HIMSS DFW Board of Directors - 2023 - 2024
John Pecina
President
John Pecina serves as Program Manager of Ambulatory Client Services at CHRISTUS Health, an international Catholic, faith-based, not-for-profit health system comprising of 350 services and facilities, including more than 60 hospitals and long-term care facilities, 175 clinics and outpatient centers. CHRISTUS Health extends from the U.S. to Chile, Mexico, and Columbia, with headquarters in Irving, TX.
Pecina is a seasoned IT strategist with more than 13 years of leadership experience, 8 years dedicated to IT Health Care. Born in Texas, Pecina grew up in Texas and New Mexico before enlisting in the US Navy. He served on board a designated destroyer based in Pearl Harbor Hawaii. Following the Navy, Pecina went on to earn his Master’s in Business Administration. John Pecina and his wife Karen, make their home in Fort Worth, TX. John and Karen are a blended family of six, celebrating their first year as empty nesters. The Pecina family enjoy playing board games and weekend BBQ’s.
Brittany Killam
President Elect
Brittany Killam is committed to and passionate about making a difference in healthcare by harnessing and magnifying the power of the HIMSS organization. As a leader of the Chapter Task Force, Texas Regional Conference & DFW HIMSS Chapter, Brittany believes that she has a responsibility to help educate a captive audience about cutting-edge innovations, develop our next generation of visionaries and accelerate health equity by leveraging relationships with leading changemakers. Brittany is honored to represent our healthcare leaders.
Sarah Corkern
Past President
Sarah Corkern is a trusted executive advisor and communications expert with a decade of Chief of Staff experien
ce, specializing in non-profits. In her current role as Chief of Staff to the CEO at Parkland Community Health Plan (PCHP) she is focused on managing trade association relationships, achieving National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) accreditation and improving Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) metrics. Prior to joining PCHP, Sarah was Chief of Staff and Communication Manager for the Office of the CIO at Baylor, Scott & White Health.
She has a passion for refining the user experience in every interaction with employees, providers, members or stakeholders and employs a variety of communication methods to drive change and continuous improvement. In addition to managing end-user and employee web portals, she has leveraged video and social media to drive culture, employee engagement and improve leadership visibility.
Sarah received her B.A. in English from Louisiana State University. Prior to her current Chapter role, she served as VP of Marketing and Communications on the DFW HIMSS Board and has been a HIMSS member since 2012. She also works on the Texas HIMSS Regional Committee.
When Sarah isn’t cheering on her alma mater (Geaux Tigers!), you can find her exploring new cities or playing ball in the backyard with her fur babies, Corgi sisters, Tallulah and Roux (or LulahRoux for short).
Joseph Painter
Pro Tem
Joseph Painter received his Bachelor of Science in HR and Technology from the University of Texas at Tyler and resides in North Dallas with his wife Hillary and three kids, JT, Ethan, and McKenzie. He has over 10 years of healthcare experience and is currently working as Vice President of Provider Solutions for emids Technologies where he helps bridge the critical gaps in accessible, affordable, high-quality healthcare by providing advisory consulting services, application management and support, and data solutions. Joseph is a healthcare innovator, disruptor and a change enabler. He is a big believer in building relationships, and credits most of his success to developing long lasting relationships, as well as strengthening existing ones. HIMSS is an important to Joseph because it provides an opportunity that allows him to transfer his knowledge to healthcare professionals’ so they can advance in their overall development and career.
A. Lee Lavergne, CPHIMS, FHIMSS
Pro Tem
Lee Lavergne has over 35 years of healthcare experience and has held positions ranging from roles as Hospital Director Information Technology, Corporate Director, Manager, Consulting and Project Manager for revenue cycle and clinical systems. During his career, Lee has worked for Tenet, HCA, IBM and BSWH. Lee is a certified trainer for PROSCI Change Management, CPHIMS and CAHIMS. In May 2021, Lee Lavergne rewired to focus on Texas Advocacy and is the FY23 DFW VP of Advocacy, a key Leader of the Texas HIMSS Advocacy Committee and Co-Vice National Chapter Advocacy Task Force.
Changemaker in Health 2023 Award Receipient. HIMSS Chapter Advoacte of the Year Award.
Melinda Schmidt MBA, BSN, RN, SSGBC
VP of Advocacy
Melinda Schmidt is an RN healthcare strategist with almost 20 years of experience as a health advocate, virtual care expert, and technology leader. She is passionate about creating and implementing enhanced healthcare delivery models to improve the quality of healthcare for patients and healthcare professionals. Melinda has been active as a Texas HIMSS Advocate Committee member for over five years and extremely knowledgeable about legislation impacting Healthcare Workflow and Technology.
Nayan Patel, CHCIO, FHIMSS, ITIL, PMP
VP of Finance
Nayan Patel is the Managing Director at Avis Advisors with expertise in IT strategy, governance, M&A, and service management. He has held executive leadership roles at Baptist Health, Tenet Health, The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano, and Baylor Scott & White Health, with the implementation of Epic, Cerner Remote Hosting, infrastructure, ITIL processes, and disaster recovery strategic planning. He has more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry leading successful large-scale projects, change management and IT Operations through COVID. Nayan is a pragmatic thinker with a passion for improving the end user experience while delivering high quality service to clinical, business, and research operations.
A firm believer in giving back to the community, he is a board member of the Southern Methodist (SMU) IT Operations Management (ITOM) Advisory Board, Medtronic Hospital IT Advisory Board, the University of Texas-Dallas Healthcare Management Advisory Council, and Dallas Fort Worth HIMSS (VP of Finance/Past President). Nayan received an MBA from Southern Methodist University (SMU) and a BSEE and MSEE from the University of Tennessee.
Tammy Phillips, CHCIO, CDH-E, FHIMSS
VP of Professional Development
Tamm Phillips is currently with AdventHealth as the Regional CIO for the Southwest Region. She is a diplomatic leader with over 30 years of IT leadership in the healthcare industry. Tammy is an accomplished executive IT professional with proven success and expertise in innovation, strategy and operational oversight. Her former experience includes eight years with Texas Health Resources as a Regional IT Director and at HCA Healthcare for seventeen years as a IT Director. Tammy is CHCIO and CDH-E by CHIME. She has also been distinguished as a Fellow of the HIMSS organization. She has been a certified CPHIMS instructor for the last 9 years and has taught CPHIMS and CAHIMS at the National HIMSS Conference on multiple occasions. Tammy is member of HIMSS National since 2001 and has been on the DFW HIMSS Board for 10 years.
Greg Bertrand
VP of Membership
Greg has over fifteen years of experience working in Healthcare Information Technology, in various aspects of the EHR, from Security to Clinical Documentation, for hospital organizations and vendors.
He is currently serving Baylor Scott & White Health as Senior IS Operational Consultant for the Quality Management team.
Greg has a BA from Steven F. Austin State University and is ITIL certified.
Sarah Rahm
VP of Sponsorship
dfw.sponsorship@himsschapter.org
Sarah Rahm is an experienced Strategic Analyst at CHRISTUS Health with a strong track record of designing and implementing enterprise solutions for healthcare organizations. Sarah’s expertise includes innovation, enterprise communication, digital patient experience, and virtual care initiatives.
With a passion for both sports and academia, Sarah excelled as a Rower and Rugby player for the University of Texas. Now she enjoys playing competitive tennis, but admittedly is not holding out hopes for making Wimbledon anytime soon. Sarah has a B.S. in Data Analytics from Southern New Hampshire University and is currently working on her MBA with a concentration in IT Leadership.
Prior to joining healthcare IT, Sarah worked in both Veterinary Medicine and Education. She loves talking to other animal lovers and will happily show you pictures of her funny farm of 4 dogs and 2 cats.
Nick Kagal, FHIMSS, FACHE
VP Marketing & Communication
Nick Kagal is the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at SpinSci Technologies, a leading patient engagement solutions provider. He previously served as the Senior Director of Customer Success with Premier Inc for the Western United States. Nick has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, and has held leadership roles with several major DFW provider organizations including Parkland Health & Hospital System, HealthSouth & Medical Center of Plano.
In addition to his provider-based experience, Nick has served as Vice President of Business Development for an electronic medical record vendor and a healthcare-focused enterprise resource planning organization. Nick received his BA in Biology & Psychology from Austin College and an MBA from the Texas A&M University. He is a Fellow in both HIMSS and the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). Nick has also been a national reviewer, moderator, and presenter for the Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition, served on the HIMSS National Professional Development Committee, and currently serves on the Governance and Operations Chapter Task Force. Nick lives in Plano, Texas, and is an avid sports fan, a weekend warrior athlete, a long-distance cyclist and plays guitar & bass in the local cover band Sonic Dissonance.
Amogh Bhaskara
Student Ambassador
Amogh Bhaskara is a UTDallas Student working on his MS Business Analytics. In the summer of 2023 Amogh is an Intern @ Ground Game Health. Amogh has stepped in and worked with the DFW HIMSS at UTD and TWU events encourage other students on the advantages of being a Student HIMSS member. Amogh was instrumental at the State Capital meeting with Legislatives and became an active member of the Texas Advocacy team. The Student Ambassador is a new role encouraged by National HIMSS and the DFW HIMSS Board is proud to have Amogh in this role to develop the position supporting DFW HIMSS Student membership.
Awarded the UT Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management's Dream Big & Conquer - Dr. Ravinder Rao Takkallapalli Fellowship of Excellence for Fall 2023