HIMSS NCA Chapter is comprised of a Board of Directors who is dedicated to making the Chapter successful through thought leadership, stimulating and intellectual programs, and opportunities such as Charity and Scholarship, Membership and Outreach, and Advocacy activities. Please reach out to any of our Board Members if you are interested in volunteering for the Chapter.
President
Maria Gaboury
Maria Gaboury is an established health information technology expert. She has over 25 years of success, in delivering high-value solutions to Federal Health agencies including the Department of Defense (DoD)/Defense Health Agency, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as, commercial organizations. She is a growth-focused leader for Federal health IT business development, capture, and operations. Ms. Gaboury joined InterSystems Corporation in May 2019 and manages strategic accounts within the North American Sales group. She develops and executes the company’s overall Federal Health BD strategy, as well as internal and external partnerships, business plans, and associated marketing for the Defense Health and civilian health agencies.
Ms. Gaboury earned her bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology at Loyola University and her master’s degree in Information Management at Marymount University. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). She has been an active member of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) – National Capital Area (NCA) chapter since 2006 and is the current chapter President. For over 10 years she served as the committee chair for the HIMSS NCA Scholarship Program. Ms. Gaboury is a consummate supporter of helping young professionals enter the workforce through her work with various mentorship programs including HIMSS NCA and Women in Technology.
Maria is a native of the Washington, DC area and resides with her family in Falls Church, Virginia.
President-Elect
Mandy Peckham
Mandy Peckham is a Women Owned Small Business Owner/Account Executive/Business Development Lead/Federal Matchmaker with 18+ years of professional experience supporting federal consulting, nonprofits (with a focus on healthcare and conflict resolution), and the legal field. She continues to drive strategic growth in early stage and midsize companies at the corporate and account level, with a focus on new and emerging technologies. Ms. Peckham has long-standing Federal relationships, and an extensive network of Federal clients, industry, and emerging tech companies. Ms. Peckham is a voracious reader, and loves writing, reading, researching, and speaking about what’s coming up next on the innovation horizon-whether with artificial intelligence, machine learning, immersive technologies, data analytics, medical devices and wearables, mental health and wellness solutions, and quantum and photonics technology solutions. Ms. Peckham is focused on aligning those new and expanding technologies with the complex problems and use cases impacting the Federal government. In addition to owning BSR Consulting, Mandy Peckham is also the current Program Chair for HIMSS National Capital Area (NCA), the only federally focused chapter of HIMSS, and serves as a Venture Partner for a quantum and photonics fund, Qubits Ventures. When not working, Mandy is hiking with her dogs, practicing yoga, reading, running ragnar relay races, and dabbling in painting.
Immediate Past-President
Joan Bishop
Ms. Bishop is the Senior Vice President of HighPoint Digital’s Health sector; leading both operations as well as business strategy and growth. She joined the firm in 2021 with 35+ years of diverse consulting experience across the Department of Defense (DoD) and the federal government. A seasoned Health IT expert, Ms. Bishop works with Federal clients to provide expertise to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the DoD, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Over her career, Ms. Bishop has provided support to the Joint Staff, various elements within the Military Health System (including each of the armed services), the VA/VHA, HHS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of Labor (DOL). Ms. Bishop provided over 20 years of support to the military’s medical planning community developing decision support tools for military medical planners. Her background in federal health, military planning, and executive-level roles at other firms provide Ms. Bishop with the relationships and strategic understanding to work closely with federal health clients across the market sector. She has also worked with The Elizabeth Dole Foundation on their military and veteran caregivers programs.
Ms. Bishop earned her bachelor’s degree in Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) in Information Management from Marymount University. She has been an active member of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) – National Capital Area (NCA) for over 15 years and has served as Chair of the Mentorship-Scholarship committee, as well as President-Elect prior to moving the President’s position July 2022. She also served on the Mentorship-Scholarship committee as a mentor and leader prior to the shift to a Board position. Ms. Bishop is also active in the Professional Services Council (PSC), serving on the Defense Health Vision Study and on the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), co-leading the Military Health committee for the annual Health IT summit. Ms. Bishop also holds leadership positions with community organizations in Fairfax, Virginia.
Treasurer
Nick Crismali
With over a decade of continuous learning and being involved across multiple software delivery initiatives, Nicholas Crismali has found his mission is to align technology with strategic business goals, foster human-centered product delivery & empower people to succeed and problem solve to better serve the US Federal Government.
His experience and success stories fall under IT delivery, operations and growth for federal healthcare agencies & climate science, commercial telecom and finance start-ups.
Specifically consulting, growing a footprint, contributing to and managing software and data modernization and legacy transformations hinged on agile, human-centered, lean management and cloud-agnostic devsecops approaches. His involvement with HIMSS NCA started as a volunteer working at various educational events at the registration table in 2014. This led to supporting the Membership and Outreach Committee as a Co-Chair for 3 years. In 2017 Nicholas was nominated and elected to the Secretary role, followed by the President Elect role in 2018 & President in 2019. He has acted as a Member at Large leading charity initiatives and seeking the engagement of younger professional members.
Secretary
Carol Miller
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Carol S. Miller, BSN, MBA, PMP, (millerconsultgroup@gmail.com) is the President of Miller Consulting Group, a longtime member of HIMSS National and HIMSS NCA, a HIMSS National Fellow, a Past President of HIMSS NCA, a Member of the Board of Directors of the ACT-IAC Institute for Innovation, and a current Board member of HIMSS NCA since leaving office as President. Currently, Carol is the Board Secretary for HIMSS NCA documenting and maintaining the minutes, managing and updating the Board action list, overseeing any changes to the HIMSS Bylaws, and working on select projects on the Board.
Carol has over 25 years of industry contracting experience with multiple government agencies that include the services of business development, capture, proposal writing, strategic planning, and program operations, and as well, private sector consulting to hospital systems and providers. She has supported both large and small business firms.
Carol holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from the University of Pittsburgh, a Bachelor of Science in Business from St. Joseph’s University, and a dual Masters in Business and Finance from Marymount University.
Outreach & Collaborations Chair
Jessica Denman
Jessica Denman is a former U.S. Civil Servant, an executive leader, a U.S. Veteran, and an entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the U.S. public and private healthcare sectors. Her work history includes 15 years of management and oversight in large-scale, clinical and business systems.
Expert in governance, strategic planning, process improvement, and data-driven decision making, Jessica led efforts to ensure the military’s multi-billion-dollar electronic health record upgrade met mission critical requirements and increased efficiency in business and care delivery workflows, all while effectively communicating plans, objectives, and results to executive-level policymakers within the Department of Defense (DoD).
After moving to industry in 2018 Jessica managed a geographically dispersed team of over 450, with $150 million in annual revenue. In that role she ensured profit margins over 12 percent and customer satisfaction ratings over 97 percent. She was also responsible for setting annual, strategic goals ensuring division and company priorities aligned with Federal health IT initiatives across HHS, DoD, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
A prominent and recognized leader in Federal Health, Jessica received both the 2019 Leading for Impact award and the Award for Excellence from the former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (now Secretary of Air Force). Beginning her career at 17, Jessica enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and received her first recognition as a Basic Military Training Honor Graduate. Later she received her Bachelor’s in Business Administration from American Military University. She currently holds a Master’s Certificate in Healthcare Quality and a Master’s degree in Business Administration, both from the George Washington University.
Advocacy & Community Chair
Alan R. Constantian
21 years in the Air Force Medical Service Corps, with tours at the TRICARE Management Activity and the Air Force/SG office (x2). The last 6 years in IT roles. Retired as a Colonel (0-6). Then to CMS in both busines Medicare operations roles and in IT support roles and as a Regional Administrator. Left as a Senior Executive Service member. Then moved to VA for a variety of roles, all in the Office of Information and Technology and supporting the Veterans Health Administration, retiring in 2020 as an SES member and then returning as a rehired annuitant for COVID from 2020-2022. I have been in the private sector with Planned Systems International since May 2022.
Programs Chair
Nick Vass
In his professional role, Nick serves as the President of J29, Inc., a 240-employee, healthcare management consulting company that focuses on innovating medical claims analysis and processing, and healthcare compliance services for commercial, State, and Federal agencies. Nick joined J29 in 2019 and has led the company to expanding onto over 12 active prime and subcontracts with a nearly 120% year over year employee growth.
Membership Chair
Ryan Loving
Ryan Loving is an Army Veteran and has been supporting Federal Health customer space in various roles ranging from Systems Engineering, Program Management and New Business Development for the past 25 Years. He worked for large system integrators during that time such as GDIT, Leidos and now the VP of New Business Development at LMI.
Sponsorship Chair
Suzanne Charleston
Suzanne Charleston is an innovative thought leader in healthcare and beneficiary markets with strategic skills leading business development and capture activities. Her focus is on state and federal in agencies such as Health and Human Services, Defense Health Agency, Social Security Administration and Veterans Affairs. She is a formed HIMSS NCA Chapter Board member and currently serves on the gold committee, Past president of the National Contract Management Association, Woodlawn Chapter and current Co-Chair of the Professional Services Council Military Health Committee. She supports the Veterans Service Organization BurnPits360 and is Vice President of the Great Falls Women's Club Scholarship Fund.
Communications Chair
Adam Peters
I have twenty-six years in healthcare and information technology management. I graduated from University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor's of Science in Clinical Laboratory Sciences and was credentialed by the American Society of Clinical Pathology in Medical Technology. Upon graduation I was commissioned in the U.S. Army as a Medical Service Corps officer specializing in Clinical Laboratory Management. During my first assignment I began my health information journey learning to code queries in our EMR for laboratory and care delivery quality and processes improvement. I then earned a Master's of Science in Information Technology Management and began working on enterprise ancillary health information systems for the Department of Defense. I continued in this field and expanded my scope of health information with experience working with military deployed EHRs, medical research and development, as a hospital CIO, and as a contract provider of system development and delivery services.
Mentorship/Scholarship Chair
Mike Holmes
Michael Holmes is a retired Air Force Medical Services Corps officer with 23 years of experience in acquisition, medical administration, medical research, and information technology. Throughout his distinguished career, he has served in operational theaters (combat environments) and various leadership roles at all levels, including Air Force Surgeon General's Office (AF/SG), Program Executive Office for Defense Healthcare Management Systems (PEO DHMS), Joint Task Force-Capital Medical (JTF CAPMED), TRICARE Management Activity (TMA PEO JIMSO), Defense Health Information Management System (DHIMS), Theater Medical Information Program (TMIP) and multiple Air Force MTFs. He played a crucial role in supporting the implementation and management of new and legacy enterprise Electronic Health Records (EHR), clincial, research, and business support systems across the Military Health System.
He currently leads the Information Technology (IT) department at Microhealth LLC. As the Chief Information Officer (CIO), he leverages his expertise to drive IT operations and strategically utilize technology to enhance business processes and create a secure and efficient digital experience for the company.
He previously oversaw program management operations for Microhealth LLC, ensuring successful delivery of projects supporting multiple federal agencies. His strong leadership and program management skills were instrumental in guiding these projects to completion.
He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Texas Tech University and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). He is also a Certified Professional in Health Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS) and holds Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition certifications at Level 3 in both Project Management and Information Technology. In addition, he is an active member of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the National Capital Area (NCA) chapter. Notably, he served as the past chair of the HIMSS Federal Health Community, demonstrating his commitment to advancing healthcare IT initiatives.
At-Large Members and Charity Co-chairs:
Barry Dickman
Ann Wolford-Connors
Ann has been on the board of HIMSS NCA since 2019 in the rolls of President and Charity lead. She has over 43 years of Government experience, 26 years active duty as an Army Nurse Corps Officer, over 12 years as a Government Civilian and 6 years as a Government Contractor with Guidehouse as a director. As an informaticist, Ann’s areas of expertise include personnel and organizational management, program management, risk management, change management, requirements development, business process reengineering, team building and governance. She spent several years working with the VA on joint ventures with DoD, to include IEHR, VLER, and DoD/VA data sharing. She was the lead for Army Medicine for the Oracle/Cerner, MHS GENESIS, deployment working closely with the DHMSM program office, DHA, Air Force and the Navy. Other roles held in her career are as follows: System Administrator/Deployment lead for DoD Inpatient EHR at Ft Benning, GA; Deputy Chief Information Officer for the Army Surgeon General; Deputy Program Manager for all Clinical Systems in the Military Healthcare System; Chair of the DoD Functional Advisory Council working directly with the 3 Services, the MHS GENESIS Program Office and the Defense Health Agency. She has been a member of HIMSS NCA since 2005.