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.

Mr. Christian is the Vice President of Technology and Engagement of the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE), the nation’s largest Health Information Exchange.

Prior to joining IHIE, Mr. Christian served as the Vice President / Chief Information Officer of St. Francis Hospital, a free-standing, acute care, community hospital in west Georgia, a position he held for 2.5 years.  Before his role at St. Francis, Mr. Christian served as the Chief Information Officer for Good Samaritan Hospital, in Vincennes, Indiana.  A position he held for almost 24 years.  Before joining Good Samaritan Hospital, Mr. Christian worked in healthcare IT for Compucare and Baxter Travenol, in both management and implementation roles. Mr. Christian started his career in healthcare as a Registered Radiologic Technologist, serving in various Radiology roles for 14 years. Mr. Christian studied natural sciences at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Lacrosse University.

Mr. Christian has delivered presentations on wide range of 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.”  Mr. Christian is also a frequent author of the CHIME-Time segment in Modern Healthcare.

Mr. 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.  Mr. Christian was previously a member of the HIMSS Analytics Board of Directors. Mr. 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. Mr. Christian is credentialed by CHIME as a Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO). Mr. Christian is a charter member of the re-established Indiana Chapter of HIMSS and served as a BOD member from 2000 – 2009.  Mr. Christian served as a member of the Executive Advisory Board for Advance for Health Information Executives magazine.  Mr. 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 Mr. Christian the Indiana Healthcare Information Technology Board of Directors.

Mr. Christian most recently served as the CHIME Foundation Board of Directors as Chair, and is the Past-Chair of the CHIME Board of Directors.  Mr. Christian has served as the Chair of the CHIME Policy Steering Committee and is currently that committee’s Vice Chair and is serving as the Chair of the SHIEC Advocacy Committee, and is a current member of the Indiana HIMSS Chapter Board of Directors.  Mr. 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.  Mr. Christian served the the AHA Strategic Development Advisory Committee as a charter member. Mr. Christian is a past member of the Symantec Healthcare Advisory Group, and several other industry advisory groups/councils.

Rod Dykehouse joined Penn State Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine as CIO in July, 2012. Annually, Penn State Hershey Medical Center admits nearly 30,000 patients and provides care for approximately 1,100,000 outpatient and 70,000 emergency-service visits in central Pennsylvania. Penn State Hershey Medical Center has over 10,000 employees and 400 volunteers, and the College of Medicine enrolls 800 students annually. The Penn State Health System was formed in 2016 with the addition of Penn State Health St. Joseph Hospital in Reading, PA. Rod was named the CIO for the Health System, which together with the College of Medicine represent approximately $2B in net revenues.

As CIO, Rod Dykehouse is responsible for the effective deployment, adoption, use, and support of information technologies across the entire clinical, academic and research enterprise. Since 2012, the following has been accomplished:

– Established IT Governance process across the enterprise, representing the clinical, research and academic missions – Deployed the ambulatory EMR is across all clinic locations for approximately 1,000 Medical Group providers
– Gained budget and design approval for a newly activated $54M 3MW Tier 2+ Data Center with a second one located on the PSU main campus to serve as a DR site
– Developed i2b2 research database to leverage EMR and other data – Initiated strategy and execution of Enterprise Information Mgmt “Data” strategy
– Supported the opening of the new Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital
– Supported the acquisition and integration of St. Joe’s Reading Hospital
– Establishing an IT Shared Service Team to support the growing Health System

Rod has extensive experience as a CIO in both academic medical centers and large health care systems. He previously served as CIO for both UCLA Medical Sciences, and Froedtert Health System, an academic partner of the Medical College of Wisconsin. At UCLA, Rod oversaw IT for the organizations’ medical centers, faculty practice groups and schools of medicine, including IT support for research initiatives. His CIO experience with large health systems was with St. John Health System in Detroit, Michigan, and ProHealth Care in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Rod is an active member of CHIME, having served on the CHIME Board and CHIME Foundation Board, including as Chair for both. He was awarded the CHIME Federal Public Policy Award for CIO Leadership, serves on the Policy Steering Committee, is a CHIME Fellow and faculty member of the CHIME CIO Boot Camp.

Rod holds a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree from Kalamazoo College. He has more than 25 years of experience in IT management. He is also a lecturer for the Penn State Master of Public Health program.

Adrienne Edens, FCHIME, LCHIME, CHCIO is VP of Education for CHIME. Her career in healthcare information systems extends over 40 years including experience in HIT consulting and 25 years as a CIO.

As the VP and CIO for the Valley Area of Sutter Health Adrienne lead the consolidation of the IS organizations of 2 previous regions into an integrated operational unit supporting 10 hospitals and 2000 foundation physicians. While at Sutter she was involved in a number of strategic initiatives to improve operational performance and completed the Rona Certified Lean Workshop Leader program.

As the CIO for St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, Idaho, she engaged the organization in developing a physician led strategy for the electronic medical record to consolidate EHRs from 14 to one. This approach provided the means to integrate a widely distributed system of hospitals, physician offices, clinics and rural critical access hospitals. While at St. Luke’s she served as a member of the board of the state wide HIE, the Idaho Health Data Exchange.

As the Information Officer for National Health Plan systems for Kaiser Permanente she led the program to achieve compliance with Medicare Part D for the Kaiser regions and developed the first deductible plan capabilities for the California regions.

As Regional CIO for the Sacramento Region and Information Officer, Northern California for Dignity Health (formerly Catholic Healthcare West), Adrienne managed the process of integrating systems for hospitals joining the region. She also developed and implemented IT governance, strategic plans and shared systems for multiple regions within the organization.

Prior to these positions she served as Practice Director, Pacific Northwest, for First Consulting Group where she led a number of strategic IT planning engagements, vendor selections, contract negotiations and application implementation projects for healthcare financial and clinical systems.

Her background includes experience as a consultant at Arthur Andersen & Co. and as Product Manager for clinical systems development and Director of Implementation for system projects to support 90 hospitals and associated divisional and corporate users at American Medical International.

Adrienne holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of California at Davis and a Master’s Degree in Applied Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. She is a charter member and past Board member of CHIME and a past Board member of HIMSS, HIMSS Analytics, and the Boise Art Museum. She is currently serving as a member of the panel of judges for the first annual HIMSS Most Influential Women in Health IT Awards and as a mentor to one of the Carole C Emmott Fellows.

Keith Fraidenburg has more than 20 years of experience working within the healthcare IT industry, including nearly 16 years of association management experience. In his role as Executive VP and Chief Strategy Officer, he is responsible for providing overall leadership and tactical execution of the organization’s strategic plan while identifying and cultivating new growth opportunities in support of the organization’s long-term strategic goals. He also maintains primary responsibility for the organization’s advocacy and public policy efforts and its platform of education programs and services. In doing so, he works closely with senior 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 VP of Education and Communications for CHIME, Mr. Fraidenburg was responsible for leading the education, marketing and communications programs and services available through CHIME.

In addition to his responsibilities within CHIME, Mr. Fraidenburg is a member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).

George Hickman is Executive Vice President & System Chief Information and Analytics Officer (CIO) 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 U.S. as well as for the Ministry of Health in Singapore and the U.K. 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, former Education Foundation board chair, a charter member, and is a Life member and Fellow of the College of Healthcare Informatics Management Executives (CHiME). He is also a CHiME CIO Boot Camp faculty member.

He is past board chair, past executive compensation committee chair, and a Life Fellow member of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (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 Cybersecurity/Forensics Advisory board for SUNY Albany. He sits on the Cerner Corporation CIO Strategic Advisory Council and the Allscripts Touchworks Executive Forum. Hickman 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.

Jonathan Manis, a former clinician and veteran health care information technology leader, most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Sutter Health of Sacramento, CA.  With more than 30 acute care hospitals, hundreds of primary care clinics and sites of care, and annual revenues in excess of $13B, Sutter Health is one of the largest and most respected integrated health care provider organizations in the country. 

Manis is a seasoned CIO with more than 25 years of IT leadership experience.  He joined Sutter Health in 2006 from Illinois-based Provena Health, where he served as System Vice President of Administrative Services and CIO.  Prior to Provena, Manis was Vice President, Information Systems for Advocate Healthcare in Chicago and, before Advocate, he was Chief Technology Officer for Sterling Health of Miami, FL. 

A native Floridian, Manis grew up on Cocoa Beach with America’s space program.  After working summers at both NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and nearby Disney World, Manis enlisted in the US Navy and was trained as a licensed practical nurse.  He served as a Hospital Corpsman on submarines and as a combat medic for the US Marine Corps before being selected to attend the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.  Parachute and SCUBA qualified, Manis was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps and was trained as a ground combat officer.  Manis served as a Forward Observer and Fire Direction Officer, and participated in combat operations in Panama and Haiti.  During Desert Shield/ Desert Storm, Manis served as a Tactical Fire Support Coordination Officer for coalition forces.  Following graduate school at the US Naval Academy Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, Manis was promoted and assigned to Headquarters, US Marine Corps, The Pentagon, Washington, DC where he managed information systems for the Navy and Marine Corps.  Selected for promotion to Major, Manis accepted an early military retirement offer in 1994. 

A decorated combat arms officer, Manis attended the United States Naval Academy and Auburn University. He holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science/ Information Systems Management from the U.S. Naval Academy Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, and he has completed continuing graduate education coursework at Stanford University, UC Berkeley and the University of Michigan.  Manis is a regularly featured speaker regarding technology and information systems management and he has authored multiple professional articles on the topics of information technology management and support function leadership. 

Jon Manis and his wife, Bobbi, make their home in Granite Bay, CA.  With two school-aged children, they enjoy skiing, scuba diving, sailing, and family travel.  He has yet to master the guitar.

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. 

Sarah Richardson is a transformative, inspirational and results-driven business and technology executive who operates within large-scale healthcare and hospitality environments. She attains aggressive goals, catalyzes change and advances sustainability by designing and executing high performance-based strategies, cultivating top-tier talent, infusing expectations and accountabilities, instilling customer-centric practices and forging collaborative cultures.

Sarah is one of those people who ‘gets things done’ and has a penchant for bringing out the best in people. With an enthusiastic and genuinely friendly attitude, Sarah radiates a sincere passion for delivering value and benefits to the teams she leads and serves. She has built award-winning teams and has been recognized by The Kansas City Business Journal as a ‘Woman Who Means Business’, a “Next Gen Leader’, and a ‘Rising Star’ by KC Business Magazine.

With a B.S. in Hospitality Administration and a Master’s in Business, Sarah spent six years in the hotel and casino industry in Las Vegas, NV, before making the purposeful decision that she could create more meaningful results for more people if she moved into the healthcare industry. Her first 5 years in healthcare began as an IT Administrator at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, NV, where she then began her ten-year career with HCA (Hospital Corporation of America).

Promoted three times in her ten-year tenure with HCA, culminating in a Division CIO position, Sarah’s contributions centered on leading the development and delivery of IT in a shared service model along with scalable operational programs and improvement activities. She is most proud that her work focused on building long-lasting, loyal relationships across the continuum, resulting in collaborative strategies to meet project delivery needs, productivity gains, and the use of technology to advance patient care resulting in better outcomes. Her ability to coordinate teams of technology experts, strategic business partners, physicians, and clinicians, has enabled her to repeatedly deliver programs, services, and tailored solutions in the healthcare setting.

Currently, Sarah serves as the California Market CIO for HealthCare Partners as well as the interim Nevada Market CIO, both DaVita Medical Groups in El Segundo, CA and Las Vegas, NV.  Since 1992, HealthCare Partners has been committed to developing innovative models of healthcare delivery that improve their patients’ quality of life while containing healthcare costs. Their strength is in their steadfast commitment to their guiding principle of coordinated care. Their physicians strive daily to bring the benefits of coordinated care to more than 600,000 managed care patients in California, who represent the diversity of cultures, socioeconomic groups, ages, and health statuses in the communities they serve.

An active member of CHIME as a Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) and Associate Faculty Member, Sarah is also the current Vice President of Advocacy for the Southern California chapter of HIMSS.  Sarah regularly publishes industry relevant content on her website at www.conciergeleadership.com and is the host of the HIMSS SoCal Podcast  featuring top HIT and leadership topics with keynote guests.  She also volunteers her time as a board member with theLos Angeles Children’s Bureau, is a Certified Professional Coach, and is currently enrolled in the UCLA Extension program, seeking a certification in Healthcare Management. She is an avid scuba diver with a passion for conservation.

Timothy Stettheimer, PhD, is Vice President of Education for the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), a 2,400-plus member professional organization.  In this role, Dr. Stettheimer leads all education strategy for members and affiliate associations, as well as international efforts. Education initiatives include CHIME’s Fall and Spring Forums, CIO Bootcamps, Leadership Academies as well as other summits, workshops and symposia.

Dr. Stettheimer has previously served as a healthcare CIO for two decades and has worked with healthcare information technology and healthcare leaders for twenty-five years.  He most recently served as the Regional Chief Information Officer (RCIO) for the South and Central Region of Ascension Information Services (AIS), which is made up of seven geographic markets as well as all senior living locations and all medical groups. As RCIO, Dr. Stettheimer was the regional leader responsible for AIS service delivery and technology visioning. He also guided governance models, served on Ascension-level committees, and supported diverse AIS functions such as goal sponsorship, compensation committee efforts, IT general control oversight, infrastructure governance, and AIS Model Community Survey action planning.

Prior to his Ascension role, Dr. Stettheimer served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for St. Vincent’s Health System, Birmingham. In this role, he was responsible for managing the Health Ministry’s technology strategy, portfolio, and operations, while serving as the Health Ministry’s technology service delivery senior escalation point. He has also served in leadership roles at Adventist Health System and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas.

Dr. Stettheimer earned a doctorate in information services focused in medical informatics, information theory and design, and information policy and management from the University of North Texas in Denton. He holds a master’s degree in applied cognition and neuroscience from the University of Texas in Dallas and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. Dr. Stettheimer is a fellow with both the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (FCHIME). He is a member of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), holds the Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) credential, is a certified professional in healthcare information management systems (CPHIMS), and is a member of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS). He served as a fellow through a National Institute of Health grant during his doctoral studies. Dr. Stettheimer has held faculty positions with the University of North Texas and the University of Alabama at Birmingham and serves on a number of non-profit boards.

Dr. Stettheimer has earned the Certified Healthcare CIO distinction from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). He also served as the CHIME 2010 Board Chair, the 2011 CHIME Foundation Board Chair and the 2013-1014 CHIME Education Foundation Board Chair. Dr. Stettheimer and his wife Carol live in Birmingham, AL and are the parents of four children.