Now Retired (2006 - Present)
I retired in February 2006 and now have time to travel and do some periodic consulting as my travel schedule allows. I am out of the country 2 months out of the year leading students through Europe on academic business courses for International Business Seminars. Here are some photo albums of recent trips.
Here is my work history in reverse chronological order....
Vice President, Information Technology Group (2004-2006)
Responsible for all of Health Net's commercial Western Region Claims, Provider, and Benefit systems, as well as Medicaid (Medi-Cal). Successfully consolidating multiple Capitation Payment systems, Sales support (CRM), Underwriting, Pharmacy Authorizations, Provider Credentialing, IVR, Medical Management, and Print Services Systems into single enterprise-wide solutions.
Vice President, Program Management (2000-2003)
Directed 176 enterprise-wide HIPAA readiness projects for this $10 Billion Managed Health Care Company. Responsibility involved 220+ IT and Business associates with a budget of $45M. Successfully met all compliance dates early, and under budget.
Vice President of Information Technology (IT)
Turned around an unstable IT shop while significantly improving the number, quality, and morale of the IT staff; provided an IT vision/roadmap for the corporation and IT, received a National award for our Technology plan and implementation;. all while successfully managing Y2K remediation and merging two BlueCross and BlueShield Plans and improving our national standardized customer service scores from 88.1% in 1995 to 98.2% in 1998.
I had 300 full-time IT associates reporting to me and 150+ contractors and consultants. I was responsible for an annual operating budget of $40M and a 5-year IT capital budget of $118M.
"CIO Revitalizes IT Department And Reverses Outsourcing Trend".Within one year I established a strong Business area / IT relationship, and developed a long term Strategic Plan endorsed by the Board of Directors. The plan kept IT in-house while simultaneously using selective outsourcing and positioned IT as a strategic asset in subsequent merger and acquisition discussions. The IT strategic plan, and our execution of it, put Maryland in the driver’s seat during a merger with BlueCross & BlueShield of the National Capitol Area (NCA).
Through the use of creative staffing, recognition, and recruitment programs, I eliminated the IT staffing problem while the rest of the nation continued to struggle with the IT skill shortage to address Year 2000 issues. Following my first year of leadership, IT gained the highest score in the company’s annual employee opinion survey and the highest improvement throughout company. This turnaround was written up in a 1998 article by Aspen Publishers, IT Health Care Strategist,
I developed the E-Commerce strategy for this $4B
Healthcare Insurance company leveraging relationships with other .COM
companies such as:
The IT Division was chosen by a leading national newsweekly (PC-Week) as one of the top 500 companies in an exclusive listing of the nation’s leading technology trendsetters. (Fast-Trak 500). These accomplishments were also written up in Health Care Information Management Week in 1997
CareFirst IT directly contributed to keeping the day-to-day service levels one of the highest in the BlueCross BlueShield System.
[Top]
Assistant Vice President, Systems and Programming, Data Administration, and Advanced Technology
Initially recruited to help manage the systems integration resulting from the merger of two Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans.. Following the successful merger of the two Plans my responsibilities focused on continued development of our mission-critical Managed Care Systems. I was responsible for Data Administration (Data Warehouse), and the New Technology group (Client/Server, Imaging, PC development.)
Lead the business and technical project to redefine the core business direction of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia from indemnity to a leader in Managed Care. Only 18 months elapsed from the start of the requirements definition to going live on a new, core mission-critical system, including the conversion of the entire HMO book of business.
Simultaneously, we successfully installed a sophisticated imaging system with 500 new workstations (converted from old CRT technology), developed a Client/Server Graphical User Interface (GUI) Customer Service application for the new mission-critical Managed Care system which reduced customer service training time from 6-10 months to 3-6 weeks.
Successfully managed the consolidation of two large corporate data processing centers. The 100 man-year systems project was accomplished on schedule with no interruption in service to customers, while increasing employee productivity The project saved $4M annually spent on an EDS outsourcing contract.
Spearheaded the development of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia's first Strategic Information Systems Plan (SISP.) The plan was used as a case study at a Harvard University Strategic planning conference.
[Top]
Vice President, Information Systems
Hired as Manager of Data Processing to turn around a troubled department in this $100 million company specializing in group insurance vision care benefits. Promoted to Vice President of Information Systems after a year and a half.
Directed turnaround of a troubled data processing department by reducing costs, improving quality by increasing service levels from 70% to 99%, increasing accuracy by adding appropriate program and procedural controls, and establishing a service orientation to DP customers.
Developed new claims processing system and implemented new data base technology for a major telecommunications industry client within six months, resulting in a highly tailored, quality system. CVSP was consequently awarded its largest account.
Developed clearing house for VSP claims nationwide which resulted in improved customer service, faster payments, and increased accuracy.
[Top]
Director, Information Systems
Hired as Manager of Information Systems, after two years I was promoted to Director while exercising my entrepreneurial, leadership and creative skills as follows:
Directed the complete design, development and installation of innovative, fully integrated business systems within newly created theme park division. The systems supported two major seasonal theme parks, each comprised of 125 point-of-sales terminals, generating $80 million in combined revenue. I handled the staffing, construction oversight, DP equipment and software specifications, system development and implementation for the two parks simultaneously in two different parts of the country (Santa Clara , California - now owned by Paramount and Gurnee, Illinois - now owned by Six Flags)
One of the highly innovative systems was a fully automated time collection, payroll, and labor accounting system to track an employment base which fluctuated seasonally from 125 to 3000, through the integration of electronic badge readers, point-of-sales terminals, and mainframe computers (the first integration of its kind at the time). The system we developed was the first of its kind in the nation. The system generated daily and hourly operational labor reports for 100 profit centers, critical to controlling costs in this labor-intensive business.
[Top]
Data Processing Manager
Turned around a troubled data processing department.
[Top]
Business Systems Analyst
Assisted a myriad of businesses installing data processing systems.
Education:
Master of Science (with distinction), Management Information Systems, American University, 1974. I obtained my degree in three years while working full time and attending school at night. GPA 3.8/4.0
Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, University of Maine, 1967
Certificate, Advanced Management, Stanford University, 1983
Certificate, Executive management, U.C. Davis, 1982
Professional and Civic Affiliations:
Board of Advisors for Villa Julie College Graduate Program in MIS 1998-present
Vice President, Board of Directors for the BlueCross BlueShield Association "CIO IT Roundtable" 1998-present. The nationwide group (>50) of all BlueCross & BlueShield Plan’s CIO’s
Governing Board, GTEDS Q/CARE Managed Care Users Group , 1995
Board of Directors, Columbus Aquatic Club, 1990
President, Carmichael California Swim Team, 1984 & 1985
Volunteer Instructor, Junior Achievement (Project Business Economics), 1983-84
President, San Francisco Bay Area Computer Users Group, 1979
Honors and Presentations:
Speaker at largest worldwide EDI Conference April 1997 on Healthcare Cybervision Project, Healthcare use of the Internet
Chosen by a leading national
newsweekly (PC-Week) as one of the top 500 companies in an exclusive listing of
the nation’s leading technology trendsetters. (Fast-Track 500)
A case study was written by a Harvard Professor and a representative of Blue Cross and Blue Shield National Association describing the Strategic Information Systems Plan which I developed for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia. It was presented by two distinguished Harvard Professors (McFarland and Applegate) in the summer of 1990 at the Forum for Strategy Development.
Presented the leading-edge information system used at Marriott Theme Parks (which I designed and built) at 1978 NCR International User Convention in New Orleans.
Honor graduate, NCR Computer Systems training, Dayton, Ohio, 1971
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 1967-1970 - Outstanding Trainee in basic Training, Honor Graduate in AIT, Distinguished Military Graduate, U.S. Army Artillery O.C.S, Bronze Star while serving in Vietnam, 1969-1970
Click Here for my resume in Adobe Acrobat PDF format