Acting Deputy Director for NCPHI

Walter Harris, MBA, began his position as the Acting Director for NCPHI in August 2009. Mr. Harris previously held the position as the Chief Management Officer for the Coordinating Center for Health Information and Service (CCHIS) since, February 2008.. He provided strategic and management oversight for all CCHIS operations and administrative functions. Mr. Harris is responsible for improving business services, practices, and systems through effective and efficient strategic thinking, resource and performance management, policy development, communications, and coalition building. He worked closely with CCHIS’ Director on scientific and program research and development, policy and strategy, and goals management.

Mr. Harris brings with him more than 20 years of leadership experience in the private sector and in the federal government in managing healthcare management, information technology (IT), and organizational development for large and small organizations. After an honorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force in 1988, Mr. Harris joined the Marriott Corporation as the food service manager in the health care division, which has accounts with acute-care hospitals, nursing homes, and retirement communities across the United States. Over 15 years of service, he worked his way up through the health care ranks from food service manager to chief operations officer. During his tenure, he was tasked with technical projects that enabled the successful implementation of health care services. He realized that the combination of information technology (IT) and health care management was a perfect blend for him.

In November 2002, Mr. Harris joined the federal government as an enterprise systems manager for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). He managed a health care portfolio of management and financial systems totaling more than $600 million. His primary focus was to facilitate the creation and execution of requirements for VHA business and clinical customers. He was also responsible with working with four other portfolio managers in evaluating and resolving cross-cutting issues that impacted the entire VHA organization. He was later promoted to director of the Enterprise Systems Office. During that period, he was charged with providing guidance to a team of senior portfolio managers and a host of supporting staff. The team, consisting of a physician, nurse, business manager, financial manager, and health data manager, was primarily responsible for creating and executing requirements for more than 200,000 customers in VHA.

Mr. Harris earned a Bachelor of Art degree in management and communication from Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Regis University in Denver, Colorado.