AHIMA Names Dr. Wylecia Wiggs Harris as New CEO

The AHIMA Board of Directors recently announced that Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, has been selected to lead AHIMA as its CEO. Harris will take the helm on February 5, 2018.

Harris joins AHIMA after serving as CEO of the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) and the League of Women Voters Education Fund. While at the LWVUS, Harris was responsible for enlivening the national organization. Working with her board of directors, she created and lead an organizational transformation strategy to increase the impact, relevance, and visibility of the LWVUS and its 700+ affiliates. Prior to her work at LWVUS, Harris held senior executive positions at the American Nurses Association, including as chief operating officer, was executive director of the Center for American Nurses and executive director of the Maryland-based Sister to Sister Foundation—a national organization supporting women's health issues and heart disease education. Harris also served as senior vice president and executive director at the American Heart Association.

"Dr. Harris is an exemplary leader with the ability to envision transformative changes and execute to those changes," says AHIMA Board President/Chair Diann H. Smith, MS, RHIA, CHP, FAHIMA. "She has a strong track record for creating high-performing teams, strengthening membership, and fostering internal and external partnerships to support the missions of the organizations she served. The AHIMA Board of Directors sought an executive with experience leading associations with multimillion dollar operating budgets, and we look forward to working with Dr. Harris to be a powerful voice and advocate for AHIMA and the health information management profession."

"I'm excited to begin this next chapter with AHIMA and lead this great association at a time when both the health care industry and the health information management profession are experiencing rapid change," Harris says. "I look forward to working with the AHIMA Board of Directors, leadership, staff, and volunteers to grow and strengthen membership while continuing to advance the HIM profession and AHIMA."

Harris holds a PhD in organizational development from Capella University in Minneapolis, Minnesota; a master of management degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois; and both a bachelor and honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Wittenberg University, in Springfield, Ohio. She is an ASAE-certified executive director and certified facilitator for leadership assessments through the Center for Creative Leadership.

— Source: AHIMA