AHIMA Appoints New CEO

AHIMA’s board of directors announced Lynne Thomas Gordon, MBA, RHIA, FACHE, will take office as the new chief executive of the 61,000-member leader of HIM. A veteran healthcare executive, her experience also includes academia and a wide spectrum of association involvement.  Thomas Gordon will assume her role as CEO on September 29, 2011.

“Lynne Thomas Gordon has extensive leadership experience as well as a diverse health information background,” says AHIMA Board President Bonnie Cassidy. “The combination of Lynne’s executive skills and healthcare knowledge will help lead AHIMA and its members through complex issues and the healthcare industry’s transformation of managing and integrating HIM with a new generation of technology.”

Thomas Gordon joins AHIMA after serving as associate vice president for hospital operations and director of the Children’s Hospital at Rush University Medical Center. She also is a member of the Rush University faculty in the graduate program in health systems management.

“I look forward to helping move the organization forward in challenging yet exciting times,” says Thomas Gordon. “My goal will be making sure people not only understand our vision but live it and breathe it—making our vision come alive.”

Thomas Gordon holds active membership in AHIMA and the American College of Healthcare Executives. She has served on the information management taskforce of the Joint Commission and as a governor on the ACHE board. She held additional offices for ACHE and was awarded their Early Career Healthcare Executive Regent’s Award.

She is a past president and board director for the Georgia Health Information Management Association and a recipient of the GHIMA Distinguished Member Award. Thomas Gordon also has received AHIMA’s Achievement and Education-Practitioner Awards and has served on the AHIMA nominating committee and as a member of the House of Delegates.

Sources: AHIMA