CHIME Welcomes Charles E. Christian as its 2015 Board Chairman

ANN ARBOR, MI, December 18, 2014 – The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is pleased to welcome Charles E. Christian, FCHIME, LCHIME, CHCIO, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, Georgia, as its 2015 Board of Trustees Chair.

Christian brings over 40 years of experience in healthcare, including 26 in the CIO role. As Vice President and CIO at St. Francis, a free-standing, acute care, community hospital, he leads the development and implementation of innovative information technology strategies and activities. Before joining St. Francis in January 2013, he served over two decades as the CIO at Good Samaritan Hospital in Indiana. Prior to his position with Good Samaritan, Christian worked in healthcare IT for Compucare and Baxter Travenol, in both management and implementation roles.

Christian, whose term begins on January 1, 2015, will help lead the CHIME organization in its mission to educate IT leaders, policymakers and the industry at large about the benefits of digitized healthcare for increased safety, improved care and reduced costs. Other areas of focus will include shaping federal health IT policies, cybersecurity education, and extending support to a larger set of the healthcare IT C-suite.

“I’m humbled and feel extremely fortunate to lead CHIME during this critical and transformative time in healthcare,” said Christian. “The demands placed on our nation’s health IT leaders are expanding at an increasing rate, with the convergence of regulatory burdens and heightened job responsibilities. I look forward to working with the CHIME Board to foster leadership-development through our educational offerings, best-practice sharing, and continue to be a key resource for our members and federal agencies regarding regulatory issues.”

Christian is a Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO), Fellow and charter member of CHIME, and served on the CHIME Board from 2003 through 2004 before being elected to another term in 2012. Since 1992, Christian has served on numerous working groups and committees within the organization and is currently a member of the CHIME Healthcare CIO Boot Camp faculty. He is also an active member of both the CHIME Policy Steering Committee and Policy Leadership Council.

In 2010, Christian was recognized by CHIME and HIMSS with the industry’s most prestigious honor; the John E. Gall Jr., CIO of the Year Award. He also received the 2010 CHIME Collaboration Award for co-authoring “Make IT Known – Marketing Strategies and Case Studies in the Healthcare Environment” and was recently honored by the Indiana Chapter of HIMSS with an award in his name; the Charles E. Christian Leadership Award.

“Chuck has been a committed and valuable long-time contributor of CHIME and we could not be more thrilled for him to take the helm in 2015 and lead us through new growth and development opportunities,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell, FCHIME, CHCIO. “We congratulate our outgoing chair Randy McCleese for his dedicated service, as he guided CHIME through a year of immense progress. Chuck will no doubt build upon our successes in 2014 and continue to secure our voice in the industry, support the CIO profession at large, and advance the role of IT in healthcare. The board and I look forward to working closely with him in the year ahead to further CHIME’s position as an industry leader and collaborator.”

Christian started his career in healthcare as a Radiologic Technologist, serving in various Radiology roles. He studied natural sciences at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Lacrosse University.

About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,400 CIO members and over 140 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit www.chimecentral.org.

Contact
Stephanie Fraser
Director of Communications and Corporate Relations
734.665.0000
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