CIO Profiles: Aurelia G. Boyer Of New York-Presbyterian Hospital

Career Track

How long at current company: I've been here 18 years, 10 as CIO.

Career accomplishment I'm most proud of: I'm proud of the way I've been able to bring together my clinical skills from nursing and my understanding of hospital operations with information technology to help New York-Presbyterian Hospital become highly automated and one of the most respected hospitals in the country.

Most important career influencer: My husband. He's had a career path similar to mine, and I've received the best and most frequent advice on my work and career from him for the last 20 years.

Vision

Next big thing for my organization: New York-Presbyterian's vision is to be counted among the top academic medical centers in the nation in clinical and service excellence, patient safety, research, and education. Our vision going forward is to build our IT platforms to support patient-care delivery that is more efficient and more effective.

One thing I'm looking to change: Improving communication, within the IT staff and hospital-wide. Effective communication with the IT staff regarding how our projects and services fit into the overall hospital vision and initiatives gives clarity to the importance of their daily work, and they see the impact we have as a department on the success of the hospital. Communicating to the entire hospital staff how the IT department supports their ability to meet the institution's goals leads to better partnerships and more successful use of technology throughout the organization.

Lesson learned from the last recession: It's important to tightly manage cash flow for multiple-year capital projects.

The federal government's top technology priority should be ... to make each agency more effective through the use of technology so our government leads the world in giving our citizens the highest standard of living now and into the future.

On The Job

IT budget: $138 million

Size of IT team: Approximately 400 on staff

Top initiatives:

How I measure IT effectiveness: We track the standard metrics around service, projects, budgets, etc. But what I truly measure our success by is the institution's ability to meet all of its goals, which requires effective support by information technology. I'm proud when IT is acknowledged as a contributor to the successful accomplishment of the hospital's goals and the leadership team acknowledges the work of the IT in making their success possible.

Personal

Colleges/degrees: University of Michigan, BSN and MBA; Wayne State University, MSN

Leisure activities: I am newly obsessed with golf

Favorite sports team manager: Sparky Anderson, a great baseball manager who knows when to pull the pitcher from the game before it's too late

Favorite president: Abraham Lincoln, for his team of rivals

If I weren't a CIO I would be ... a veterinarian

Ranked No. 23 in the 2011