HDAA Board of Directors


Alicia d'Empaire

Innovative Healthtech executive and digital transformations leader with 34 years of experience in leading the design, development, and adoption of multi-pronged IT initiatives that influence bottom-line improvements in clinical care delivery, operational efficiency, and patient outcomes within multi-facility healthcare organizations including Baptist Health South Florida, Orlando Health, and Mount Sinai Medical Center. A key driver of change and analytics governance specialist who leverages a strong business intelligence background to provide a unique perspective to large analytics teams and board-level executives in support of large-scale technology adoption, organizational growth, and solutions delivery. Regarded as a mentor and credible leader who epitomizes excellence in coordinating multi-specialty teams for the delivery of advanced analytics infrastructures and systems. Superior culture-building skill with a strengthened ability in delivering cutting-edge projects in alignment that modernize healthcare operations and minimize technology risks. Across her career, she has played an instrumental role within rapidly evolving healthcare environments, designing and integrating technical infrastructures, programs, and initiatives that raise the benchmark for quality and drive improved clinical outcomes.

Alicia holds a Master of Business Administration, a Certificate in Health Administration, and a Bachelor of Science in Systems Analysis from the University of Miami. In 2016, Alicia was selected to join the Board of Healthcare Data Warehouse Association (HDAA) and in 2014, became a member of the South Florida Chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).


Stu Gardos

 


Ryan Sousa

A senior leader with 30+ years of cross-industry success with a passion for partnering with organizations to power data innovation that leverages analytics/AI at scale to streamline operations, promote innovation, accelerate research, and enrich the consumer and employee experience.

SVP for two start-ups acquired by Amazon and Nokia. Led the successful implementation of large-scale analytics at Amazon, Expedia, Starbucks, and MCI. This involved leading strategy, implementation, operations, and commercialization. More recently, led the analytics transformation at Seattle Children’s as their Chief Data & Analytics Officer, raising the level of maturity from HIMSS AMAM 2 to 7 in four years – the 5th organization to achieve this level of maturity. This included the first commercial software spin-off, AdaptX, where Ryan is co-inventor and board advisor. In addition, led the creation of the digital health strategy, and the implementation of virtual care, digital front door, and immersive technology. 

Industry thought leader and promoter of best practices. Was a faculty member at The Data Warehouse Institute (TDWI), taught Healthcare Analytics at the University of Washington, and is an advisor, author, and speaker. Has consulted globally, assisting companies in defining and implementing their analytic and CRM strategies. 



Leslie Kian

Leslie has been a HDAA member since 2003 representing MD Anderson Cancer Center as Director of Medical Informatics. He was one of the first five hospital members of HDWA (Healthcare Data Warehouse Association). Leslie’s department was responsible for building MD Anderson’s first data warehouse, as well as creating a centralized data analytics team. Medical Informatics used these groundbreaking resources to improve the quality of patient care and support research.

Leslie’s 45+ years of experience includes 30 years in healthcare. He played roles in information technology, hospital and clinical operations, and patient care which included the departments of clinical ethics, performance improvement and patient experience.

Outside of his MD Anderson experience, Leslie spent a few years directing healthcare projects for a local Meals on Wheels program serving the Greater Houston senior community. He managed a team that investigated how the use of technology can support seniors aging in place and improve their social determinants of health (SDOH).

Leslie is proud to be a long-time member of the HDAA Board of Directors and is currently serving as their treasury officer. 


Kris Mitchell

Director, Clinical & Revenue Applications, Data Warehousing at Trinity Health

Kris has over 25 years of data warehousing and analytics experience in the healthcare industry. Currently she oversees the product engineering build of clinical applications, revenue applications, and the data warehouse at Trinity Health. Prior to that, she served as the Senior Director of Analytics at Virginia Mason in Seattle, and the Director of Data Warehousing and Integration at Intermountain Healthcare. Kris has been a member of HDAA (formerly HDWA) since it’s inception, and has been serving as a Board Director/Secretary for the last several years.

With her various roles, she has had the opportunity to help deliver data strategies and solutions to many areas of hospital operations, including finance, revenue excellence, quality (regulatory reporting), clinical programs, and clinical services. She is passionate about data governance, data technologies, and assuring leaders have the resources and information they need to make clinical and operational decisions.

Kris earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics as well as her MBA, IT from the University of Utah. She currently resides in Redmond, Washington.


Lynsie Daley

Lynsie Daley is a data and analytics manager at Intermountain Health based in Salt Lake City and has spent over 10 years dedicated to healthcare analytics. She leads a team of talented data professionals who work across the clinical spectrum supporting areas such as laboratory services, clinical engineering, imaging services, and pain management. Much of Lynsie’s work is focused on driving opioid stewardship and reduction at Intermountain and in the surrounding community. Lynsie also currently serves on the advisory board for the Women in Analytics group, which she helped to establish as part of HDAA and is very passionate about promoting STEM careers to young girls and women and advocating for women currently in the analytics field. She holds both a BS and MS in statistics from Utah State University.


Chris Donovan

Christopher (Chris) Donovan is Medical Mutual’s Executive Vice President, Chief Data and Information Officer. He oversees Medical Mutual’s information management and leads its data and analytics strategy.
In 1992, Mr. Donovan began his 30-year career with the Cleveland Clinic. Most recently, he was Executive Director of Enterprise Analytics, leading the development and implementation of the corporate information management and analytics strategy. He previously served the Clinic in multiple roles that covered a variety of disciplines including decision support, operating and capital budget management, chargemaster operations, medical and contract economics, and data governance, among others. b
Mr. Donovan earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Miami University and his MBA from Cleveland State University. In 2012, he completed the Health Management Academy GE CFO Fellowship and the Value Measurement for Health Care executive education course at Harvard Business School.
In 2018, Mr. Donovan co-founded Community of Hope, an award-winning agency serving Northeast Ohio youth who are aging out of the foster system and still serves as a board member today. He formerly served as a board member and partner representative of the Center for Analytics and Data Science at Miami University.


Roopa Foulger

Roopa Foulger has 25 years’ cross industry experience in Data and Enterprise Information Management, Analytics and Product Development. She is currently the Vice President –Digital & Innovation Development at OSF HealthCare System and has been with the organization for 14 years. At OSF, she is responsible for Technology strategy for Digital Transformation and is Research lead for Jump ARCHES Data and Advanced Informatics Lab building Adjacent and Breakthrough solutions. As a Research Investigator in Data Science and AI, she is working on several research projects aimed at addressing cancer, promoting health equity, and finding solutions for chronic disease conditions. In her role as VP Data Delivery, she played a pivotal role in the development and implementation of the Enterprise Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence Infrastructure for OSF, improving the organization's capabilities in enabling more efficient and effective data-driven decision-making across the organization.

Prior to joining OSF, she was leading Enterprise Data Warehouse/Analytics projects for Caterpillar and GlaxoSmithKline. Some of the areas that she has worked include Clinical, Financial, Customer/Market focused analytics, Product forecasting, and Performance Scorecards. Beyond Healthcare and Life sciences market she has created solutions for Telecommunications, Banking and Insurance sectors.


Chris Hutchins

SVP, Chief Data Officer for Lifepoint Health

Chris is a senior health care leader with over 20 years of experience developing analytic teams, establishing data governance, data warehousing and business intelligence implementation, delivering solutions focused on patient experience, outcomes, cost, population health, quality, regulatory and risk based arrangements, revenue cycle, health system operations. He has extensive experience with organizational transformation and specializes in integrating analytic, IT and Informatics teams across organizational lines to improve solution delivery and enabling data driven insight.


Kelly MacCarroll

Kelly has 20 years of experience in the data and analytics space, with15 years dedicated to the healthcare industry. He currently serves as the Vice President of Data Strategy and Governance at Curana Health, a nationally recognized medical group and health plan focused on delivering value-based care to our senior population . Here, Kelly is tasked with the development and delivery of an enterprise data and analytics strategy and robust data governance practice. He recently served as the System Vice President of Business Intelligence at CommonSpirit Health, the second largest non-profit health system in the country. During his tenure at CommonSpirit, Kelly was responsible for the planning and implementation of an enterprise data platform, the formation of a centralized data management hub, the creation of a dynamic business intelligence and analytics portfolio, and the establishment of best-practice data governance principles. Kelly has served on HDAA the Board of Directors since 2018 and currently facilitates the Community Advisory Council.

Kelly is passionate for all things data and analytics and especially seeks out opportunities to transform healthcare in a data-driven manner. He has a strong desire for connection with the people who lead this charge and he hopes to be a meaningful ally in that cause. Kelly firmly believes HDAA is in a position of strength as a thought leader and can positively influence the application of advanced analytics in the industry to drive better outcomes, increase operational efficiency, achieve health equity, and improve patient engagement.


Andrew Proctor

Andrew is the Senior Director of Data & Analytics and has managed analytic teams at The Cleveland Clinic since 1996.  He received his masters in Health Systems Management from Rush University and is a healthcare management professional with 30 years’ experience in group practice operations, performance improvement and analytic excellence in quaternary care academic medical centers.  His team has received national awards and recognition for analytic capabilities utilized in the Cleveland Clinic’s COVID prediction model and geospatial surveillance reporting.


Audrey Schmidt


Wendy Soethe

With her career spanning over 25 years in healthcare analytics, Wendy Soethe is an experienced leader in this dynamic field. Starting her journey as a data analyst, she has skillfully taken on a diverse range of roles over the years. She has spearheaded transformative initiatives within payer and provider organizations, leveraging data-driven insights to enhance operational efficiency and patient care. Having collaborated with numerous hospital systems, including an impactful 16-year tenure at Seattle Children’s, Soethe’s expertise has been instrumental in optimizing healthcare processes.

Presently, she serves as Senior Director within the Data, Analytics & AI practice at Pivot Point Consulting, where she continues to drive innovation and advocate for improved outcomes through analytics. Beyond her professional pursuits, Soethe also volunteers with Healthcare Data and Analytics Association (HDAA) and is currently serving as President on the Board of Directors for Public Health International (PHI), a volunteer-based nonprofit organization focusing on advancing global Health. These roles reflect her enduring commitment to learning and serving the community, underscoring her ongoing journey of growth and impact.


Kerri Webster

Kerri Webster has served as Vice President/Chief Analytics Officer of Children’s Hospital Colorado since October 2017 where she oversees the Children’s Hospital Colorado Analytics Resource Center. The Analytics Resource Center is dedicated to fostering an aligned, accountable, data driven culture in support of the mission of Children’s Hospital Colorado. Kerri has been recognized by Becker’s Healthcare as one of the top Analytics Leaders Making an Impact in 2022. Under her leadership, the Analytics Resource Center has been nationally recognized for analytics maturity and data driven outcomes – achieving HIMSS Analytics Level 7 two times.

Kerri has a master’s of science degree in informatics from the University of Colorado and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Wichita State University.


HDAA Operations


Eric Anderson

Eric Anderson has worked in healthcare for over 45 years, beginning his career as a nurse in the Rehabilitation Unit at Maine Medical Center. Soon thereafter he was invited to participate in the implementation of the (then named) Technicon Medical Information Systems, adding keypunch skills to supplement his clinical skills. Over time he became the principle semantic interpreter among Clinical, Financial, Administrative and Technical users. At the time, there were only 5 hospitals using the TMIS system and he participated in the formation and leadership of their user group until it was sunset in 2000. It was here he learned the value of networking and sharing among peers, almost identical to the HDAA Mission and Vision. He was instrumental in the introduction of microcomputers (IBM PC, Apple IIc and Osborne 1) to the organization beginning

the migration away from the mainframe to server farms and networking. Before leaving the hospital, he authored or co-authored the strategic plans for data warehousing, Research Data Management and as the technology lead for several grants, including the technology section for successful grant of $15.3M contract for National Children’s Study (Technology Lead), award of $3.5M for National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP) (IT Pillar Lead) and, authored the Data Strategy section of the successfully awarded 4 year, $15 million CMS Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative. He left as Director of Quality Data Management, responsible for Data Warehousing and Integration.

The next phase of his career was as the Data Operations Manager at the Maine Health Management Coalition, now the Healthcare Purchaser Alliance of Maine. In this role he served as the Privacy and Security Officer, Lead resource for the Center for Healthcare Transparency innovation pilot and, developed the data strategy for the integration of clinical and claims data. The Coalition was a small team of professionals devoted to creating an open conversation among Providers, Payers, Brokers for a total Cost of Care model used for benefit design.

His philosophy is that all the work we do is first, beneficial to patients and their families, secondly to the care staff and others involved in the care workflows and, lastly to evaluate technical solutions to enhance the lives of the first two group. He is a strong proponent of transparency, involving patients and families in technology developments and the use of Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA) to identify solutions or issues in clinical, Financial and administrative domains. He has carried this passion forward as a HDAA member since 2008 and Executive Director since 2018.


Bruce Douglas

Bruce Douglas is Program Director for the Healthcare Data & Analytics Association. He has been active in HDAA for more than a decade, serving on the board, including a three-year term as board president. Bruce retired in February 2021 after 22 years from Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was director of data analytics and integration. For much of that time, he was the lead designer for Emory’s Clinical Data Warehouse., a platform integrating both clinical and financial information.

He has nearly 40 years of experience in IT in a variety of roles, from resource and project management to data modeling, ETL design, business intelligence architecture and end-user training. Prior to his time at Emory, Bruce was a software developer with BellSouth, where he helped design a financial data warehouse and the company’s activity-based costing application. He also spent two years as a journalist with United Press International.


Carrie Sweeney