2023 Annual Conference

Tim Gray

Tim Gray is the Health Innovation Officer and Senior Industry Advisor at Microsoft. He advises organizations on how innovative technologies can enhance clinical, operational, and financial performance, maximize capacity and human experience, and transform care models. He is a leader in how specific technologies, including AI, can best be deployed to address digital transformation imperatives such as human engagement/experience, burnout, care at home, healthcare of the future and many others. By listening to customers and understanding their challenges, Tim drives outcomes that truly align to strategy and needs. Tim’s career has been 100% dedicated to healthcare/healthcare IT and is a former healthcare CIO and CISO. His other experience includes EHR implementation and optimization, clinical informatics, project management, sales/marketing and customer success. Tim is also a professor on Interoperability for Microsoft’s Master of Health program.

Amber Price

Amber Price is president of Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center in Williamsburg (SWRMC). Prior to her role at Sentara, Price spent several years at Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) where she served in roles as TriStar Division Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. During her time with HCA, Amber oversaw design and construction of two hospitals and served as a member of the HCA corporate design team. She oversaw the creation of a maternal/neonatal helicopter flight program from concept to implementation. She led concept development for innovative hospitalist models and worked with General Electric to develop a new Fetal Monitoring technology. Under Price’s leadership, her unit teams achieved some of the highest patient experience scores in the HCA system. Hospitals under her guidance experienced zero maternal mortalities. Price is also a Certified Nurse Midwife and spent time at Hampton Roads OBGYN in Hampton, Virginia, and has served as President of the American College of Nurse Midwives, VA Affiliate.

Rob Perry

Rob Perry is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Carilion Clinic, the largest healthcare organization in southwest Virginia, with seven hospitals serving nearly one million Virginians. Becker’s Hospital Review named him as one of the top healtcare CISOs to know.
He oversees cybersecurity, GRC, IAM, EHR security, and disaster recovery in his current role.

Mr. Perry is a high-performance IT leader with over 20 years’ experience managing
cybersecurity, technology systems and IT infrastructure. His business and technology
experience has allowed Mr. Perry to align security and technology initiatives with corporate and organizational business objectives with the goal of “Friction-Free Security.”

He holds dual master’s degrees: Masters in Technology Management (MTM) and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from University of Maryland. He also serves as the President Elect for the Virginia chapter of HIMSS.

Geoff Lawson

Geoff Lawson is the SVP/CIO at Mary Washington Healthcare. He’s responsible for creating and maintaining innovative, secure, and resilient applications and infrastructure in service to MWHC’s associates, provider staff, and patients.

After his military service as a nuclear-trained submarine officer, Geoff worked in various IT leadership positions across multiple industry verticals, spending the last 15 years in healthcare.

Before his current position, Geoff served as CIO at Morehead Memorial Hospital in Eden, North Carolina, and CTO/CISO at Cone Health in Greensboro. He also served as president and board member of the North Carolina Health Information & Communications Alliance (NCHICA).

Barbara Ballard

Barbara Ballard joined Valley Health in 2022 and serves on the health system’s executive leadership team. She leads all technology, information system, and medical record functions in the organization, as well as the implementation of strategies supporting a technological transformation at Valley Health.

Prior to joining Valley Health, Ballard served as vice president and associate chief information officer at Carilion Clinic. She has served in senior management positions driving healthcare operations, strategic planning, information technology visioning and execution. Ballard earned her Bachelor of Arts from University of Central Florida and her master’s in Healthcare Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Keith Perry

Keith Perry is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Carilion Clinic where he is responsible for leading Technology Services, Health Information Management and Clinical Engineering for a comprehensive network of medical facilities that provide quality care close to home for nearly one million Virginians. Prior to his current role, he served as Administrator of Technology Services for University of Virginia Health Systems, and Vice President and Associate Chief Information Officer for Hospital Partners of America.

Perry earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Garder-Webb University in Business Administration and a Master’s of Healthcare Administration and a Master’s of Business Administration from Pfeiffer University. He also served as President for the Virginia Chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and is a member of the College of Health Information Management Executives.

Penny Cooper

Penny Cooper, DHSc is a Data Scientist at Augusta Health, an independent, community-owned, not-for-profit hospital with a mission to promote the health and well-being of its community through access to excellent care. She is passionate about the use of data in analysis and custom development to solve problems in healthcare. Penny holds a doctorate in Health Sciences from Nova Southeastern University and has published several manuscripts on identifying risks in healthcare.

Robin Parkin

Robin Parkin, CIO at UVA Health, is an accomplished healthcare and technology leader with over 36 years of experience. She has in-depth knowledge of healthcare applications and operations at all levels and demonstrated proficiency in planning and execution. With a proven track record of leading large-scale technology projects, Robin is involved in UVA’s transition of three community hospitals and supporting applications within an integrated delivery network.

Robin joined the University of Virginia Health System in 2015 and has been their CIO since 2018. UVA’s Health IT serves UVA Medical Center, University Practice Group, and School of Medicine. Before joining UVA, Robin held several IT leadership roles with what is now East Carolina Health.

Jason Alexander

As VCU Health’s Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, Jason leads enterprise information security vision, strategy, and program to ensure our information assets and technologies are protected, both proactively and in response to threats. He is directly responsible for policies, standards and oversight of all information security operations affecting the health system. Jason drives implementation for our vulnerability management, information security monitoring and operations, as well as threat intelligence programs.

Jason and his team foster and maintain more than security software and systems; they also foster and promote a security-aware culture. Team members must be aware of the very real threats to our health system and the potential impact to our patients and our team members, and importantly, the steps they can take to make sure they always make good decisions when accessing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or doing such simple tasks as reading email and text messages.

Jason has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Science in Computer Engineering, focusing on Information Assurance. Prior to coming to VCU Health, he worked at the University of Iowa Hospitals, University of Virginia, and CarMax as an information security officer.

Chris Turnbill

 
Chris Turnbull leads corporate communications and operational continuity for Carilion Clinic. He’s responsible for leading a team that advises senior leadership on communications matters and implements a strategic communications program that incorporates issues management, crisis communications, media relations, executive communications and related activities. Over the course of his 25-year career, Chris has alternated between for-profit agency environments such as Neathawk Dubuque & Packett and not-for-profit organizations, such as the World Bank, United Nations Women and Carilion. Chris has been a valuable member of his organizations’ Emergency Management Teams. He’s created crisis response and communication plans, developed and led leadership training programs and conducted hundreds of simulations to exercise executive decision-making processes. Chris has responded to scores of international and domestic emergencies, including coups-d’etat, earthquakes, hurricanes, and terrorist attacks, which further honed his keen sense for communicating under fire. He received a master’s degree in management, with a focus on public relations from the University of Maryland Global Campus. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Roanoke College. He’s Accredited in Public Relations and is a Certified Business Continuity Professional.

Hannah Curtis

Hannah Curtis is a public information officer and the media relations lead for Carilion Clinic. As a member of the Corporate Communications team, she advises on strategic, executive and crisis communication.

In addition to her role with Carilion, she’s a consultant with Crisis Partners, working with global clients like Amazon to develop and conduct crisis management and business continuity training programs.

She has a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from Roanoke College and a Master of Healthcare Administration from Radford University Carilion. Hannah has worked in public relations for a variety of organizations, ranging from small non-profits to institutions of higher education. She also sits on the board for Alta Mons and the Roanoke Valley SPCA.

In her time at Carilion, she has had the opportunity to aid in risk assessments and crisis communications response, actively contributing to reputation management efforts as well as strategic development. She also regularly mentors young people interested in careers in communications and healthcare and oversees the Marketing and Communication internship program for Carilion.

Emma Swann

Director, Public Relations & Communications, Bon Secours Mercy Health

As a Director of PR & Communications at Bon Secours Mercy Health, Emma works to align strategic internal and external communications to engage regional audiences in the Bon Secours Mercy Health brand and to strategically position the ministry as a thought leader and innovator. She works closely with senior leaders and executives in various parts of the ministry to help drive effective communication initiatives. Emma earned a BA in Communication from Virginia Tech and quickly established a record of success at some of the largest and most respected health care brands in the world. Beginning her career in New York City with Chamberlain Healthcare Public Relations 13 years ago, she helped promote advancements in Pfizer’s lung and kidney cancer treatment portfolio. She has since coordinated and managed internal and external communications for a global law firm and served clients in the pharmaceutical, health care and consumer industries while working in public relations in and around the Richmond and Hampton Roads areas.

Jonathan Sachs

CEO, WUWTA

Jonathan Sachs is a healthcare leader who is committed to improving the patient experience both in hospital and outpatient  settings through design thinking and innovative solutions. He currently serves as the chief executive officer of WUWTA (Pronounced “What-ah”), a patient experience technology company that increases referral volume through video push notifications to patients. 

Previously, he served as vice president and chief experience officer for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, creating and implementing the strategic direction needed to measure, communicate, and improve all aspects of the patient, family, and employee experience.

Prior to joining Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Jonathan served as vice president of experience transformation at Adventist HealthCare. As part of his portfolio, he led the Patient Experience, Foundation, Digital Health, and Innovation departments.

Jonathan has a Bachelor’s degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland and a Master’s in Business Administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. In addition, Jonathan has an Executive Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University, is a Fellow of the American College of HealthCare Executives, and is an Associate Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation.

In his spare time, Jonathan writes a blog called “The Practicing Leader” which focuses on the topics of leadership, patient experience, and innovation. He enjoys traveling, specifically to visit every Major League baseball park, every presidential library, and every State Capitol building.

Danya Bushey