Several years ago, a dozen physicians were brought together to discuss how to improve the inefficient paperwork and communication processes for Vanderbilt Medical Center, one of the country’s leading research and teaching hospitals with nearly 120 affiliated clinics and physicians’ practices. The goal was to find a system to organize and integrate all of the hospital’s patient records and ultimately improve the delivery of patient care.
After a multi-year process of analyzing procedures and inefficiencies, the group of physicians made suggestions for improvement. Their suggestions were then turned into action by technical experts at VMC.
As a result, a healthcare IT system unlike any other on the market was born. This system allowed the hospital, its medical staff and other clinicians to completely revamp information processes while still utilizing existing technology investments. Medical practices at VMC were dramatically enhanced.
 Due to the program’s success, VMC garnered attention from similar facilities across the U.S. Informatics Corporation of America (ICA) was formed in early 2005, to take the information systems developed at VMC to the broader healthcare market.
Through a partnership and licensing agreement with Vanderbilt, ICA retains the exclusive right for all aspects of marketing the products, future releases of new products, access to VMC resources and use of VMC as a reference site. Senior Management:  Gary Zegiestowsky, Chief Executive Officer
Gary Zegiestowsky is the chief executive officer of Informatics Corporation of America. Serving in this role since 2005, he was instrumental in the start up of ICA operations.
Prior to joining ICA, Mr. Zegiestowsky served as COO of Progeny Marketing Innovations, a $500 million division of Cendant with 550 employees and 6,500 clients serving 40 million consumers, where he drove a turnaround program to regain $30 million in lost revenue and client confidence in market.
Mr. Zegiestowsky began his career in market development and management training with General Electric, going on to serve as a director in the business consulting/strategy services group with Andersen Worldwide.
A magna cum laude graduate of West Virginia University, Mr. Zegiestowsky holds a BS in chemical engineering and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
 Jeffrey Cunningham, Chief Technology Officer
Jeff Cunningham is the chief technology officer of Informatics Corporation of America. Since the company’s beginning, he has been the architect of the design, development, installation, and support of ICA solutions.
Before joining ICA, Mr. Cunningham was a partner and senior strategist for Computer Science Corporation’s (CSC’s) National Customer Solutions Consulting Practice. He worked with CSC’s Global Healthcare Solutions leadership to define, develop, and deliver healthcare analytics solutions to numerous healthcare clients. He also led the initiative to develop and launch the “Intelligent Enterprise,” a unified solution framework incorporating CSC Consulting information and procedures. He served as a partner and senior strategist for CSC’s National eBusiness Consulting Practice.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Cunningham was senior vice president and chief technology officer of Medibuy/GHX, where he led the transformation of Medibuy’s comprehensive technology organization to support rapid customer expansion, stringent 24/7 service level requirements, and continued product growth.
Mr. Cunningham holds a BS in computer science from the University of North Texas.
 Harry R. Jacobson, M.D., Senior Advisor
Dr. Jacobson serves as a senior advisor to ICA and is Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at Vanderbilt University. In that role, he functions as the chief executive officer of Vanderbilt Medical Center.
As a senior medical administrator, Dr. Jacobson’s interests are focused on health care improvement through the optimal application of information and information technology. Reducing practice variability to improve quality, reduce errors, and control unnecessary costs are priority goals at the Vanderbilt Medical Center.
Dr. Jacobson is the chairman of the board of directors of the Nashville Health Care Council, the Middle Tennessee Council of the Boy Scouts of America; and he serves on the boards for HealthGate Data Corp., Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (KCI), and Ingram Industries. Dr. Jacobson has published over 100 research articles, reviews, and book chapters and co-edited the book, The Principles and Practice of Nephrology.
Dr. Jacobson is also a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Society of Medical Administrators, and the prestigious Institute of Medicine.
After earning an M.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 1972, Dr. Jacobson completed an internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and specialty training in nephrology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas. Dr. Jacobson is Board certified in both Internal Medicine and Nephrology. He joined the Vanderbilt Medical School faculty in 1985 as Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Nephrology and in 1997, became Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs.
Prior to that, in 1978, after two years of active duty in the U. S. Army as Chief of Nephrology at the U.S. Army Surgical Research Center at Brooke Army Medical Center, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas.
William W. Stead, M.D., Senior Advisor
 Dr. Stead is a pioneer in the field of bio-informatics. He serves as a Senior Advisor for ICA, and is an Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Director of the Informatics Center at Vanderbilt University.
Dr. Stead is also a McKesson Foundation Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Professor of Medicine. He is a Founding Fellow of both the American College of Medical Informatics and the American Institute for Engineering in Biology and Medicine, and an elected member of both the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and the American Clinical and Climatological Association. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, and served as President of the American Association for Medical Systems and Informatics and the American College of Medical Informatics.
He presently serves on the Computer Science and Telecommunication Board of the National Research Council. He served as Chairman of the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine, and as a Presidential appointee to the Commission on Systemic Interoperability. In addition to his academic and advisory responsibilities, Dr Stead is a Director of HealthStream and Director of NetSilica.
Dr. Stead received his B.A. and M.D. from Duke University, where he also completed specialty and subspecialty training in Internal Medicine and Nephrology. In the 1960s, he was a member of the team that developed the Cardiology Databank. As a faculty member in Nephrology, he was involved in the partnership that developed The Medical Record (TMR). While at Duke, Dr. Stead built one of the first patient-centered hospital information systems. He has led (as PI) prominent academic health centers, including Duke and VMC, through both planning and implementation phases of large-scale, Integrated Advanced Information Management System (IAIMS) projects.
 Fred C. Goad, Director
Mr. Goad serves as a Director for ICA.
In August 2001, Mr. Goad co-founded Voyent Partners, LLC. Starting in 1984, Mr. Goad served as both a director and President of ENVOY Corporation. In 1995, Mr. Goad was also elected Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of that company.
Also in 1984, Mr. Goad joined UCCEL Corporation of Dallas, Texas, as Vice President of Sales Application systems. Prior to UCCEL, in 1978, he joined Financial Institution Services, Inc. (now CompuCard International) and became Senior Vice President for Special Markets. From 1973 to 1978, Mr. Goad served as a Regional Sales Manager for Docutel (now Olivetti USA), which pioneered the Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
For ten years, Mr. Goad worked in many capacities at IBM Corporation, including Marketing Training Instructor at the IBM sales school, Manager of IBM’s Advanced Marketing School for IBM professionals, and Manager for IBM in Iowa.
Mr. Goad serves on the Board of Directors for the following companies: Performance Food Group, Committees Luminex Corporation, Emageon Corporation, Symed, Investment Scorecard, and Digiscript.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Virginia.
 Thomas W. (“Tim”) Lyles, Director
Mr. Lyles serves as a Director for ICA and is President and General Counsel of Mission City Management, Inc. in San Antonio, Texas, as well as President of MedCare Investment Funds. Mr. Lyles has managed an investment portfolio for over 10 years, including both public and large private companies, and serves as an Advisory Director to Majesty Hedge Funds.
From 1984 to1989, Mr. Lyles was a Senior Associate Attorney with the law firm of Haynes and Boone in Dallas, Texas. During 1986 and 1987, Mr. Lyles taught Real Estate Financing at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. From 1983 to 1984, Mr. Lyles was appointed Briefing Attorney for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas.
In 1983, Mr. Lyles received his Juris Doctor, Cum Laude from SMU School of Law. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Lyles was employed by KPMG Peat Marwick. Mr. Lyles earned an accounting degree from Texas A&M University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1979. In addition, Mr. Lyles is a Certified Public Accountant and has written material for the Texas State Bar and has been a speaker for the State Bar of Texas and the Dallas Bar. Mr. Lyles is married and has seven children.
 C. Thomas Smith, Director
Mr. Smith serves as a Director for ICA and served as president and chief executive officer of VHA Inc. from October 1991 until his retirement in April 2003. From 1977 to 1991, Mr. Smith served as president and CEO of Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn., and as president and CEO of Yale-New Haven Health Services Corp.
Prior to joining Yale-New Haven, Smith was with Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit from 1971 to 1976, where he served as vice president and executive director of hospitals and clinics. From 1967 to 1971, Smith was associate director of hospitals and director of medical center planning for the University of Minnesota Health Sciences Center in Minneapolis. Following an administrative residency, he held administrative positions at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., from 1961 to 1967.
Mr. Smith currently serves on the boards of directors of IPC-The Hospitalist Company, Horizon Healthcare, Kinetic Concepts, Inc. and CompHealth Group. Previously, he was also a director of Renal Care Group, Neoforma, Genentech and New Haven Savings Bank. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of the following firms: Excel Medical Ventures, Clark Consulting, and Shattuck Hammond Partners.
MODERN HEALTHCARE magazine named Mr. Smith one of the 25 most influential health care leaders of the last 25 years in 2001, and in 2002 he was selected by the magazine’s readers as #4 among the 100 Most Influential People in health care. In 2003, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Hospital Association, its highest honor, and, in 2006, was elected to the Healthcare Hall of Fame.
Mr. Smith received a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and a master of business administration degree from the University of Chicago. He has two honorary degrees from Connecticut colleges.
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