Healthtech Leader 3.0 Speakers

Russell P. Branzell is the CEO and president of the College of Healthcare Information Executives (CHIME) and its affiliate associations: the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security (AEHIS), the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Technology (AEHIT) and the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Applications (AEHIA).

Prior to joining CHIME as president and CEO in April 2013, Branzell served as CEO of the Colorado Health Medical Group.  Prior to that, he was the vice president of information services and CIO at Poudre Valley Health System and the president/CEO of Innovation Enterprises (PVHS’ for-profit information services entity). Before joining PVHS, Branzell was the regional deputy CIO and executive director of information services for Sisters of Mercy Health System in St. Louis, Mo. Branzell served on active duty in the United States Air Force and retired from the Air Force Reserves in 2008. While on active duty, he 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.

A native of San Antonio, Branzell earned an undergraduate degree in business administration, specializing in human resource management and labor relations, from the University of Texas. In addition, he earned a master’s degree in aerospace science from Embry-Riddle University with an emphasis in management.

Jim Bilsky is the Vice President of Enterprise IT Operations for Baptist Health System in Jacksonville, FL. 

Jim is a proven technology executive with a history of providing technical guidance and leading strategic initiatives to decrease IT and business costs and execute effective programs.  His successful track record of 15+ years includes introducing and leading program initiatives within various service lines and across application suites and technology stacks.  

As a leader, Jim focuses on building and leading integrated teams from internal and external organizations across multiple sites, while promoting collaborative working relationships with multiple stakeholders.  His expertise has involved developing enterprise systems, deploying technology solutions and leading teams of IT professionals.

James Case joined Baptist Health as the Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer in 2021. In this position, he is responsible for leading the cyber security program for the enterprise, with an emphasis on protecting patient and caregiver information. 

James has almost 30 years of information technology experience working in multiple industries, including healthcare and financial, with a proven ability to align business strategic goals with regulatory compliance and internal policy requirements, all while keeping a focus on customer service. Prior to joining Baptist Health, James led the information security program for global fraud at Citibank as VP Information Security Officer. Prior to that, he was the Manager of Information Security at Baptist Health.

James was nationally recognized as a “Hospital and Health System CISOs to Know” by Becker’s Hospital Review in 2023. In 2022, he was elected to the Board of Directors of CHIME’s Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security (AEHiS). James also sits on the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC).

A graduate of Clemson University, James earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and holds certifications as Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Project Management Professional (PMP), and GIAC Security Leadership Certification (GSLC).

On the weekends you will find James at the beach with his wife, son and daughter.

Rohit Chandra is Cleveland Clinic’s Chief Digital Officer. In this role, he oversees the Information Technology Division and leads digital innovation throughout Cleveland Clinic’s global health system. Dr. Chandra works to accelerate Cleveland Clinic’s digital transformations in areas including artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data to improve access to care and enhance the patient and caregiver experience.

Previously, Dr. Chandra was Vice President of Engineering at Sunshine Products, a technology startup in Palo Alto, CA. In this role, he led the engineering team, leveraging sophisticated algorithms to solve a range of everyday problems and tasks, including the creation of Sunshine Contacts. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President of Search and Advertising at Verizon media, where he was responsible for merging products and teams from Yahoo and AOL after their acquisitions by Verizon.

Dr. Chandra holds a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, as well as a doctorate in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Dr. Chandra was a Fellow with the TELI (Technical Executive Leadership Initiative) Program. He is the co-author of a book on parallel programming and holds numerous patents.

Terri Couts is a driven Senior Leader and Informatics subject matter expert particularly in the EHR realm. She is a nurse by training and served in the capacity pediatric neonatal and open-heart nurse prior to 2007. She is board certified through ANA in nursing informatics and has her Masters in Healthcare Administration. She is also recognized by CHIME as a CHCIO and has completed the CHIME Informatics Boot Camp. She has almost two decades of nursing practice experience and has provided the capacity to translate both nursing and physician requirements in today’s “one-patient one record” strategic platform. Her strength lies in the ability to liaise between clinical/hospital personnel and informatics personnel to drive requirements to fruition within the complex healthcare environment.  

Terri serves as the Chief Digital Information Officer for The Guthrie Clinic, which is an integrated health system that services the rural populations of NY and PA. She has oversight of the Innovation Pillar of the strategic plan and is leading care model redesign enabled through technology. She has recently achieved success at Guthrie with STARS 10 status for the third year which puts The Guthrie Clinic in the top 4% of Epic customers in the world. Her primary mission is to bring the joy back into medicine through care enabled by technology.  

Heather M. Costa, MPS, CBCP, is the Director of Technology Resilience at Mayo Clinic, the No. 1 ranked hospital by U.S. News and World Report and Newsweek. With a 73,000-person workforce, Mayo Clinic cares for more than 1.4 million people each year with serious or complex illnesses from all 50 U.S. states and 140 countries. In her capacity, Heather is responsible for the strategic direction, development, and implementation of an enterprise-wide program that ensures the recoverability of IT resources to safeguarding patient care in the event of a technology disruption (physical and/or cyber). Prior to joining Mayo Clinic, Heather was responsible for the cultivation and execution of the Business Resilience program at the No. 2 ranked hospital, the Cleveland Clinic. There she led a paradigm shift that improved the resilience of patient care by creating an innovative, fully integrated model for business continuity, disaster recovery and crisis management in healthcare.

Heather serves as Education Chair for WiCyS (Women in Cybersecurity) Healthcare Affiliate. She previously served as a member of the Operational Board of the Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals (AHEPP) and co-led the AHEPP Professional Standards Committee.

Heather earned her Bachelor of Science (BS) in Emergency Management and Homeland Security with a minor in Digital Forensics, summa cum laude, from the University of Akron, and her Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Homeland Security – Information Security and Forensics from Penn State University. She is a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP), and holds certifications in ITIL, Cybersecurity, and Emergency Management and Domestic Preparedness.

Pete has been the Director of Technology at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fl for the last 5 years.  He is also the Vice-Chair for the AEHIT group and a member of multiple other technology focused boards. 

Drex DeFord has broad experience as a senior healthcare executive,  including a 20-year career as a US Air Force officer, culminating as Chief Technology Officer for Air Force Health’s World-Wide Operations. After retiring from the military, he served as CIO at Scripps Health in San Diego, Seattle Children’s, and Steward Healthcare.  He’s Past-Chair of CHIME’s Board of Trustees, and has served on the HIMSS National Board. Over the past several years — as an independent consultant (and “Recovering-CIO”) — he helped lead trusted health systems, payers, associations, vendors, and investors through their work on healthcare’s toughest problems. In March 2021, he joined CrowdStrike as Executive Healthcare Strategist. He’s currently a member of the AEHIS Board, and the Federal Government’s Health Sector Coordinating Council Cybersecurity Working Group. He’s passionate about the mission to stop breaches, and better secure clinical, research, and healthcare business operations. 

Carla DiBlasio, JD, serves as the Senior Director of Government Relations at Cleveland Clinic. Carla is an accomplished health care policy expert who joined Cleveland Clinic in March 2022 after working for two years as Director of Government Relations and Health Finance Policy for University Hospitals. Carla is responsible for leading Cleveland Clinic’s federal government relations team. She serves as Cleveland Clinic’s primary source of contact with federal government officials and policymakers, while advancing the strategic initiatives and goals of Cleveland Clinic through national partners and continued relationship building in the federal government.

Carla has extensive experience in Washington, D.C., where she worked in a myriad of roles across the federal government for over seven years. Prior to her work at major health systems, Carla served as Health Counsel for the Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Committee has jurisdiction over the Medicare program and tax policy, among other issues. She also worked for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as Senior Advisor on Medicare to the CMS Administrator. Prior to that, she worked for various members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) and an Appropriator, Congressman Dave Joyce (R-OH).

Carla grew up in Northeast Ohio and received her law degree from Case Western Reserve University and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Dayton.

Dan serves as CEO of Fortified Health Security. For more than 17 years, he’s led healthcare and insurance organizations – serving as Executive Vice President for Santa Rosa Consulting, Global Healthcare Strategy Lead for Dell Services, and holding leadership positions with Covenant Health System, The Parker Group, and Hooper Holmes. In 2018, Dan was recognized as a rising healthcare leader under 40 by Becker’s Hospital Review, and in 2022 he was elected to the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security (AEHIS) Board of Trustees. 

As a recognized thought leader in healthcare cybersecurity, Dan is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences including CHIME, HIMSS, and HIT Summits. Dan’s insights and data-driven expertise in cybersecurity, data privacy, risk management, and mitigation are regularly featured in popular media and trade publications such Becker’s Hospital Review, Healthcare Business Today, and Healthcare Innovation News.

Keith Duemling has served as Director of Cybersecurity Technology Protection for the Cleveland Clinic since early 2018. He oversees all cybersecurity protection platforms for all Cleveland Clinic facilities throughout North America and Europe. Before joining the Cleveland Clinic, he served in multiple information security roles within the healthcare space, including; engineering, architecture, identity management, incident management, and risk management, over an 18-year timeframe. In addition, he has managed multiple disciplines within Information Technology such as; network management, endpoint management and has been responsible for a 24×7 service desk.

He is a graduate of Penn State University with a bachelor’s degree in Security and Risk Analysis and a master’s degree in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance. In addition, he expects to complete a healthcare-focused Master of Business Administration degree from Penn State University in late-2022. 

He is also a graduate of the Carnegie Mellon University CISO-Executive Education and Certification Program. Keith also maintains multiple technical and leadership certifications from various organizations such as; CHIME, HIMSS, ISACA, and ISC2.

He served within the United States Army Quartermaster Corps, a subordinate command of the United States Army’s Combined Arms Support Command. He received an honorable discharge from the United States Army and multiple commendations for service.

He lives outside Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife and three children.

Robyn Ewers, a Strategic Partnerships & Alliances Executive based in Denver, brings a fusion of personal vibrancy and professional expertise to the healthcare technology and cybersecurity sectors. With an impressive 17-year career, she’s carved out an enviable portfolio of market expansion strategies, built high-performing revenue teams, and cultivated powerful partnerships & alliances that drive market share growth.

In 2022, Robyn channeled her deep professional experience into launching Untethered Strategy, a consultancy focused on implementing revenue growth strategies for emerging B2B healthcare technology organizations. This venture followed a distinguished track record of leadership roles across infection prevention technology, SaaS, and cybersecurity services.

An embodiment of servant leadership, Robyn proudly took on the role of Founding President of the first healthcare affiliate of Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS). With a phenomenal ensemble leadership team at the helm, the organization is evolving as a beacon for career advancement, continuing education in healthcare cybersecurity, and an engaged, inclusive community – particularly in an industry with historically limited female representation.

Outside the boardroom, Robyn is a compelling public speaker and thought leader, frequently sharing her insights on growth strategy, communication for technology adoption, inclusivity in healthcare technology, and professional development. Equipped with a Bachelor of Arts in Interpersonal Communication from the University of Central Florida, Robyn’s blend of industry knowledge and strategic expertise cements her as a transformative figure in her field.

Aligned with her professional commitments, Robyn enjoys the vitality of family life with her husband and two wild boys, ages 3 and 6. A true “outdoor dabbler”, she loves hiking and attempts skiing in the stunning landscapes of Colorado. Her wanderlust often takes her traveling, preferably to destinations with clear waters or exceptional wineries. These personal passions not only provide her with balance and joy, but also continue to inspire her trailblazing journey in the healthcare technology and cybersecurity sectors.

Eric Lee, MD is the Medical Director of Clinical Informatics for AltaMed Health Services in Los Angeles, California, which serves over 400,000 people in both Los Angeles and Orange Counties. He has been with AltaMed for 5 years, clinically overseeing implementation of Epic’s Foundation ambulatory build (received Good Install award), enabling COVID-19 telehealth care from scratch, and building an interdisciplinary Clinical Informatics team. Over this past year, he has been focused on multiple strategic projects to enable and support AltaMed’s journey to value-based care, including caring for patients enrolled in the CalAIM Enhanced Care Management program focused on caring for the top 5% of the most complex Medi-Cal patient population, risk stratification, and making it easier for clinicians to submit accurate coding.  

Prior to joining AltaMed, Dr. Lee was previously at California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS), overseeing clinical implementation of Cerner Millennium statewide in all 35 institutions, and was instrumental in driving organizational changes that led to being the first correctional healthcare system to achieve HIMSS Stage 6 certification for OEMRAM. Dr. Lee is board certified in Internal Medicine and Clinical Informatics, completed his residency in Internal Medicine from McGaw Medical Center (Northwestern Medicine), and is a graduate of the Keck School of Medicine at USC.   

Stacey Johnston, MD, was named vice president, chief applications officer (CAO) of Baptist Health in November 2021, after serving as the Epic Implementation Executive and chief medical information officer (CMIO) since 2019. A board-certified family physician and a member of the Baptist Hospitalist Group, Dr. Johnston has extensive experience in the use of electronic medical records, clinical technologies across a broad spectrum of clinical settings and knowledge of electronic medical record infrastructure. Prior to joining Baptist Health, she served as the CMIO and medical director of the hospitalist program at Beaufort Memorial Hospital in Beaufort, South Carolina, where she also served on the Board of Trustees. In 2022, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) added Dr. Johnston to the volunteer leadership team of its Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Applications, Data and Analytics (AEHADA) as Board Chair to lead its evolution to becoming more focused on data. She is a 2002 graduate of Emory University School of Medicine and completed her residency at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia.

Jackie Mattingly serves as the Chief Information Officer at Owensboro Health.  She is responsible for the development and maintenance of the company’s cybersecurity program.  She has earned her bachelors in Computer Science and her Master’s in Healthcare Administration with an emphasis on Informatics. Jackie holds the CHPS, HCSIPP, GISP and CISSP designations.  She has 20+ years experience in IT and 10 years in information security. She has a passion for mentoring, learning and teaching all things security. She is an Adjunct Professor teaching Healthcare Privacy and Security.  Jackie has published articles in CIOReview and Healthcare Tech Outlook magazines and presented at multiple conferences.  She loves to bring awareness to better information security and privacy practices for the benefit of Owensboro Health’s patients and team members. 

Theresa Meadows is an accomplished professional serving as the current CIO for Cook Children’s Health Care System, an esteemed integrated pediatric healthcare system headquartered in Fort Worth, TX. With her exemplary leadership, she oversees a dedicated team of 200 members specializing in infrastructure, applications, telecommunications, and program management. Under her guidance, the Information Services team actively supports 140 project initiatives, ranging from the implementation of cutting-edge business intelligence solutions to advanced clinical systems and enterprise resource management.

Kevin Starnes serves as the Chief Information Officer for The Center Orthopedic & Neurosurgical Care & Research. Headquartered in Bend, Oregon, “The Center” is the largest orthopedic, neurosurgical, and physical medicine (physiatry) practice in Central Oregon. Before his role at The Center, Kevin served in senior IT leadership roles across diverse industries, including legal, telecom, manufacturing, and retail.  

Kevin received his Master of Healthcare Administration from Saint Mary-ofthe-Woods College in Terre Haute, Indiana. In addition, he received his Master of Business Administration, in Information Technology Management and his Bachelor of Science, in Information Technology Security from Western Governors University.  

Kevin is also a Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) and Certified Digital Health Executive (CDH-E), receiving both certifications through The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME).  

Kevin is an adjunct faculty member at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he teaches healthcare information systems at the undergraduate and graduate levels.  

Kevin has served on the Advisory Board for The Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Technology (AEHIT) since 2020 and is the current Board Chair. 

Teresa Tonthat serves as the chief information security officer for Texas Children’s, the largest children’s hospital in the United States recognized for pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology and research. She has more than 18 years of experience in information security, information technology audit, compliance and cyber risk. She is responsible for establishing long-term security strategy, assessing cyber risk, emerging threats and developing value-added security capabilities for the organization. 
 
Tonthat joined Texas Children’s in January 2018. During her tenure, she has provided leadership over the delivery of multiple security capabilities in an effort to continuously strengthen the organization’s security posture. Prior to joining Texas Children’s, she was responsible for information security at Halliburton. Under her leadership, a multinational global security team was focused on mitigating cyber risk within the digital oilfield operations in over 80 countries. 

Tracey L. Touma stands at the forefront of healthcare cybersecurity as the Business Information Security Liaison for Cleveland Clinic, one of the world’s premier health institutions. Entrusted with creating innovative communication strategies, Tracey delivers unmatched results and continuously interacts with stakeholders across the health system. Her emphasis on collaboration and partnership ensures cybersecurity is an enabler for Cleveland Clinic Caregivers.

Educated at the University of Akron, Tracey holds a Bachelor’s in Technical Education and a Master’s in Management in Information Systems. Her knowledge is further augmented by a plethora of certifications, including Certified in Cybersecurity (CC),  DevOps Foundation, Scrum Fundamentals, ITIL Foundations v3, Project Management and the esteemed Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM), among others.

Beyond academia, Tracey champions an inclusive cybersecurity atmosphere. She serves as the Vice-President of the Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) Healthcare and the Public Relations Manager for District 10 at Toastmasters International. Her commitment extends to cultivating the next generation. Through the Greater Cleveland Foundation, she supports STEM internships and arranges career fairs, introducing students to the exciting world of cybersecurity.

A hallmark of leadership, Tracey is recognized for steering teams through pivotal projects. Her strategic, organized, and upbeat approach allows her to tackle challenges head-on while fostering close ties with peers and stakeholders. Tracey’s leadership philosophy is rooted in altruism and a coaching-centric communication style. She prioritizes the growth and development of everyone around her.

Rachel leads the Healthcare Provider Growth and Strategy for North America at Neteera, a remote patient monitoring platform offering patients and their medical staff a seamless and stressless experience. Rachel’s passion for business expansion and profound market insight make her a pivotal force in steering Neteera to new heights.

Prior to Neteera, Rachel was the Director of Healthcare Strategic Initiatives at Sirius Computer Solutions. There Rachel pioneered the healthcare practice, yielding double-digit growth, setting the stage for Sirius’ 2.5-billion-dollar acquisition by CDW in 2022.

With 25+ years of experience, Rachel navigates healthcare complexities. Previous roles at CoreSite Technology, Iron Mountain, and AT&T Wireless underscore her dedication as a healthcare technology sales and marketing expert. She educates leaders on optimizing technology for quality healthcare, cost control, patient satisfaction, and risk mitigation.

Rachel is not only a sales leader but a true healthcare thought leader, frequently participating in conferences and contributing to work that shapes the discourse around healthcare strategy and management practices. She has served on multiple boards and committees on HIMSS and is on the CHIME/AEHIT Board as the Chair of Innovation, through which she helps qualify and educate senior leaders on emerging technologies and the value they provide to the healthcare community. She has also served on the board of Girls Inc., where she started “Women for Girls,” a fundraising arm composed of female leaders.

Rachel holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Scripps College in Claremont, California. In her spare time, she enjoys golfing, Sasquatch hunting and traveling the world.

Louis Wright is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Director of IT Infrastructure for the University of South Alabama Health. As the only academic health system along the upper Gulf Coast, USA is one of the region’s leading providers of innovative healthcare through both hospitals and clinic care. Louis Wright earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Information Systems from Spring Hill College, and a Master’s in Business Administration and Project Management from Florida Institute of Technology. Louis has over twenty years of experience working in the IT medical field with USA Health and has helped to implement several major projects including building two EMR’s, developing an IT Security program and various other large scale infrastructure projects for the health system.

Prior to his tenure at USA Health, he worked for Computer Programs and Systems, Inc, providing networking and systems implementation support. In his current role as CISO and Director of IT Infrastructure, Louis often collaborates with leadership within the organization and is responsible for several major innovations, acquisitions and the implementation of IT technologies and security protocols that support the policies and processes within the health system. These responsibilities helped Louis to develop his management and business skills in hopes to becoming a CIO in the healthcare field in the future.

A native of Lacombe, Louisiana , Louis resides in Mobile, AL with his beautiful wife of fourteen years, Tamika, and their beautiful daughter, Monique.

Vugar Zeynalov is the Chief Information Security Officer for the Cleveland Clinic Health System.  The Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit 5,500+ physician multi-specialty group practice with a 22-hospital system network across northeast Ohio, Florida, and Nevada.  The organization has over 77,000 employees, an annual revenue of over 13 billion dollars, and services over 14 million patient encounters annually.  The Clinic also has international operations in the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Vugar is an accomplished IT executive with over three decades of leadership experience, delivering powerful brand differentiation through business-focused security services and cultivating world-class talent. His approach to cyber risk helps businesses in heavily regulated global markets achieve success through high-stakes acquisitions, business expansions, and the adoption of emerging technologies.

He is sought out as a trusted advisor to business and technology leaders because of his aptitude for presenting complex cybersecurity and technology risk management matters in a thoughtful and engaging manner. This helps business leaders navigate a rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape to realize success in operational planning and long-range strategic objectives. 

In his role, Vugar presides over all enterprise cybersecurity functions, leading a team of security professionals to build and execute innovative strategies for managing cyber risks to the Cleveland Clinic technology portfolio.

Vugar holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.  He performed a post-graduate study focusing on Computer Science and is a member of ISC² as a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).  He lives in Cleveland, OH, with his wife and three children.