Biographies

• Tommy G. Thompson
• Drew Swiss
• Dave Pecoraro

• Dr. Douglas Rose
• Paul A.Clark, DrPH (cand.), F.A.C.H.E.

• Jeffery Wadja, D.O., M.S., F.A.C.E.P.
• Gary Bisbee Jr., Ph.D.
• Sherrie Jones

• Nancy Auer, M.D., F.A.C.E.P.
• Mark D. Crockett, M.D., F.A.C.E.P.

Tommy G. Thompson
Former U.S. secretary of health & human services

Tommy G. Thompson is the former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary and four-term governor of Wisconsin, the longest tenure in that state’s history. He is currently a partner at the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where he is responsible for developing innovative solutions to the healthcare challenges facing American families, businesses, communities, states and the nation. Previously, he was chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions where he now serves as an advisor. Secretary Thompson has received numerous awards for his public service, including the Anti-Defamation League’s Distinguished Public Service Award. In 1997, Thompson received Governing magazine’s Public Official-of- the-Year Award, and he received the Horatio Alger Award in 1998. He received his bachelor’s degree and law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and maintains a position on the Picis board of directors.

Drew Swiss
Vice president of finance
Montefiore Medical System, Bronx, N.Y.

Drew Swiss has worked for Montefiore Medical Center, an integrated delivery system with $2.8 billion in revenues, for the past 20 years as vice president of finance. He is responsible for all aspects of the revenue cycle, managed care negotiations, managing the investment portfolio and other financial operations. Prior to Montefiore, he was a senior manager with the New York Office of E&Y for eight years. Mr. Swiss has been a trustee for the 1199 National Pension Fund (a $6 billion fund) since 1993 and he also serves as a member of the Audit and Investment Committees of the Fund.

Dave Pecoraro
Chief information officer
Exempla Healthcare, Denver, Colo.

Dave Pecoraro is the chief information officer at Exempla Healthcare and has an extensive background in working with healthcare information systems that encompass clinical and business information, multi-hospital operations, materials management and logistics. Prior to joining Exempla Healthcare in 2006, Mr. Pecoraro was the vice president and CIO for Jewish Hospital Healthcare in Louisville, Ken. He also worked as a chief industrial engineer for Kaiser Permamente in Southern California, and as the director of management services for the University of Kentucky and Appalachian Regional Hospitals. He has also served as an Adjunct Instructor for the University of Louisville, Graduate College, teaching courses in management systems and information technology management.

Dr. Douglas Rose
Emergency department medical director
Stormont-Vail HealthCare, Topeka, Kan.

Dr. Douglas Rose has been practicing emergency medicine for 20 years, and has been associated with the emergency medicine department at Stormont-Vail Healthcare since 1994. In 2007, Dr. Rose assumed the role of medical director and initiated a program focused on comprehensive process improvement. This effort included identification and implementation of a comprehensive, integrated emergency department information system. Prior to Stormont-Vail, Dr. Rose held administrative and clinical positions in the emergency medicine department of Geneva General Hospital, Geneva, NY. He served as a National Health Service Corps clinician in rural Ohio immediately after residency training at Rochester General Hospital. Rose received a B.A. in Biology from Cornell University, and a M.D. from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Paul Alexander Clark, DrPH (cand.), FACHE
Senior director for research and programming
The Health Management Academy

Paul Alexander Clark serves as senior director for research and programming at The Health Management Academy where he develops and leads a research agenda to assist Academy members — C-suite executives of America’s largest health systems — in improving the quality and efficiency of health care. Prior to joining The Academy, Mr. Clark served as director of knowledge management at Press Ganey Associates, where he led a team of researchers conducting quantitative and qualitative research to determine best practices for improving health care quality. Mr. Clark has authored two books on quality improvement and dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

Mr. Clark earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master of Public Administration in Science and Technology Policy from George Mason University (Fairfax, VA), a Master of Arts in Bioethics and Healthcare Policy from the Loyola University Chicago, and a Masters of Healthcare Administration from the University of North Carolina. He is a doctoral candidate in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Jeff Wadja, DO, MS, F.A.C.E.P.
Vice president of clinical services
LYNX Medical Systems, a Picis company

Dr. Jeff Wajda serves as vice president of clinical services at LYNX Medical Systems where he is responsible for clinical software products and coding services development and represents the company with clients and government agencies. With more than 18 years of emergency medical experience and more than 10 years of group/hospital management experience, Dr. Wajda’s career has focused on implementation of clinical and business initiatives through physician alignment and IT implementation. Dr. Wajda is a board-certified emergency physician with experience as an emergency department medical director, quality director and chairman of the Credentials Committee at Providence Regional Medical Center, Everett WA. He completed emergency medicine residency training at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and completed a management fellowship through Catholic Healthcare West. Dr. Wajda serves as chairman of the American College of Emergency Physicians (A.C.E.P.) pay-for-performance work group. He is a member of the national A.C.E.P. Reimbursement and Coding Nomenclature Committees, the board of directors of Washington A.C.E.P., the American College of Physician Executives and is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Gary Bisbee Jr., Ph.D.
Co-founder, chairman and CEO
The Health Management Academy

Gerald E. Bisbee, Jr., Ph.D., is co-founder, chairman and CEO of The Health Management Academy. He has a long-standing professional involvement in this area, including being a faculty member in graduate management programs at Yale and Northwestern Universities and President of the Hospital Research and Educational Trust, the research and educational affiliate of the American Hospital Association. He has served as CEO of an HMO, practice management and information services organizations, and was Director of the Healthcare Services Group of Kidder Peabody & Co. Dr. Bisbee earned an M.B.A. in finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from Yale University in chronic disease epidemiology, with an emphasis on survey research. His dissertation was a key part of the development of DRGs.

Dr. Bisbee is also chairman, president and chief executive officer of ReGen Biologics, Inc., a tissue-engineering company that designs, develops and manufactures minimally invasive implants and medical devices for the repair and regeneration of damaged or degenerating cartilage.

Sherrie Jones
Co-founder and president
The Health Management Academy

Sherrie Jones is co-founder and president of The Health Management Academy, where she is responsible for overall operations. Ms. Jones has spent her career in marketing and business development with particular emphasis on healthcare and information systems. She has specialized in directing and managing joint ventures and strategic partnerships among large corporations.

Ms. Jones' early professional career took place at Datapoint where she was responsible for major accounts and Federal Integrated Systems Corporation (FISC), Datapoint's joint venture with Electronic Data Systems (EDS). Ms. Jones was vice president of sales for FISC and responsible for implementation, sales and training to military hospitals worldwide. She then moved to APACHE Medical Systems, Inc. where as vice president of sales and marketing, she directed marketing and sales activities, as well as relations with APACHE's industry partners. Ms. Jones earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin, and is a member of the Board of Directors of The Health Management Academy, Inc.

Nancy Auer, M.D., F.A.C.E.P.
Special medical advisor to the CEO
Swedish Medical Center

Dr. Nancy Auer has served as the special medical advisor to the CEO of Swedish Medical Center since January 2009,. Previously, she served as the chief medical officer (CMO) at Swedish Health Services, a role she assumed in January 2005. Dr. Auer has had a long-standing professional career at Swedish Health Services where she has worked since 1980. Prior positions include serving as vice president for medical affairs, medical director of Swedish Emergency Services and Employee Health and as chief of staff.

Dr. Auer became the first woman president of the Washington Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (A.C.E.P.), and later became the first woman president of A.C.E.P., the national organization. She has served as president of the International Federation of Emergency Medicine and currently is the medical director for the Washington State Hospital Bioterrorism Preparedness Program. Dr. Auer earned her medical degree at the University of Tennessee Medical School and conducted her residency in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Tennessee.

Mark D. Crockett, M.D., F.A.C.E.P.
President, emergency care division
Picis

Mark Crockett, co-developer of the company’s emergency department information system, currently oversees the emergency care division and helps drive the direction of Picis’ ED product development, sales and growth. An attending physician at Morris Hospital in Morris, Illinois, he maintains a solid understanding of the day-to-day workings of an emergency department and the need for automating the documentation process in this intense environment. Crockett graduated from Wheaton College and has a medical degree from the University of Illinois. With his extensive knowledge in the fields of emergency medicine, medical informatics and systems architecture, he is a published author and a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.