CIO, Bon Secours Mercy Health

Chief Information Officer for Bon Secours Mercy Health, leading the I&T and Epic EHR teams responsible for information technology, applications, cyber security and digital solutions. Named by HIMSS’ Healthcare IT News as one of the Top Women Powerhouses in Health IT in 2014. Attained “Most Wired” status for the health system and HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7 designation for several Virginia hospitals and physician practices.

Bio posted November 2019

Kevin has nearly 25 years of experience and proven leadership in cybersecurity and IT management in the financial and healthcare sectors.  Prior to joining Baystate Health, Kevin was the Chief Information Security Officer for COCC, a managed IT services provider for banks and credit unions.  He was at COCC for over 13 years and led cyber and physical security as well as corporate risk management.  Prior to COCC, he was Vice President of Information Technology at PeoplesBank in Holyoke, and he also worked at Dow Jones & Company early in his career.

Kevin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Westfield State University, and an MBA from Western New England University.  He is a Certified Information Security Manager and is a 2016 graduate of the FBI’s Citizens Academy program.  He is a member of the External IT Advisory Board at Western New England University, and is a member of the Bay Path University Cybersecurity Advisory Council.

While in the financial industry, Kevin served on the FS-ISAC Education Committee, the MassBankers Cybersecurity Task Force, and frequently spoke at industry events.

Posted November 2019

Mark Zirkelbach is accountable for the automation services provided to Loma Linda University Health System which is comprised of 6 hospitals, a large faculty practice group, and partners of the Health System.  Mark works closely with Loma Linda University IT Leadership to enable a collaborative environment for the entire campus. Mark also works with Loma Linda University Shared Services to leverage economies of scale for Loma Linda University Health.

Mark became the Chief Information Officer at Loma Linda University Health System in December of 2008, and is currently a Professor with the School of Allied Health at Loma Linda University instructing a Master’s Program course on Leadership Perspectives and Practice.  Mark began his career in healthcare at Daughters of Charity/Ascension Health where he worked for 15 years in various IT Leadership positions and then three years as the CIO at a large, independent multi-specialty group. Mark has also worked as a management consultant for several years in healthcare and as a CIO in a large banking system for a short period. Mark is married with three children; his wife Cindy is a Pediatric RN at a Federally Qualified Health Care facility. Mark earned his master’s degree at the University of Evansville in public service administration. Mark enjoys working towards a great place to work for his Team and connecting to the business in support of Loma Linda’s desire for the best patient experience possible.

Posted November 2019

Dr. Shez Partovi obtained his medical degree from the prestigious McGill University, in Montreal, Canada and completed his neuroradiology subspecialty training at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ.

He is a serial entrepreneur and has launched several health IT companies, one of which was a telehealth company built on AWS. After a decade of clinical practice, Dr. Partovi transitioned into executive roles at Dignity Health where he served as its Chief Health Information Officer and, subsequently, as Chief Digital Officer/SVP of Digital Transformation. As the CHIO, Dr. Partovi oversaw the deployment of Cerner across the enterprise in both inpatient, outpatient and oncology settings. As the CDO, Dr. Partovi was responsible for the digital experience of consumers, patients and providers across Dignity Health.

Shez joined Amazon Web Services in 2018 as the Worldwide lead for Healthcare, Life Sciences and Genomics. He is currently working on over a dozen large scale initiatives across the globe and has a unique perspective of the opportunities to transform healthcare worldwide. Dr. Partovi combines his clinical, entrepreneurial and AWS experience to help the audience Think Big and imagine the Art of the Possible.

Posted November 2019

Chief Information Officer | University of Kentucky Healthcare

Cecilia is passionate about the continued development of innovative information technology solutions to improve patient care outcomes in the current transformation of healthcare.  Bringing experience as a nurse executive to information technology over a decade ago, Cecilia continually strives to do meaningful work as we develop the information infrastructure roadmap to the future.  Cecilia is a graduate of the Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Executive Fellow program in 2012 and DNP with a focus on Informatics from Vanderbilt University in 2014.  Her current work is focused on integration and interoperability of EMR’s, development of an enterprise data warehouse, and standardization of documentation within clinical practice to reduce variation in care and improve outcomes.

Posted November 2019

Mr. Neumann has more than 40 years of professional experience in the global healthcare industry. His background includes executive leadership, information system planning, project management for complex organizations, software development and executive management for healthcare providers, software/service vendors and professional services firms. He has in-depth expertise in enterprise-wide, electronic healthcare records (EHR) and healthcare specific Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, including strategy and roadmap development, system assessments, acquisition and implementations in support of clients’ operational processes, including EHR, clinical data repositories, computerized provider order entry (CPOE), clinical documentation, clinical content management, physician and patient portals, enterprise scheduling, patient access, revenue cycle, contracting, finance, human capital management, supply chain management (SCM), business process redesign, clinical adoption, business transformation and change management.

He brings specific experience in leading national consulting practices focused on ERP systems, healthcare SCM and Value Analysis, healthcare logistics, eProcurement, Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO), and Health Information Exchange (HIE). Mr. Neumann is a frequent speaker at national events and regularly contributes articles to national publications.

Bio updated June 2021

As Chief Information Officer, Sony Jacob, oversees the implementation of comprehensive IT strategy and systems in support of SSM Health’s journey to becoming a fully integrated and clinically driven health care delivery system.  Mr. Jacob’s efforts also include expanding the organization’s internal IT consultancy to partner with other senior leaders in addressing key business issues and aligning SSM’s technology assets to deliver on our strategic goals for the various ministries.

Prior to joining SSM Health, he served as Senior Vice President and CIO at Presbyterian Healthcare Services in New Mexico and as Senior Vice President and Interim CIO at Aurora Healthcare in Milwaukee.  Before joining the healthcare sector, Mr. Jacob also served as CIO at Presentation services and Tecta America Corp, both high growth private equity backed organizations.

Mr. Jacobs earned a bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from Mangalore University, a master’s in Technology Management from DeVry University in Downers Grove, Ill., and an Executive MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

Posted November 2019

Lynn is the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for CHRISTUS Health.  Lynn joined Christus in 2012 having served as the interim CTO while under contract from Deloitte Consulting.  Prior to Deloitte, Lynn worked for several years with IBM’s Health care divisions in both their business and technical services.  He began is healthcare career starting at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, where he help build the Baylor Research Institute and oversaw several operational departments of the Medical Center.  Lynn established the first intellectual property program for the Research Program as well as technology transfer initiative.  He has worked in in Healthcare for over 35 years but prior to that time was over the IT division for the Texas Attorney General Office and worked in Washington DC for a US Congressman.

Posted November 2019

Jon Russell is the former senior vice president and CIO at John Muir Health (JMH). He was responsible for Information Technology and Services, Enterprise Analytics and Data Security.

Bay Area-based John Muir Health is a 3 hospital IDN, employing 6,000, while partnering with 1,000 affiliated physicians. JMH generated $1.5B in revenue in 2016.

Jon oversaw the enterprise-wide IT, Analytics and Data Security functions and about 300 team members who make up the ITS division.

In that role, Jon drove the strategic alignment of IT and Analytics with John Muir Health’s enterprise-wide vision and strategy with a focus on transformation and a return on investment. Among his accomplishments are the 2017 HIMSS stage 7 certification, SF Business Times’ 2017 CIO of the Year award for transformation and innovation and the 2017 CIO 100 award for JMH.

In 2013, Jon co-led the fully integrated implementation of the health system’s Electronic Health Record and Revenue Cycle system install, bringing to that effort his extensive experience. He stewarded the ongoing maintenance and optimization of the Epic system that supports JMH’s inpatient and ambulatory settings, including a 300+ physician Epic Community Connect program. Under Jon’s direction, JMH established an enterprise analytics program, positioning the health system to use robust data intelligence to deliver superior user support.

Prior to assuming his these roles in 2013, Jon served in a similar capacity at Kettering Health in Ohio, where he served for five years.

Updated November 2019

Joel Vengco is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information and Digital Officer at Hartford HealthCare, with more than 400 locations serving 185 towns and cities, including two tertiary-level teaching hospitals, an acute-care community teaching hospital, an acute-care hospital and trauma center, three community hospitals, a behavioral health network, a multispecialty physician group, a clinical care organization, a regional home care system, an array of senior care services, a mobile neighborhood health program and a comprehensive physical therapy and rehabilitation network. On average, Hartford HealthCare touches more than 17,000 lives every single day. The unique, system-wide Institute Model offers a unified high standard of care in crucial specialties at hospital and ambulatory sites across Connecticut offering unparalleled expertise at the most affordable cost. The institutes include: Cancer, Heart and Vascular, Ayer Neuroscience, Orthopedics and Tallwood Urology.

Previously he was the SVP of Informatics & Technology and Chief Information and Digital Officer at Baystate Health where he led the technology and informatics strategy, operations, and innovation for the health system. Under his leadership, I&T’s focus was to harness the power of data and digital to optimize care delivery, enhance experiences, deliver high value care, and improve the health and wellness of Baystate Health’s consumers. He also held the position of CIO for the Pioneer Valley Accountable Care Organization.

Vengco approaches his work with a customer focus and desire to harness design, entrepreneurship and digital innovation to more effectively engage with patients, clinicians and colleagues. He led the development of multiple enterprise data and digital strategies and ventures at Baystate, including the establishment of a Center for Analytics; the startup of baytechIT; the creation of TechSpring; and architecting Pioneer Valley Information Exchange. He was also appointed by Governor Baker as a member of the Massachusetts Digital Health Council.

Vengco earned his bachelor’s degree from Boston College, and Master’s from Harvard University and the Boston University School of Medicine. He serves as an adjunct professor at Boston University. He has been recognized for his work as one of Becker’s Hospital Review’s “Top 100 CIOs to Know” for the past 10 years. When he’s not passionately working, he enjoys spending time with his wife, three children, and two dogs.

Bio updated July 2022