Colorado - Colorado HIMSS Board of Directors - 2007

CHIMSS is managed by a volunteer Board of Directors, which is elected each year by CHIMSS Members. The 2007-2008 Board is listed below.

Any CHIMSS Member may attend the CHIMSS Board of Directors meetings, which are held several times during each year. Contact the President or any other Board member to determine the time and location for upcoming Board meetings. Anyone can send an email to a board member by clicking on the email address listed under the Board Title.

Members can log in and look up complete contact information for Board Members (and all other CHIMSS Members).

Meet your 2007 - 2008 CHIMSS Board of Directors!!!

Judy McCarthy, President 2007 - 2008
Judy McCarthy is Director of Business Technology & Integration for Exempla Healthcare. Exempla Healthcare is a not-for-profit, faith-based, integrated delivery network comprised of three medical campuses (1133 beds) and seven clinics. Mrs. McCarthy is responsible for new innovative technologies as well as the external consumer website, the Exempla enterprise portal and integration for Exempla (using the e-Gate interface engine to support over 150 interfaces between the two HIS systems and the downstream ancillary applications).

Mrs. McCarthy has over 20 years of IT healthcare experience. She joined Exempla Healthcare in June of 2001 as the Project Manager of e-Business and has since been promoted to Director of Business Technology & Integration to provide a more strategic oversight of these areas. Previous positions held include managing Home Health and Long Term Care Systems for Centura Health, Manager of Clinical Ancillary Systems for Centura Health, Senior Analyst for TDS clinical system at Porter Hospital and RN in ICU/CCU and PACU at Porter Hospital.

Since joining Exempla Healthcare, Mrs. McCarthy has contributed to the research and development of newer technologies for nursing and other departments within Exempla, the development of an enterprise e-business strategy, implemented an enterprise portal and reduced operational costs through consolidation of web technologies. Her innovative technology team has played a key role in testing proximity badge authentication with the use of thin clients in new nursing units and has piloted single patient selection and single sign-on software for the organization. Her web team has completed a number of key e-Business projects including the enterprise portal with secure remote access to applications and failover/redundancy capabilities as well as deployment of new technologies and platforms including a voice over IP messaging system to eliminate overhead paging within the hospital. Her integration team has completed interfacing over 40 systems to the new Epic HIS at one hospital and is re-architecting the integration system to promote connectivity and new coding principles.

Mrs. McCarthy holds a Masters in Computer Information Systems from Regis University and a Bachelors degree in Nursing from Ball State University.

Judy McCarthy can be contacted at: president@chimss.org.

Jeff Pelot, President-Elect
Jeff Pelot is the Chief Technology Officer for Denver Health Hospital and Medical Center, Denver’s community hospital. Denver Health has been recognized as a leader in healthcare technology implementations, most recently in the October 2006 edition of Newsweek Denver Health was reviewed as one of the top hospitals in America for the use of technology.

Jeff provides the leadership, vision, and direction for the use of technology at Denver Health to ensure support of the company's business objectives.
He has over 25 years of managerial experience including extensive program management experience in the areas of technology and systems deployment, implementation of business processes and process improvement for technical infrastructure systems.

Jeff possesses a Masters degree from the Regis University in Computing Systems Management.
Notably his Denver Health Technical team is the recipient of the Health and Hospitals Network Top 100 Most Wired Hospitals for most improved hospitals in 2003, and 2005.

Jeff Pelot can be contacted at:
president-elect@chimss.org.

Tom Kerwin, CPHIMS, Past President
Memorial Health System is comprised of a 477 bed acute care hospital, an outpatient surgery center, and several outpatient facilities. Currently, the health system is constructing a women and children’s hospital, and an 89 bed acute care facility (North of Colorado Springs). The vision for the existing and new facilities is to operate with advanced clinical systems. Memorial Health System has made several other large investments in Information Systems in the last four years including Fuji PACS, McKesson CVIS/CPAS, PICIS surgery, Lawson ERP, IBM Content Manager Document Management, IBM Web sphere Portal Server for physician access, and a modern Cisco Network. Future plans include: Pango RFID, IP security cameras, Video on demand, OR suite video broadcast.

Mr. Kerwin joined Memorial Hospital in 1986 and has served as the Senior Information Systems executive since 1991. Prior to coming to Memorial Hospital, he spent five years in other industries developing systems and managing information systems projects. Tom served on the Board of Colorado HIMSS for three years from 1997 to 1999 and is the current President of Colorado HIMSS. He is a member of the VHA IT Affinity Group. Tom works as an advisor to the county medical society, county health department, and several physician offices on EMR adoption. He is a Fellow of HIMSS and has been a member of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) since 1997.

Tom Kerwin can be contacted at: pastpresident@chimss.org.

MaryLee Newman, Advocacy Chair
MaryLee Newman has been a Project Manager in the Information Services Department at Memorial Health System, in Colorado Springs, Colorado for the past five years. Memorial Health System supports two acute care hospitals; Memorial Hospital (477 beds) and Memorial Hospital North (89 beds), as well as nine outpatient service facilities. MaryLee manages clinical projects from vendor selection through go-live. She was very involved in the implementation of the system-wide electronic medical record system with a special focus in managing the training efforts of more than 2000 employees. Ms. Newman is also a writer and edits and publishes the monthly Information Services newsletter for her organization’s 4600 employees.

Prior to joining Memorial Health System, MaryLee worked as a clinical product specialist for a software vendor and earlier served as the Clinical Program Director for IT at a large hospital in the DC metro area. She has held staff and management level positions in Quality and Risk Management, Critical Care, Telemetry, Oncology, Ambulatory Care, and, as a Staff Development educator. Ms. Newman holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from the University of Miami and a Master of Science (MS) in Computer Systems Management from the University of Maryland’s University College.

MaryLee was elected to the CHIMSS Board as the Advocacy Chair in 2006 and again in 2007. Having lived in Washington, DC for more than twenty years and been directly involved in local and national level campaigns, she has solid knowledge of how the national legislative body works and is successful in parlaying those efforts at the state level.

MaryLee Newman can be contacted at: advocacy@chimss.org.

Marie Medenbach, PMP, CPHIMS, Communications/Web Chair
Marie Medenbach is a PMP and CPHIMS Certified - Senior Consultant for Grapevine IT Consulting. In the past, Ms. Medenbach has been a Sr. Project Manager responsible for synchronizing and monitoring interface testing efforts utilizing both Cerner and Epic EMRs. Ms. Medenbach has also consulted at Memorial Health Services managing the implementation of over 125 system applications - including Cerner, PACS, Pyxis, Talyst, PICIS, McKesson, and Lawson (to name a few) for the new ‘Memorial - North Hospital’ (an 89 bed acute care facility North of Colorado Springs) which went live in April, 2007.

Marie has held the Colorado HIMSS Program Chair position from 2005 – 2007 and will continue on the board as the 2007 – 2008 Colorado HIMSS Communication Chair. In April, 2007, Marie was awarded the ‘Spirit of HIMSS’ honor and was featured in the HIMSS Weekly Insider for her exemplary dedication to industry efforts through HIMSS affiliations. Marie also works within the Project Management Institute (PMI) as the PMI Healthcare Special Interest Group – Strategic Liaisons Lead.

Marie Medenbach can be contacted at: info@chimss.org.

Fred Lunger, Membership Chair
Fred Lunger is the IST business Manager for Exempla healthcare and is responsible for all financial and business aspects of the Information Services and Technology Department. He was instrumental in consolidating all of the financial information when Exempla Healthcare was formed in 1997. He has installed cost control for daily operations and project planning and management, implemented service level agreements, cost allocation models, and contract management procedures. Fred has a BS degree in Finance and an MBA in Information Systems.

Fred Lunger can be contacted at: memberchair@chimss.org.

Karis Shearer, Programs Chair
Karis Shearer serves as Training Practice Director with Healthia Consulting with healthcare experience in both the Inpatient and Ambulatory settings at organizations including Kaiser Permanente, Children’s Memorial Hospital, Hennepin County Medical Center, The Children’s Hospital Denver and Exempla Healthcare. Her roles have been in defining training strategy, managing training initiatives for enterprise-wide clinical and patient management applications as well as curriculum development, classroom training and web-based training implementations.

Karis is a Behavioral Psychologist who earned her M.S. in Industrial & Organizational Psychology from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. She has been a training consultant, project manager and instructional designer for over 15 years. She now specializes in healthcare and also brings a diversity of experience from her work in many other industries including pharmaceutical manufacturing, electronics distribution, telecommunications, corporate education, organizational development and change management.

Karis Shearer can be contacted at: program-chair@chimss.org.

Cindy King, RHIO Liaison Chair
Cynthia King is the Informatics Quality Improvement Advisor for the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care (CFMC). Since 1974 CFMC has been the official medical Quality Improvement Organizations (QIO) for the state of Colorado. In her role, Cynthia King is a technical consultant to providers who participate in the Doctor’s Office Quality Information Technology Project (DOQ-IT). The DOQ-IT project is a national project, sponsored by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), designed to improve the care of Medicare beneficiaries though the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Information Technology. She is active in multiple health information technology and health information exchange initiatives throughout the state of Colorado including the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization Steering Committee. Cindy has served as one of the CHIMSS Board Members At Large since 2005.

Cynthia King earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing degree from Rush University College of Nursing, Chicago, IL. She has worked as a Registered Nurse in the U.S. healthcare system for over 29 years with 22 of those years in Colorado. She earned her Master’s of Science in Computer Information Technology degree from Regis University, Denver, CO, focusing on Management of Technology. She has experience using EHR’s as well as supporting staff during the implementation of an EHR.

Dr. Anna Gibson
Dr. Gibson is a leader with vision. She is insightful, thinks outside the box, detail oriented, analytical, resourceful, smart, and quick to grasp new concepts. She has a broad set of knowledge and skills that make her a problem-solver. With over twenty years of diversified experience in all phases of the systems life cycle for large-scale information systems, she identifies risks and finds solutions which minimize organizational liability. Her scope of experience includes strategic planning, governance, program/project management and integration. Accustomed to high-level presentations and briefings to large audiences of 100+. Highly skilled in conducting Requirements Analysis, Alternative Analysis, Market Analysis, and in preparing Statement of Work (SOW), Test Plans, Implementation Plans, Contract Management Plans, and Business Reports.

Anna Gibson can be contacted at: secretary@chimss.org.

Marilyn Goodloe, CPHIMS, Sponsorship Chair
Marilyn Goodloe serves as Director of Information Systems in the Information Services Department at Memorial Health System in Colorado Springs, CO. Memorial Health System supports two acute care hospitals, Memorial Hospital Central with 477 beds and Memorial Hospital North with 100 beds, as well as nine outpatient services facilities.

In her director role, Marilyn is responsible for the application and programming support of the information systems utilized at Memorial. She leads a team of 44 highly committed and fantastic people supporting many critical systems including Cerner Millennium, Fuji PACS, Siemens Radiology, Provox Voice Recognition, McKesson Cardiology, Picis Surgery, GE QS, Lawson ERP, McKesson Revenue Cycle systems, e*Gate Interface Engine, Trizetto Claims Management, and IBM Content Manager. Marilyn’s team utilizes IBM Websphere for web development and IBM Lotus Domino for rapid application development.

In 2006, Marilyn was the primary project manager for the implementation of the Cerner Millennium system which included Core, PowerChart, Orders Management, FirstNet, INet, ProFile, PathNet, and PharmNet. She will tell you this was the biggest endeavor she has ever taken on next to having a baby!

Marilyn joined Memorial Health System in 1992 and moved into her role of Assistant Director in 1998, receiving the title of Director in 2002. Prior to coming to Memorial Health System, she spent eight years in Texas working in the financial and manufacturing industries developing and supporting systems. Marilyn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Houston Baptist University and a Masters of Business Administration from The University of Dallas. You can see Marilyn spent a lot of time in Texas. But another thing she will tell you is one of the best decisions in her life was moving to Colorado. Texas may be big, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the beautiful state of Colorado.

Marilyn has been a member and participating in HIMSS and CHIMSS events since 1996. She will never forget her first HIMSS meeting in 1996 in Atlanta, GA when she realized the magnitude of the Healthcare Information System industry, a primary turning point in her career in healthcare.

Marilyn Goodloe can be contacted at: sponsorship@chimss.org.

Bob Barrett, CPHIMS, Treasurer-Elect
Bob Barrett holds the position of Director of Information Technology at Memorial Health System in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Bob has a B.S. in Computer Science from Northwest Missouri State University. He has a progressive approach towards implementing technology to solve problems and increase efficiencies. He has implemented voice over IP technologies, network faxing, high-speed wireless and local area networks. Part of his duties includes managing 40+ technically skilled professionals, a successful helpdesk and an operations/data center. Bob is also active with other organizations within the Health System, including the Leadership Action Team. He is also a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems.

Bob enjoys hiking 14ers, bicycling, and many other outdoor activities. He has two sons: one at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs and the other a junior in high school.

Bob Barrett can be contacted at: treasurer-elect@chimss.org.

Gregg Veltri, Board Member at Large
Mr. Veltri brings over 25 years of Information Technology leadership and development experience. Mr. Veltri received the Colorado CIO of the Year award in recognition of his leadership in integrating technology solutions in healthcare. Mr. Veltri is the past president of the Colorado chapter of HIMSS and is a member of the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME). Prior to Denver Health, Mr. Veltri worked in the banking industry for 17 years where he helped support the paper to electronic revolution of the banking business.

Gregg Veltri can be contacted at: board_member_at_large2@chimss.org.

Joe Bajek, Board Member at Large
Mr. Bajek has held the above position since 1999. Prior to that, he was the Manager of Data Networks for the U.S. Surgical Corporation (now part of the Tyco Healthcare Group) and a Lead Senior Network Engineer with G.E. Capital. Mr. Bajek holds a B.S. in Computer Science/Mathematics from the State University of New York Maritime College. He is a graduate of the G.E. Information Systems Management Program, a licensed Third Officer in the United States Merchant Marines and an honorably discharged Lieutenant from the United States Naval Reserve. He currently serves on the Board for the Colorado chapter of the Health Information Management Systems Society and is the Healthcare Sector Chief in the Denver chapter of InfraGard.

Joe Bajek can be contacted at: board_member_at_large1@chimss.org.

Dan Herman, Board Member at Large
Daniel S. Herman, is President of Aspen Advisors, LLC and assists healthcare providers optimize the value of their clinical information system investments. He has 25 years' experience in healthcare information technology strategic planning, design and implementation; clinical systems planning and patient safety improvement; and, business process redesign.

Prior to founding Aspen Advisors, Mr. Herman served as a Senior Vice President at a boutique healthcare consulting firm specializing in physician adoption of advanced clinical systems (Dearborn Advisors), a Regional Vice President in a publicly traded Healthcare Information Technology Consulting firm (First Consulting Group), a manager in the healthcare consulting division of a national CPA firm (KPMG/Bearing Point), an implementation manager for a healthcare software vendor (McKesson), and a management engineer in an academic medical center (Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago). His clients have included academic medical centers, multi facility/multi regional Integrated Delivery Networks, large physician group practices, provider-sponsored managed care organizations and start-up technology companies.

Mr. Herman earned an M.B.A. specializing in Information Systems from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and a B.S. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is a Fellow of the Healthcare Information Management & Systems Society (HIMSS), serves on the Board and as a past president in the Colorado HIMSS Chapter and has authored numerous articles and presentations on various aspects of Healthcare Information Technology (I/T) Management and obtaining value from I/T investments.

Dan Herman can be contacted at: board_member_at_large3@chimss.org.

John Daniels, FHIMSS, FACHE, CPHIMS, CHPS HIMSS Advisor
John H. Daniels, FHIMSS, FACHE, CPHIMS, CHPS, is Chief Information Officer for Evolvent Technologies, Inc., a small, mission-focused technology services firm with corporate offices in Dulles and Falls Church, Virginia, and San Antonio, Texas. Evolvent provides innovative technology solutions in enterprise information management, knowledge management, information assurance/cyber security, and technology support services.

John is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with over 20 years of military service. He served as Chief Information Officer of the USAF Academy Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the first and only Air Force hospital named on the 25 Most Wired Small and Rural list by Hospital & Health Networks (2005 and 2006). The hospital was also recognized as a 2006 Most Wired Supply Chain Innovator Award finalist. John also served as Chair of the Air Force Medical Information Services Working Group driving the IT direction, standards, policies and procedures for 42,000 employees in 74 military treatment facilities around the world.

John was Senior Fellow and Vice President of IT Operations at the Harris County Hospital District in Houston, Texas before moving to Colorado Springs. He has held CIO positions for other military medical organizations including DoD’s former Health Services Region 5 ensuring contract compliance and executing DoD’s IM/IT strategic plan for a $3.4 billion managed care support contract serving over 650,000 beneficiaries.

John also worked in clinical practice in both private and military settings. He served as a mental health associate in outpatient military treatment facilities and in private psychiatric hospitals, and worked as a psychometrician in a private psychology practice.

John has served on the Board of Directors for two HIMSS state chapters, Ohio and Colorado. He participated on the HIMSS National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII) task force and was chair of the HIMSS Air Force CIO Special Interest Group. He also served as President and Vice President on the Board of Directors for the Fisher/Nightingale Houses, Inc., a charitable non-profit organization in Dayton, Ohio. He is a recipient of the Modern Healthcare/Witt-Kieffer Up & Comer Award (2001), ACHE Regent’s Award (2003), AF Surgeon General Information Systems Team of the Year award (2005), and numerous military awards and medals.

John holds an A.A.S. degree in Allied Health Sciences from the Community College of the Air Force, a B.S. degree in Computer Science from West Texas A&M University, and a M.S.A. degree in Health Services Administration from Central Michigan University.

2007 - 2008 Board of Directors Group Photo
Bottom Row, Left to Right: Marilyn Goodloe, Judy McCarthy, Anna Gibson, MaryLee Newman, and Karis Shearer.

Top Row, Left to Right: Cindy King, Tom Kerwin, Joe Bajek, Steve Beck, Bob Barrett, Gregg Veltri, Jeff Pelot, Marie Medenbach and Penni Hernandez.