 Russell P. Branzell, FCHIME, CHCIO
President & CEO – CHIME
About Russell
| Prior to joining CHIME, Russ Branzell was the VP of IS/CIO, Poudre Valley Health System (PVHS) and the President/CEO of Innovation Enterprises (PVHS’ for profit IS entity). PVHS is an integrated health system with a reputation for excellence and innovative care. They most recently are the recipients of the 2008 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the highest Presidential honor given to US businesses and organizations that demonstrate performance excellence, the Colorado Performance Excellence Peak Award (first and only organization in the state), Solucient’s 100 Top Hospitals, Health Grades Distinguished Hospital Award, Magnet Hospital for Nursing Excellence designation, Avatar International 5 Star National Award, and US News and World Report-America’s 50 Best Hospitals. In addition to these honors and awards, the Information Services Division was recognized with Information Week Magazine’s Top 500 Award for innovative technology usage and also received the Business Technology Optimization Excellence Award for IT Governance Best Practices (2004).
Prior to joining PVHS, he was the Regional Deputy CIO and Executive Director of Information Services for Sisters of Mercy Health System in St. Louis, MO.
Before his time in St. Louis, Mr. Branzell served on active duty in the US Air Force and continues to serve in the Air Force Reserves. While on active duty, Mr. Branzell served in numerous healthcare administration positions including CIO for the Air Mobility Command Surgeon General’s Office. In 1996, he was selected for the Air Force Medical Service Fellowship program and completed a CIO Internship at the Unity Health System in St. Louis, MO.
Mr. Branzell is a past member of the CHIME Board of Directors (2004-2008), past Chairperson of the CHIME Education Committee (2004-2008), and past Program Director for CHIME’s Healthcare CIO Boot Camp™ (2006 – 2009). He was instrumental in the development and ongoing success of CHIME’s LEAD Forum and CHIME Foundation Boot Camp education programs, serving both as Program Director and as a member of faculty for both since their inception.
In addition, he has served as Chairperson of CHIME’s Spring and Fall CIO Forum Planning Committees and currently serves on the CHIME Education Foundation Board.
Mr. Branzell is a Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO), a fellow of CHIME and HIMSS, and board certified through the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). He was awarded the 2005 ACHE Regent’s Award as the Young Healthcare Administrator of the Year for the State of Colorado. PVHS has received numerous industry awards in recognition of its commitment to the advancement of healthcare informatics.
Russ serves on numerous editorial, volunteer, community and management boards. Additionally, he has been a speaker at regional, national, user groups and vendor conferences.
A native of San Antonio, TX, Russ earned an undergraduate degree in business administration specializing in human resource management and labor relations from the University of Texas. In 1995, he earned a Master’s degree in Administrative Science from Embry-Riddle University with an emphasis in management. |
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 Cara Babachicos, FCHIME, CHCIO
Sr VP & CIO, South Shore Health System
About Cara
| Cara Babachicos is Senior VP and CIO at South Shore Health System, a regional community health system located just south of Boston. |
| Babachicos earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College in the School of Management. She received her Master of Science Degree in Health Care Administration from the University of New Hampshire. |
| Babachicos has over 25 years of experience working in healthcare information systems with a career that spans across acute care, non-acute, for profit-vendors and consulting. She values the importance of the healthcare continuum and seeks to enhance IT services to allow patient care in the home and/or other setting most suitable for the patient. Her hope is that IT will continue to provide better services to allow patients to stay in their home while receiving complex care. |
| In her current role, Babachicos oversees all aspects of IT and has led major organizational transformation with a $175M project to revamp technology and software across the health system. She is of the firm belief that IT enables change and that true success comes from partnering with the business. She demonstrates that change is enabled by IT both in her current role as Senior VP/CIO at South Shore Health System, and in her previous role as CIO and Corporate Director of Information Systems for the Community Hospitals and Non-Acute sites at Partners Healthcare. |
| Babachicos was a member of the CHIME Board of Directors 2014-2106. She is on the faculty of CHIME and teaches in the Healthcare CIO Boot Camp™. Babachicos also teaches in the master’s program for Health Informatics at Northeastern University where she authored an online course focused on the patient experience. Previously, Babachicos was on the faculty at Harvard School of Public Health where she taught a course in executive project management. |
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 Daniel Barchi
SVP and CIO of New York Presbyterian
About Daniel
| Daniel Barchi is SVP and CIO of NewYork-Presbyterian, one of the largest healthcare providers in the US and the university hospital of Columbia and Cornell. He leads 1,000 informatics and technology specialists who deliver the tools and data that physicians and nurses use to deliver acute care and manage population health. |
| Daniel previously led healthcare technology as CIO at Yale and earlier as CIO of the Carilion Health System. He was President of the Carilion Biomedical Institute and Director of Technology for MCI WorldCom. Daniel graduated from Annapolis, began his career as a U.S. Naval officer at sea, and was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal for leadership and the Southeast Asia Service Medal for Iraq operations in the Red Sea. |
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 Charles Christian, FCHIME, FHIMSS, LCHIME, CHCIO
VP of Technology and Engagement, Indiana Health Information Exchange
About Charles
| Charles (Chuck) Christian is the VP of Technology and Engagement of the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE), the nation’s largest Health Information Exchange. |
| Prior to joining IHIE, Christian served as the VP/CIO of St. Francis Hospital, a free-standing, acute care, community hospital in west Georgia, a position he held for two years. Before his role at St. Francis, Christian served as the CIO for Good Samaritan Hospital, in Vincennes, Indiana. A position he held for almost 24 years. Before joining Good Samaritan Hospital, Christian worked in healthcare IT for Compucare and Baxter Travenol, in both management and implementation roles. Christian started his career in healthcare as a Registered Radiologic Technologist, serving in various Radiology roles for 14 years. Christian studied natural sciences at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Lacrosse University. |
| Christian has delivered presentations on diverse healthcare technology topics and is frequently quoted and published in national trade publications. More recently he and co-authors, Judy Kirby and Steve Bennett published “Make I.T. Known-Marketing Strategies and Cases Studies in the Healthcare Environment.” Christian is also a frequent author of the CHIME-Time segment in Modern Healthcare. |
| During Christian’s tenure, both St. Francis and Good Samaritan Hospital achieved the HIMSS’ EMRAM Level 6 designation. Good Samaritan Hospital received the McKesson VIP Award in 2004, identified as a Solucient Top 100 Hospital – Quality Improvement Leader in 2005, listed as Most Wired (small and rural) in 2004 & 2005, a 2006 recipient of the VHA Leadership Award for Clinical Excellence and a 2008 recipient of the VHA Leadership Award for Supply Chain Excellence. Good Samaritan was recognized as a Magnet hospital in 2010 and received a renewal of that status in 2013, by the ANA. |
| Christian is a Fellow of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and is a Past Chair of the HIMSS Board of Directors, and past Chair of the HIMSS BOD Executive Committee. Christian was previously a member of the HIMSS Analytics Board of Directors. Christian is a Fellow and charter member of College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME) and served on the CHIME BOD from 2003 through 2004 during which time he chaired the Membership Committee of the CHIME BOD. Christian is credentialed by CHIME as a Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO). Christian is a charter member of the re-established Indiana Chapter of HIMSS and served as a BOD member from 2000 – 2009. Christian served as a member of the Executive Advisory Board for Advance for Health Information Executives magazine. Christian served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Indiana Health Informatics Corporation by appointment of Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. Governor Daniels also appointed Christian the Indiana Healthcare Information Technology Board of Directors. |
| Christian is currently serving on the CHIME Board of Directors as Chair, and is the Past-Chair of the CHIME Policy Steering Committee. Christian served on the Georgia HIMSS Board of Directors from 2013-2015, the KLAS Advisory Group from 2009-2013, and the CDW-Healthcare CIO Advisory Council from 2005-2010. Christian was recently asked to join the AHA Strategic Development Advisory Committee as a charter member. Christian is a past member of the Symantec Healthcare Advisory Group, and several other industry advisory groups/councils. |
| Christian, along with co-authors Judy Kirby and Steve Bennett, received the 2010 CHIME Collaboration Award for their work “Make I.T. Known – Marketing Strategies and Case Studies in the Healthcare Environment.” |
| Christian is the recipient of the Charles E. Christian Leadership award, presented annually by the Indiana Chapter of HIMSS. |
| Christian is the recipient of the 2010 John E. Gall, CIO of the Year Award, presented by CHIME and HIMSS. |
| Christian was named among the top 100 Healthcare CIOs to know, 2013, 2014, and 2015 by Becker’s Hospital Review. |
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 Myra Davis
Sr VP & CIO, Texas Children’s
About Myra
| Myra Davis is the Senior VP of Information Services and CIO at Texas Children’s, an internationally recognized health care organization for pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology, research center and teaching hospital affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine. |
| For 30+ years she has been in the profession of bridging the gap leading and communicating the opportunities and benefits of technology. Davis has served at Texas Children’s Hospital as the Director of Customer Service in Information Services; Assistant VP of Information Services and VP of Information Services. Prior to joining Texas Children’s her career included serving roles of software development; project management; leadership positions and various consulting roles where she has not only lead technology implementations but she’s had to influence the change management that’s often forgotten and required for adoption and acceptance of technology to be successful. |
| In 2011, CIO magazine recognized Texas Children’s Hospital as one of most innovative organizations by naming the facility as winner of the CIO 100 award, which exemplifies the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology. In 2013, for the very first time Texas Children’s received Most Wired and Most Wired Innovation Award. In 2014, Texas Children’s received 2014 ComputerWorld Data + Award and Most Wired. |
| Davis currently serves on the Board of Directors for CHIME (College of Health Information Management Executives) – a professional organization for CIOs and other senior healthcare IT leaders. Board of Directors for GenesysWorks – a non-profit organization focused on giving underprivileged high school students the opportunity to work in corporate environments. Davis has also served on the CIO Advisory Forum of the Child Healthcare Corporation of America (CHCA), the Strategic Advisory Board of the Help Desk Institute (HDI) and the CIO Executive Council of the Executive Women in IT Steering Committee. She also is a member of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS). |
| Davis has an B.S. Computer Sciences, Loyola University, New Orleans, La, and M.S. Software Development, St. Thomas University, Minneapolis, MN and is professionally certified in Medical and Healthcare Management, ITIL Foundation (Gartner Institute of Project Management), Facilitative Leadership, Consulting as an IT Professional, Negotiating as an IT Professional, Conflict Management, Advance Project Management and E-Business Rapid Technology Development. |
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 Keith Fraidenburg
Executive VP & Chief Operating Officer, CHIME
About Keith
| Keith Fraidenburg has more than 24 years of experience working within the healthcare IT industry, including nearly 20 years of association management experience. In his role, he is responsible for providing overall leadership and execution of the organization’s business strategies and plans, setting comprehensive goals for performance and sustainable growth. He also maintains primary responsibility for the organization’s advocacy and public policy efforts and its platform of education programs and services. In his prior role as Chief Strategy Office, he was responsible for identifying and cultivating new business opportunities in support of the organization’s long-term strategic goals. |
| As a member of the senior leadership team, he works closely with healthcare IT executives, key industry leaders and industry association partners, including the American Hospital Association (AHA), American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and others to keenly understand the issues, concerns and needs of healthcare information executives. |
| In his previous role as Vice President of Education and Communications for CHIME, Fraidenburg was responsible for leading the education, marketing and communications programs and services available through CHIME. |
| In addition to his responsibilities within CHIME, Fraidenburg is a member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). |
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 George Hickman, FCHIME, LCHIME, LFHIMSS, CPHIMS, CHCIO
Executive VP & Systems Chief Information & Analytics Officer, Albany Medical Center
About George
| George Hickman is Executive Vice President and Systems Chief Information and Analytics Officer for Albany Medical Center in New York’s Capital Region. He is responsible for overseeing all information technology, biomedical engineering and data analytics activities throughout the academic health sciences system, its hospitals, physician faculty practice and medical college. Prior to joining Albany Med, he was a healthcare IT partner with Ernst & Young LLP. |
| This is Hickman’s third academic CIO post. He also has worked with Price Waterhouse Coopers and started his career as a hospital project engineer. He has worked with health provider organizations across the US as well as for the Ministry of Health in Singapore and the UK Health Authority and publishes frequently on healthcare IT and operational change topics. |
| He was awarded the 2007 CHIME/Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) John E. Gall, Jr. CIO of the Year. |
| Hickman is a former board chair, former Foundation board chair, a charter member, the current Education Foundation board chair, and is a Life member and Fellow of CHIME. |
| He is past board chair, past executive compensation committee chair, and a Life Fellow member of HIMSS. He is also a HIMSS Analytics past board member. |
| Hickman is the board secretary for MedAllies, the service delivery organization Hudson Valley area HIE and a national HISP for Direct exchange, and a past board and executive committee member for the Health Information Exchange of New York (Hixny). He sits on the Cerner Corporation CIO Strategic Advisory Council and the Allscripts Touchworks Executive Forum. He also serves on his organization’s regional Medicaid Reform (DSRIP) board of directors. He is an advisory board member emeritus for KLAS and sits on the editorial advisory board for healthsystemcio.com as well as several associational, local, state and vendor industry committees. |
| He is a frequent speaker and lecturer on a variety of health IT related topics and has published extensively on a variety of health IT-related topics, including co-authoring, “The Healthcare IT Planning Fieldbook.” |
| He holds a BS and an MS in engineering from the University of Tennessee. |
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 Edward W. Marx, FCHIME, FHIMSS, CHCIO
CIO, Cleveland Clinic
About Edward
| Edward Marx is Chief Information Officer at Cleveland Clinic, an $8 billion medical system that includes a main campus, 10 regional hospitals, 18 family health centers, and facilities in Florida, Nevada, Toronto, Abu Dhabi and London. |
| He is responsible for the development and execution of strategic planning and governance, driving optimal resource utilization, and team development and organizational support. Ultimately, he will develop leaders and leverage digital healthcare technologies to enable superior business and clinical outcomes. |
| Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic, Edward served as Senior Vice President/CIO of Texas Health. In 2015, he spent over two years as executive vice president of the Advisory Board, providing IT leadership and strategy for New York City Health & Hospital. Edward began his career at Poudre Valley Health System. CIO roles have included Parkview Episcopal Medical Center, University Hospitals in Cleveland and Texas Health. Concurrent with his healthcare career, he served 15 years in the Army Reserve, first as a combat medic and then as a combat engineer officer. |
| Edward is a Fellow of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). He is on the CHIME Faculty for the CIO Boot Camp, training aspiring healthcare technology professionals. He has won numerous awards, including HIMSS/CHIME 2013 CIO of the Year, and has been recognized by both CIO and Computer World as one of the “Top 100 Leaders.” Becker’s named Marx as the 2015 “Top Healthcare IT Executive” and the 2016 “17 Most Influential People in Healthcare.”
Ed received his Bachelor of Science in psychology and a Master of Science in design, merchandising, and consumer sciences from Colorado State University. |
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 Marc Probst, CHCIO
CIO, Intermountain Healthcare
About Marc
| Marc Probst is the CIO and VP at Intermountain Healthcare, an integrated delivery network (IDN) based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Additionally, he has been appointed to serve on the Federal Healthcare Information Technology Policy Committee which is assisting in developing HIT Policy for the US Government. |
| Probst has been involved with Information Technology and Healthcare services for the past 30 years. Prior to Intermountain, he was a Partner with two large professional service organizations; Deloitte Consulting and Ernst and Young, serving healthcare provider and payer organizations. He has significant interest in the use of information technology to increase patient care quality and lower the costs of care. He is experienced in information technology planning, design, development, deployment and operation as well as policy development for HIT related issues. |
| Probst serves as a Board Member of several healthcare related organizations including the University of Utah School of Nursing and the Utah Food Bank. |
| Probst is a resident of Utah. Prior to living in Utah, he and his family have lived in Reston, VA and Tampa, FL. He is married with five children who span in age from 29 years old to nine. |
| Probst is a graduate of the University of Utah in Finance and received a Master’s in Business Administration from George Washington University. |
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Healthcare CIO Boot Camp™ attendees are eligible to receive up to 32 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) toward the Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) Program. 