The Next Chapter

This is a personal update.

For the last 16 years, I have been the CIO at Affinity Health System and Ministry Health Care. That run comes to an end this month.

So now, I am going to take a few weeks off. Initially I had grand ideas: backpack across Europe, bicycle across the US, or through hike the Appalachian Trail. But, after consultation with my wife, Pam, I have more grounded plans:

• Spend more time on my numerous community activities in downtown Appleton.
• Spend time reading about healthcare IT, blogging, and networking with interesting people in my field with whom I had lost contact (connect with me on LinkedIn and we can catch up).

I have also been given a list of things to fix around the house.

When summer comes, I will get serious about deciding what I will do next. While I love being a CIO, I also love living near my adult daughters: Amy (Chicago) and Mary (Appleton). So, I may be returning to my consulting roots and hitting the road. Either way, I am eager to share what I have learned in 22 years as a CIO.

Transitions are a time full of different emotions. I have been through them all. At this point, I am mostly feeling satisfied with what I have accomplished and excited about starting a new life chapter.

The best thing about leaving an organization is the number of kind notes that you receive and how much insight others have about your strengths and contributions. I cherish the many emails and notes I have received.

For the last couple of years I have been transitioning our IT division to Ascension Information Systems (AIS), a move that is the natural outcome of Ministry’s acquisition by Ascension, the nation’s largest non-profit hospital chain. That transition is complete, and the team I was privileged to lead is now following an exciting national strategy set by Ascension’s excellent CIO, Gerry Lewis. Those IT employees are in good hands, and I thank AIS for taking such good care of those people and me.

More to come…

[This piece was originally published on Candid CIO, a blog created by Will Weider, CIO at Ministry Health Care. To follow him on Twitter, click here.]