Featured Speaker(s)

Dee Cantrell
Chief Information Officer, Emory Healthcare

Dee Cantrell is the Chief Information Officer at Emory Healthcare, Inc. in Atlanta GA. Emory Healthcare is a large integrated academic healthcare system committed to the highest level of care for patients and families, educating healthcare professionals for the future, pursuing discovery research and clinical innovation and serving the community. As the clinical arm of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory University, Emory Healthcare is the largest, most comprehensive health care system in the state of Georgia.In addition, Ms. Cantrell has recognized as one of the key leaders in technology by "Women in Technology", an affiliate of The Technology Association of Georgia and by the Computerworld's Search for Heroes. Moreover, Ms. Cantrell was awarded the CIO of the year by the Georgia CIO Leadership Association (GCLA) for 2009 and is currently a Board Member of the Georgia HIMSS. Ms. Cantrell earned her master's degree in Organizational Management from Capella University and her bachelor's degree in Nursing from Brenau University. She worked as a registered nurse in multiple capacities before becoming involved in healthcare information technology. She came to Emory in 1994 as director of Patient Services for the Emory University Hospital and then moved the following year in 1995 to become a Senior Business Analyst in the Emory Healthcare Information Services Division. Ms Cantrell was promoted to Director of Client Service in 1996 followed by the promotion to the Director of Client and Application Services in 1997. She was promoted to the Executive Director of Emory Healthcare Information Services in 1998, and was again promoted to the Chief Information Officer in 2000.

Mark Pasquale
Vice President Chief and Information Officer, Piedmont Healthcare

Mark joined Piedmont Healthcare in September, 2009 as Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO). With nearly 30 years of information technology experience, Mark most recently served as Vice President of Information Services for the St. John's Health System in Springfield, Missouri prior coming to Piedmont.

Mark holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from Webster University in St. Louis and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Roosevelt University in Chicago.

Since Mark's arrival at Piedmont, the Information Services team has completed several major projects including the successfully implementation of ITIL. Information Services is currently part of an enterprise team that is in the process of implementing both PeopleSoft and Epic across the entire organization.

Mark and his wife Barb have two grown children and reside in Atlanta.

Deborah Cancilla
Chief Information Officer, Grady Health System

Deborah Cancilla served the last 14 years at the Erie County Medical Center, Corp. (ECMC) in Buffalo, N.Y. in various capacities in the IT department, including seven years as CIO. During her tenure at ECMC, Cancilla was recognized as a leading expert in health information technology. Through her efforts, the department received a first place institutional ranking for excellence in service and support, and she positioned ECMC within the top 10 percent of national healthcare systems for use of technology and clinical systems. She also played a lead role in development of the WNYHealthenet RHIO (regional health information office) for sharing patient clinical and financial data. Most recently, in her SVP, CIO role at Grady Health System, Cancilla has completed a wholesale replacement of the Health System’s network, transitioned the facility to Voip, updated the desktop computing platform, and completed installation of EPIC’s clinical and revenue software in a big bang go-live. Grady now is positioned with few facilities nationwide who have achieved HIMSS level 6 recognition.

Cancilla also implemented a wireless network and Internet café at ECMC, facilitated a major PBX upgrade and implemented a bar code and wireless transmission technology on nursing units for EKG, bedside medication administration and Alaris pump updates to assist with proper patient identification and safety. Cancilla has worked in the banking industry and for the Internal Revenue Service. She earned a master's degree in global business and a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, both from Daemen College in Buffalo.

Patricia A. Lavely (Patty)
Founder, CIO Consulting, LLC

Patty is founder of CIO Consulting, LLC and principal consultant. She is a leader in healthcare information technology with more than 20 years of experience in the industry. She has served as Chief Information Officer for three regional health systems, developing each organization's IT strategy and implementing operational improvements and technology-related regulatory compliance policies. Her experience includes, but is not limited to, developing IT governance, implementing EMRs, relocating data centers, major system selection and long-range planning.

Patty has participated in the planning and development of both statewide and local health information exchanges, serving as Chair of both the Georgia Health Information Technology and Transparency Advisory Board and the Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council's IT Consortium. She has maintained industry involvement throughout her career, including participation in national organizations, such as VHA, HIMSS, ACHE and CHIME, and published multiple articles in national IT journals.

Christopher Kunney
Emerging Healthcare Technology Strategist

Christopher has served as a senior level Healthcare Information Technology Executive and Strategist with expertise envisioning and leading multi-million dollar clinical and financial initiatives grounded solidly on business and economic value. Integrated and active in the healthcare IT sector with knowledge and expertise to address current day challenges. He has a track record of successfully providing strategic enterprise-wide solutions for addressing issues faced by health systems; meaningful use, PPACA, HITECH Act, HIPAA, EMR Adoption, CMS quality measures, and Health Information Exchanges.

Christopher's experience in information technology spans multiple industries, having spent a significant part of his career with companies such as The BAE Company, HealthInovations, Piedmont Healthcare, DeVry Institute, Hewlett-Packard, Verso Technologies and r Worldsites Network International. During his career, Christopher has also served in various executive and senior-level I.T. management positions focusing on healthcare IT, application development, e-commerce consulting, network and data center operations, technical engineering, technical support, quality, project management and business development. Christopher currently serves on the Executive Board of Directors for the Men's Health and Wellness Center, Georgia HIMSS Chapter and Ivy Preparatory Academy. He also co-chairs the GA HIMSS Annual Golf Tournament, Dr. Ben Carson Scholars Foundation (Atlanta Chapter) and program committee member for the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF).

Lisa McVey
Chief Information Officer, McKesson Provider Technologies and Physician Practice Solutions

Ms. McVey has overall responsibility for information technology leadership for MPT, the largest division of McKesson Technology Solutions (MTS), and the Ambulatory Business. McVey directs and manages computing and information technology strategic plans, policies, programs and schedules for business and finance data processing, computer services, network communications, and management information services in partnership with the business to accomplish corporate goals and objectives. She serves as the MTS-IT liaison for McKesson Corporate IT.

McVey joined McKesson in 1994, and has served in a number of succeeding leadership roles in Research and Development, Services, Sales, Process Office and IT. She has led the operational development of a single, SFA-driven sales process that integrated 22 sales leaders and 15 diverse processes; streamlined sales and service operations by initiating the sales services center facilitator role tasked with supporting and coordinating all quoting and contracting activities; improved business processes by developing IT governance and funnel management methodologies; introduced a service product philosophy, implementation strategies, and a client education approach still in use by the company today. Within one of the MPT business units, McVey aligned products with sales objectives, resulting in $18.6 million in new revenue generated. She also serves on the Corporate CIO Council, which comprises McKesson technology, financial and operational leaders who prioritize IT investments based on business needs. She is also a member of the WIT Foundation Board of Directors, Agile Advisory Council, and the CSE Deans Development Council for Southern Polytechnic State University.

Sonny Munter
Chief Information Officer, DCH

In this capacity, Munter manages the IT staff for Medicaid, the State Health Benefit Plan, Health Information Technology and Healthcare Facilities Regulation.

Munter has led all aspects of Information Technology including Applications Development, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, IT Infrastructure, Voice and Data Telecommunications, IT Security and Help Desk throughout his 30-year career. Munter has additional health care IT experience, serving as Interim CIO for a behavioral health company, Vice President of IT for a $2 billion Medicaid HMO, CIO for a Medicaid eligibility company, and Vice President of IT for a health care analytical services company that developed claim editing and physician profiling software for MCOs and HMOs.

Received an Outstanding Achievement award for his efforts as an Interim CIO for a behavioral health company and several Outstanding Achievement awards during his career with Equifax, Inc.He served in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years, two of those in the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran.

Praveen Chopra, CPIM
Vice President, Chief Information Officer, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

Praveen Chopra provides leadership oversight for Information Systems and Technology, and Supply Chain at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Chopra has demonstrated proven ability to create successful customer centric outcomes by developing and deploying strategies across healthcare, retail, and consulting industries. At Children’s Chopra is an integral part of strategy, quality and technology steering committees. Chopra has been instrumental in leading large scale transformative change associated with Electronic Medical Record, Community Health Record, Meaningful Use, Business Intelligence, Cost Containment and Value Analysis initiatives. Chopra is also actively collaborating with key stakeholders at the local and state levels to advance statewide Health Information Exchange. Prior to transitioning to healthcare, Chopra was instrumental in establishing supply chain excellence, delivering innovation and driving operational excellence for major product categories at The Home Depot. Chopra also brings extensive experience from Accenture consulting with Fortune 500 companies.

Gretchen Tegethoff
Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Athens Regional Healthcare System in Athens, GA

Tegethoff is responsible for Information Services, Telecommunications, eHealth, and Clinical Informatics at Athens Regional Health System, which is composed of an acute care facility with 350-plus beds, four urgent care centers, a quality network of physicians and specialists, a health maintenance organization, and a home health agency. She previously served as the Chief Information Officer at The George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC. She is accomplished in leadership, team development, project management, implementation, and communications.

She is a current member of the Board of Trustees of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), holding a leadership role in Advocacy. Tegethoff serves as the Chair of the CHIME Advocacy Leadership Team, a member of the Policy Steering Committee, and the CHIME StateNet Coordinator for Georgia. She previously served on numerous work groups in the DC area focusing on health information exchange and served as the CHIME StateNet Coordinator for the District of Columbia.She is also a member of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, American College of Healthcare Executives, and American Health Information Management Association. Tegethoff earned her Master’s Degree in Information Systems Technology from the George Washington University School of Business and her undergraduate degree in Medical Technology from West Virginia University School of Medicine.

Peggy Parks
President, The Parks Image Group, Inc.

Peggy M. Parks, AICI CIP, is Atlanta's Image Workshop Leader for avant-garde companies who value investing in employee training that results in more effective individual representatives of the corporate brand. Her flair for delivering current, impactful, and fun presentations on the complete range of image topics - from image management to personal branding to civility - has earned her the reputation as a go-to consultant for companies including Southern Company and Georgia Power.

As an ambassador of respectful professional communications and appearance, Peggy is a sought-after speaker. Her audiences respond to her courage to share her personal trials and tribulations as a self-described "late bloomer." She went from being in the shadows of her corporate career - with a flushed face and stammering voice when asked to speak - to becoming a confident, prepared business owner who has appeared on television.

Peggy M. Parks, multi-lingual and at home on three continents, was educated at prestigious schools in the United States and abroad. She received her image and etiquette training at the London Image Institute. Among her awards and honors are "Results Count" from Atlanta Women in Business, "Civility Star" from the Association of Image Consultants International, and a "Civility Month" proclamation from the City of Atlanta.