HIMSS CEO and leadership

Harold (Hal) Wolf is the president and CEO of HIMSS, a global advisor and thought leader supporting the transformation of the health ecosystem through information and technology.

Wolf is respected internationally as a healthcare and informatics leader, with areas of expertise in mHealth, product development, integrated care models, marketing, distribution, information and technology, and large-scale innovation implementation.

Before joining HIMSS, Wolf served at The Chartis Group as director, practice leader, information and digital health strategy. Prior to The Chartis Group, he served as senior vice president and COO of Kaiser Permanente’s The Permanente Federation, representing more than 16,000 physicians. Wolf also held executive positions at MTV Networks and Time Warner, and served as senior advisor to McKinsey & Co.

Sebastian Krolop, M.D., Ph.D., M. Sc. is chief operating and strategy officer for HIMSS, a global advisor and thought leader supporting the transformation of the health ecosystem through information and technology. As a member of HIMSS, Sebastian served on the HIMSS Board of Directors from 2013 to 2017 and as chair of the board in 2017.

Krolop began his career as a medical doctor in a university hospital in Germany, working in the anesthesiology department. He progressed further in his career into consulting roles across multiple areas like management, financial services and strategy consulting for life sciences, health care and public services. He worked for the Boston Consulting Group, became partner strategy consulting for Health and Public Services at Accenture, served as partner and vice president at Philips Healthcare Transformation Services and served as a partner strategy and industry lead for life sciences and healthcare at Deloitte.

Sebastian’s educational background is vast, having studied medicine both in the U.S. and in Germany. He holds a doctoral degree in pediatric surgery and a master’s degree in healthcare management and economy.

Dr. Charles Alessi is a globally recognized and trusted leader in health care. He brings to HIMSS a wealth of experience, particularly around health systems and the interface between healthcare, social care and the personalization of wellness. He is a physician in London, with more than 35 years of experience in all aspects of clinical practice in the UK National Health Service. Most recently, he served as the Chairman of the National Association of Primary Care, part of the NHS confederation, where he was at the heart of the recent health and social care reforms.

He is also the Senior Advisor to Public Health England, a position leading thought leadership around productive healthy ageing including dementia, targeting risk reduction. Furthermore, he fulfils key roles in PHE around digital interventions, particularly those that involve behavioral change. Other responsibilites include air quality and antibiotic prescribing. He forms part of the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Panel that is formulating new guidelines around risk reduction in dementia globally and also leads thought leadership around productive healthy aging. He has extensive experience in military medicine, being a past Medical Director and Director of Clinical Governance for the British forces in Germany and was recently appointed to serve on the Reference Committee tasked with renewing military medicine in the United Kingdom.

He holds a variety of international academic positions both in Europe and the Americas and has published widely in the media and journals. He is an Adjunct Research professor in Clinical Neurosciences at the Schulich School of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario, Canada and Visiting Scholar at the Odette School of business in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He continues to advise major corporations and national governments around health and care reform, particularly where systemic reform and digital interventions are being considered.

Georgia Galanoudis is executive vice president of media for HIMSS: a global advisor and thought leader supporting the transformation of the health ecosystem through information and technology. In this role, Galanoudis guides the media practice at HIMSS, ensuring an impactful platform that showcases diverse thought and a variety of voices to help inform, empower and activate members of the healthcare ecosystem.

As a catalyst for change, Galanoudis’ business approach is grounded in the need to persistently evolve in order to thrive. She helps brands, organizations and people progress in order to stay relevant and competitive. She defines optimal ways to operationalize transformation and collaborate with teams to inspire and capitalize on their individual and collective strengths.

Prior to joining HIMSS, Galanoudis managed marketing solution agencies within large publishers, ran the strategy practice for a full-service digital agency and led new business efforts for a best-in-breed content agency. She’s built integrated content engagement programs and led enterprise content strategy and communications transformation initiatives for clients such as BlueShield of CA, NewYork-Presbyterian, S&P Global and Verizon. Her career journey has placed her within roles at publishers such as Time Inc. and Meredith, as well as agencies such as Rauxa and MXM (now Accenture).

Georgia also finds time to volunteer for initiatives she’s passionate about. She currently serves as chief of staff for New York Women in Communications, an organization built on empowering diverse women at all stages of their career.

The common thread throughout her varied experiences has been the power of data-driven insights and relevant storytelling to foster positive consumer experiences.