Carla Smith

For 25 years, Carla Smith has been a leader in health and healthcare. With enormous positive impact, she champions transformational strategy, governance, and policy in the health sector, particularly in the areas of digital health and health IT.

Ms Smith served as Executive Vice President of HIMSS, the world’s largest organization focused on better health through information and technology, for 17 years. While at HIMSS, she led HIMSS’ US and Canadian strategy. She launched and successfully grew, Public Policy, Research, Corporate Membership, Thought Leadership, Women in Health IT, Executive Engagement, and Workforce Development. Ms Smith launched and led the strategy for, investor/start-up initiative and the HIMSS Innovation Center in the Global Center for Health Innovation in Cleveland, Ohio.

Ms Smith served as the primary executive overseeing the HIMSS Global Conference, the largest health event of any kind in North America with more than 43,000 attendees from 97 countries, 1,300 exhibitors and 400 education sessions. Ms Smith was responsible for $56M top-line revenue (>50% of HIMSS’s annual revenue), introduced virtual work environments to HIMSS, and led a team of more than 100. Throughout her tenure, Ms Smith and her team achieved both financial and programmatic goals set by the Board.
In both 2017 and 2018, Health Data Management named Ms Smith as one of the most influential women in health IT. In 2015, Ms Smith received similar recognition from Fierce Healthcare.

Ms Smith’s expertise is routinely sought in governance, strategy, health policy, and workforce development. She holds an appointment to CMS’s Outreach and Education Federal Advisory Committee, Chairs the Advisory Board of the Global Center for Health Innovation, serves as an advisor to the University of Michigan’s Health Informatics and Learning Health System programs, is a publicly-elected official for the Village of Barton Hills, Michigan, and co-led the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation’s “Healthcare Without Walls” initiative.
Before joining HIMSS in 2001, Ms. Smith served for seven years as the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Healthcare Information Management (CHIM) – the trade association for health IT vendors and consultants. In 2000, Ms. Smith conceived of the merger between CHIM & HIMSS.

Prior to entering the health sector in 1991, Ms Smith focused on technology-related innovations within the manufacturing and banking sectors. She helped small and mid-sized manufacturing firms embrace technologies and change management best practices to position themselves for success in the 21st Century. In the 1980s, Ms Smith was responsible for introducing ATMs – a revelation at the time – to customers of a number of banks in SE Michigan.
She holds a Master’s degree from Eastern Michigan University, a Nonprofit Management Certification from Case Western Reserve University, and is a HIMSS Fellow.


Follow Carla on Twitter @CarlaMSmith