HIMSS CEO Lieber to Retire

H. Stephen Lieber, CAE, president and CEO of HIMSS, has announced his intention to retire as of the end of 2017. Lieber, 63, assumed this role in April 2000 and has led HIMSS through a period of significant change in health care and IT. During his tenure, HIMSS has become an influential association voice, thought leader, resource, and advisor driving global transformation of health and health care through the best use of IT.

Lieber has been a significant figure within HIMSS, the American health care community, and globally as governments, care delivery organizations, clinicians, and others have embraced HIT as a primary asset in addressing problems associated with the cost, quality, and access of health and care. Under his leadership, HIMSS has built a global operation annually reaching hundreds of thousands of engaged health care professionals in more than 35 countries through its educational programs, public policy leadership, strategic advisory and assessment services, membership and community networks, and other services. 

HIMSS has initiated a global search for a successor, retaining Egon Zehnder to lead the search process. The process is expected to be completed by summer with the new president and CEO serving alongside Lieber over the final months of 2017 to ensure a smooth transition. 

"HIMSS has seen tremendous growth in size, reach, and influence during Steve's leadership," says Dr. Sebastian Krolop, HIMSS Board of Directors chair and vice president and partner of Philips Healthcare Transformation Services EMEA in Berlin, Germany. "Steve has provided the right balance of strategic and operational leadership necessary for HIMSS to transform from a small, US-only based professional society to a large, globally focused diversified organization. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to Steve for his passion, constant dedication, and outstanding efforts." 

Lieber has been a Certified Association Executive (CAE) since 1994, is a member of the American Society of Association Executives and Association Forum of Chicagoland (past chairman), and has been awarded honorary life memberships at the American Hospital Association and the American Society of Healthcare Risk Management. Lieber not only serves on the Board of Directors of HIMSS and its related corporations but also serves on numerous other advisory and coalition boards. He was one of the founders of the Certification Commission for HIT and the Health Information Technology Standards Panel, two US federally funded initiatives at the foundation of the US interoperability effort. 

"The past 17 years at HIMSS have been the most exciting and rewarding time of my professional life," Lieber says. "I feel that our work at HIMSS has resulted in considerable improvements to the quality of care delivered to patients, to the safety of the treatments they receive, and to the value of care provided. I hope that, in some way, I can continue this work of making care better and safer through information technology." 

Source: HIMSS