Key Personnel Bios

Petra Wilson, PhD (Chair)
Internet Business Solutions Group, Cisco Systems
Diegem, Belgium

Petra Wilson is director of the Public Sector Healthcare team at Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG). Prior to her current position, Petra Wilson was deputy director of the European Health Management Association (EHMA), where she was responsible for the Brussels office and for the development of its relations with the European Commission. This role enabled her to advise a wide number of European healthcare organisations on EU health policies. 

Wilson has also worked for the European Commission in its eHealth Directorate, where she was involved in the European eHealth Action Plan. She also advised the Commission on legal and ethical issues surrounding use of information technologies in healthcare. 

Originally trained in law, Petra Wilson spent several years as a lecturer and Senior Research Fellow at Nottingham University, where she specialised in healthcare law and European law. She has a PhD in public health law from Oxford University. Originally from the UK, she is fluent in English, German, and French.

Christopher Nolan (Vice Chair)
Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland
Dublin, Ireland

Chris Nolan has more than 30 years of experience in health IT, including nine years with the Irish Government Health Service and five years with the UK NHS. He has also worked on projects with large multinational Health IT companies. In his current position as Project Director of the Institute of Health Care Informatics in Ireland, Chris Nolan has worked on acute care hospital information systems, laboratories, pharmacy, radiology and imaging, as well as all other departments including finance and administration.

His past and current positions also include Director of Healthcare Informatics Training Services Ltd. in Ireland, founder member of the HealthCare Informatics Society of Ireland and the Healthcare Informatics Standards Committee of the National Standards Authority of Ireland, board member of the EuroRec Institute and joint owner of a nursing home, residential home and community care organisation.

Nolan’s credentials include: Fellow Irish Computer Society, Fellow Institute for Management Information Systems, Certified Member Irish Management Institute, Fellow Institute of Directors and Fellow Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

Michael Strübin
Executive Director, HIMSS EMEA

Michael Strübin is Executive Director of Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) for the European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region and oversees a staff of six professionals at the HIMSS Brussels office.

His more than ten years experience in various US and European non-profit organisations span programme development and management, communications and publishing, as well as member and meeting services.

Before joining HIMSS EMEA, Strübin served for four years as Communications and Outreach Manager at WINGS, a global network of grant-makers’ associations based at the European Foundation Centre in Brussels. Previous assignments include work for youth foundations in the US and Germany as well as for other non-profit organisations.

Strübin, who was born and raised in Germany, also holds a Master of Arts degree in International Relations and History.

R. Norris Orms, CHE, CAE
Executive Vice President
Chief Operating Officer

R. Norris Orms, CHE, CAE, is the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and Executive Director of the HIMSS Foundation.

With more than 25 years experience as a CEO and director of non-profit associations, Orms manages business development, communications and publishing, human resources, marketing, member and meeting services, the Society’s annual conference and exhibition, and its headquarters and other offices.

Before joining HIMSS in November 1997, he was Executive Director of the National Safety Council’s Foundation for Safety and Health, a philanthropic organisation located in Chicago.

Orms holds a Masters of Business Administration degree. He is board-certified in healthcare management and a Diplomat of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and a Certified Association Executive (CAE). He is a member of the Board of Directors for the American Society of Association Executives.