Andrew Smith
Managing Partner
Andrew co-founded Impact Advisors in 2007. Andrew has spent his sixteen year career dedicated to the healthcare information technology industry and presently serves as a strategic advisor to many of the industry’s leading CIOs. Andrew has extensive experience in providing advisory services to academic hospitals, integrated delivery networks, community hospitals and physician group practices. He also has in-depth knowledge and experience in implementing and optimizing advanced clinical systems with a focus on medication management, computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and on-line clinical documentation. Andrew is a frequent presenter on the subject of Advanced Clinical Systems implementation and adoption.
Prior to founding Impact Advisors, Andrew was a Vice President with a large healthcare consultancy and managed the Midwest region. In that role he was responsible for the delivery services and relationship development of the firm's largest region. Andrew also led the Information Services (IS) Assessment service offering and is a frequent presenter on the subject of information technology benchmarking.
Peter Smith
Managing Partner
Peter co-founded Impact Advisors in 2007. Peter has over twenty years of experience in healthcare information technology and has either led or provided thought leadership on all types of strategic consulting services. In addition to providing leadership to Impact Advisors, Peter had responsibility for managing the complete executive relationship, overall client satisfaction and project delivery for multiple strategic clients.
Most recently, Peter has specialized in delivering strategic advisory services that include business planning, assessments, IT strategic planning, IT organizational design, and governance modeling. Peter has served in the capacity of Strategic Advisor for numerous industry leading CEOs and CIOs. Peter’s deep strategic and domain knowledge of the healthcare IT industry, combined with his understanding of clinical processes, position him to deliver strategic consulting services that reflect both integrated understanding and insightful analysis. Peter brings a unique perspective and specific experience to help solve the most complex strategic and tactical issues.
Prior to founding Impact Advisors, Peter was a Vice President of a large healthcare consultancy with national responsibility for managing the Advisory Services Practice within the Health Delivery Services Division. This Practice focused on core consulting services and specialized in IT Assessments, IT Strategic Planning, Clinical Consulting and Process Redesign, System Selections, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Pre-implementation Planning and Digital Imaging. Peter was part of the Health Delivery Leadership Team and a member of the Operating Committee which defined and executed overall division strategy.
Todd Hollowell
Partner
Todd joined Impact Advisors soon after it was founded. Todd brings over sixteen years of information technology experience, working both as a consultant and an IT executive. Prior to joining Impact Advisors, Todd was the Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC). At UCMC, he was responsible for ensuring UCMC’s Information Services and Clinical Engineering teams appropriately developed and maintained the technology infrastructure and biomedical solutions. Prior to joining UCMC, Todd served as vice president of consulting services at Doculabs, a technology research and consulting organization. Before Doculabs, Todd spent several years with a large healthcare consultancy as a practice director in the advanced technologies group delivering technology-related projects for numerous academic medical centers, integrated delivery networks, and community hospitals.
Todd started his career at Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) designing and implementing technology solutions for clients in various industries including healthcare, insurance, retail and manufacturing. He holds a Master of Science degree in Information and Communication Sciences and a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from Ball State University. He also holds a Certificate of Management from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Todd has also written articles in assorted publications, participated on various industry panels, and presented at a number of technology conferences.
Melanie Swenson
Partner
Melanie is an experienced project and program manager with twenty-four years experience implementing and managing healthcare information systems. Prior to joining Impact Advisors, Melanie was Vice President of the Epic Implementation Practice for a large healthcare consultancy, where she developed the practice from 9 associates to a group of 75, and where she managed methodology development, recruiting, vendor relationships, and assisted with sales and marketing. Melanie also served clients as a project/program manager, specializing in project management for multi-hospital, multi-application implementations, including academic medical centers, community hospitals, and large integrated delivery networks. Additionally, she assisted with strategies, selections and assessments, and provided interim operational management.
Prior to consulting in healthcare, Melanie was the IT Director for a community hospital in northeast Oregon for 4 years. Melanie also worked for a biomedical device vendor for six years in their services and quality assurance groups, and she worked for a startup practice management system vendor for two years. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Montana State University, and Melanie began her career by working in her father’s family practice clinic assisting with scheduling, registration and patient and insurance billing.
Paula Elliott
Partner
Paula is a seasoned project and program manager with twenty-five years experience implementing and managing healthcare information systems. Prior to joining Impact Advisors, Paula was an Implementation Director in the Cerner Practice for a large healthcare consultancy. Paula was instrumental in the start up Implementation Services Group at the firm where she developed the practice from 6 to more than 250 associates. She managed methodology development, recruiting, business management, day to day operations and new hire orientation. Paula also served clients as a project/program manager, specializing in project management for multi-hospital, multi-application implementations, including academic medical centers, community hospitals, and large integrated delivery networks.
Paula most recently served as the IT Transition Director for the new Prentice Women’s Hospital project at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. In that role she was responsible for all aspects of IT successfully transitioning to the new facility to include planning, equipment procurement, testing and commissioning, and patient move activities.
Prior to consulting in healthcare, Paula worked for multiple IS vendors and spent the first 10 years of her career in hospital finance. She received her MBA from DePaul University.