H. Stephen Lieber, president and chief executive of HIMSS since 2000, will retire at the end of 2017. Lieber broke the news to the HIMSS staff in a Monday morning conference call.
During Lieber's tenure, HIMSS has grown steadily with more than 65,000 professionals now enrolled as members of the association. The organization has also grown in influence, affecting policy in healthcare and information technology, and helping to shape services available to improve care delivery.
Lieber, 63, assumed his position in April 2000 as president and chief executive officer of HIMSS. He is a familiar figure to members and attendees at the annual conference. Among his many memorable appearances at HIMSS have been on-stage interviews with former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as part of the annual conference keynote sessions.
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Under Lieber's leadership, HIMSS has become a global operation with educational events taking place around the world including Turkey, Spain, Singapore and Sydney. Lieber also led the acquisition of MedTech Media, publisher of Healthcare Finance and sister site Healthcare IT News, which now operates as the HIMSS Media business unit within HIMSS.
HIMSS has started a search for his successor. The process is scheduled for completion by the summer. Lieber told the HIMSS staff that he expects to serve alongside the new president and CEO to ensure a smooth transition.
"The past 17 years at HIMSS have been the most exciting and rewarding time of my professional life," Lieber said in a statement. "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."
"HIMSS has seen tremendous growth in size, reach and influence during Steve's leadership," said Sebastian Krolop, HIMSS Board of Directors Chair and VP and Partner at Philips Healthcare 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."
Lieber serves on the Board of Directors of HIMSS and its related corporations. He was one of the founders of the Certification Commission for HIT and the Health Information Technology Standards Panel, two U.S. federally funded initiatives at the foundation of the U.S. interoperability effort.
Twitter: @GusVenditto