Co-Chair: Lynn Gold, RN, MS, MBA Lynn Gold, RN, MS, MBA is the Director of Customer Service and the Project Management Office, and the manager of the IS Service Desk, Cerner Clinical Information Systems Support, Testing and Training Team, and the Desktop Support Team at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. Lynn has 20+ years experience in healthcare, education, leadership and development in the healthcare industry as well as other non-related healthcare fields. She is a registered nurse, graduating from Rochester State College (Mayo Clinic), Rochester, MN with a Masters in Education from Virginia Commonwealth University as well as an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Lynn has completed training in Six Sigma Green Belt training and is working on the attainment of her certification in project management.
Communication / Web Chair: Kim Hardesty, PMP® Kim has over 20 years in the healthcare industry including positions within physician practices, hospital and healthcare system environments. The last 13 years have been primarily in the Healthcare IT Industry involving system implementation and management. Kim earned the PMP® certification from Project Management Institute, Inc in 2006 and currently works as an Enterprise Project Manager for Bon Secours Health System, Inc. She recently completed implementation of a laboratory consolidation & standardization project that included the migration of fourteen hospital laboratories, from six local markets, located in five states, onto a single database platform with standardized dictionaries. Kim joined the VA-HIMSS Board in 2009.
Program Co-Chair: Blair Hedgepeth Blair Hedgepeth is Manager of Congressional Affairs for HIMSS National and supports all congressional activities. She represents HIMSS at the Congressional Luncheon Seminar Series and the Friday Collaborative Group consisting of representation from many health IT associations. Blair is charged with hosting the HIMSS National Advocacy Day, Advocacy Breakfast at HIMSS Annual Conference, in charge of all Capitol Hill outreach. She is responsible for hosting congressional staff trips to local practices showcasing HIT applications as well as an annual staff trip to the U.S. Conference and Exhibition. Prior to working with HIMSS, Blair worked with the Virginia General Assembly for two years. She is a graduate of Virginia Tech, the University of Connecticut Healthcare Information Technolgoy Certificate Program and is working on her Masters in Public Administration.
Board Member: Brandy Killion, RN, MS Brandy Killion has more than 16 years in healthcare and HIT consulting. Ms. Killion is a subject matter expert in health reform and clinical quality strategies; driving to improve clinical and business processes through widespread adoption of health IT; utilizing integrated project management, development, and consulting methodologies to design, execute, and manage complex projects and programs. She previously worked as Project Director and Project Manager for multiple EHR implementations.
Previously, as IBM’s Public Sector Healthcare Campaign Manager, Ms. Killion was responsible for coordination of IBM’s go-to-market vision and strategy for: Comparative Effectiveness, Primary Care Medical Home, Clinical and Business Optimization, HIE, Quality and Effectiveness and Population Management. Ms. Killion also led IBM’s 2009 RX benefit redesign, a $425 million program consisting of: specialty medication, utilization management, generics, employee and employer cost share, channel alignment (mail/retail), coinsurance tier design, indexing and contributions, and therapeutic resource centers.
Past President/ Membership Chair: Colin Konschak, RPh, MBA, CPHIMS, FHIMSS Colin B. Konschak is the founding Partner of Tidewater Consulting Partners, and was previously an Associate Partner / Client Services Leader with IBM Global Business Services. He has 15 years of healthcare technology, business operations, organizational leadership and clinical experience. He is a Registered Pharmacist graduating from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and possesses an MBA in Health Services Management from Old Dominion University. Colin is a Six Sigma Black Belt and has worked on numerous process improvement projects during his career, throughout the continuum of care. Currently, he has a book in process with ASHP publications titled, "Six Sigma Pharmacy" and has given numerous presentations on this and other healthcare related topics.
Board Member: Jay Napier Jay Napier has 25 years experience in the sales and marketing of electronic communications and life safety systems. He is charged with business development for Communications Specialists’ Health Care division. Communications Specialists has over 20 years of experience in communications and life safety systems and in satisfying the special needs of Hospitals and Assisted Living facilities. Jay also serves on the VONE board. Jay received his early electronics training in the US Navy and holds a BSBA degree from Old Dominion University.
Past President / Chapter Advocacy Roundtable (CAR): Terri Ripley, BS, MIT, CPHIMS Terri Ripley has over 20 years experience developing, implementing and integrating healthcare systems. She is the Director of Systems and Programming for Centra, a regional, non-profit comprehensive health care system in central VA. Terri is constantly enhancing her knowledge of information technology and exploring new ways to share data within the medical community. Terri received her Masters in Information Technology from Virginia Tech, has completed her Six Sigma Green Belt certification and is recognized by HIMSS as a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems. Several of the many critical projects implemented under her direction include the integration of over 24 McKesson applications in a single go-live, the electronic sharing of data in our medical community such as: demographic data into physician billing systems, and the transmission of results and reports to physician EMRs. Terri is currently working to create a data retrieval system that will enhance Lynchburg-area physicians' electronic medical records systems to facilitate compliance with evidence-based practices recommended by the American College of Cardiology's (ACC) "Continuous Cardiac Care" program.
Past President/ Student Programs Chair: Mike Sanders, MBA Mike has been in the health care industry for over 25 years, starting in the Admissions department at the age of 17. His healthcare background included director and executive positions in hospitals and ambulatory care settings. During that tenure, Mike participated in 8 major information system implementations, including two new start-up hospitals, both of which were hi-lighted in Modern Healthcare as progressive new hospital approaches. Mike is currently the CFO / Director of Professional Services for HealthTek Solutions, Inc, a mid-size healthcare IT consulting firm based in Norfolk. His responsibilities include strategic planning, financial operations, and management of team leads and consultant staff, which brings him in touch with healthcare professionals and IT staff at healthcare institutions all over the country. Prior to joining HealthTek, Mike managed his own small consulting firm, Healthcare Process Management Group, and held positions at the Methodist Heath Care System in Houston, Texas. In addition to his participation in HIMSS, Mike is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration and a Masters in Business Administration.
HIE Chair: David E. Stewart David E. Stewart is an Associate Partner with IBM Global Business Services. He has 16 years of healthcare technology, business operations, organizational leadership and clinical experience. David held leadership positions at Accenture, Capgemini, GE & WebMD where he was responsible for large scale business development, consulting and IT engagements to strategic clients within the commercial and federal healthcare industry. David is Six Sigma and CAP certified and has worked on numerous strategy and process improvement projects during his career, throughout the continuum of care. David is active with the NOVA RHIO and a member of the infrastructure committee.
Education Chair: Helen Volger, CPHIMS Helen is Applications Implementation & Support (AIS) Manager for Wavelength Information Services/Atlantic General Hospital. Currently a resident of the VA’s Eastern Shore, Helen has over 25 years experience with Healthcare Information Services positions, including work with physician group practices, software vendors, insurance carriers, consulting firms and hospitals. Currently, she is a member of Atlantic General Hospital’s Leadership Team and manages the AIS Team, which provides project management for application implementations, upgrades, and support for the Keane InSight (AS400) Patient Management, Clinical and General Financial modules. Helen has had several roles within the Keane InSight User Group (KIUG) and is presently a KIUG Officer and Liaison for the Patient Management group. As a member of VA HIMSS, Helen has recently joined the Board as a Program Co-Chair. Her education includes a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, University of Pittsburgh.
Past President / Board Member: Laishy Williams-Carlson, CPHIMS Laishy Williams-Carlson serves on the CIO Council for Bon Secours Health System as the Chief Information Officer for Hampton Roads, which is comprised of three acute care hospitals, nursing care centers, and ambulatory sites. In addition to her Hampton Roads CIO role, she heads up the BSHSI Enterprise Application Services Division. Laishy will lead the system-wide implementation of BSHSI’s EHR, launching this summer. She has worked in healthcare finance and I.S. for 22 years in various roles, including: Controller, Director of I.S. and Local System CIO. Laishy has attained CPHIMS certification and is a Six Sigma Black Belt. She has held various Virginia HIMSS Chapter leadership roles, including President, President-Elect, Program Chair, and Communications Chair.
