Speakers Bureau

Our leaders are available for speaking engagements, media interviews or other projects that require expertise in health information technology.

Contexture leaders are sought-after speakers at national conferences and events, including the annual HIMSS conference, the annual Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Annual Meeting and the annual Civitas Networks for Health conference. Our speakers have years of experience in healthcare and the healthcare information technology space.

Topics Include:

Advance directives
Care summaries
Consent management/opt out
Health data analytics
Health data security
Health data technology, such as FHIR, blockchain, Application Program Interfaces
Health information exchange
Health information service provider
Hierarchical condition coding
HITRUST
Interoperability

Advance directives
Care summaries
Consent management/opt out
Health data analytics
Health data security
Health data technology, such as FHIR, blockchain, Application Program Interfaces
Health information exchange
Health information service provider
Hierarchical condition coding
HITRUST
Interoperability

Selecting and implementing a new electronic health record system
Social determinants of health
Master patient index
Medical home recognition
Patient matching
Public health reporting
Quality improvement
Quality Payment Program/MIPS
Quality reporting
Transitions of care

Selecting and implementing a new electronic health record system
Social determinants of health
Master patient index
Medical home recognition
Patient matching
Public health reporting
Quality improvement
Quality Payment Program/MIPS
Quality reporting
Transitions of care

Melissa A. Kotrys, MPH
Chief Executive Officer

Expertise: Health policy, health information exchange, social determinants of health and interoperability

Melissa is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Contexture (contexture.org), the umbrella organization of Health Current, CORHIO and Quality Health Network, health information exchanges (HIEs) for Arizona and Colorado.

Through her vision and leadership, Contexture is celebrated as a model for aligning the healthcare community with the possibilities of connected electronic health information to advance individual and community health and wellbeing. .

Melissa is recognized as a collaborative partner of hospitals and health systems, health plans, healthcare providers, healthcare associations and other healthcare sectors in Arizona. She serves on many boards and advisory councils, most notably on the Board of Civitas Networks for Health, a national collaborative of HIEs and other health data stakeholders, and on the Sequoia Project Board of Directors. She also serves as a member of the Consortium for State and Regional Interoperability (CSRI) Board of Directors, the Employers Council Board of Directors and the Arizona State Medicaid Advisory Committee.

Prior to joining Contexture, formerly Health Current, Melissa worked as a consultant and health policy analyst at Deloitte Consulting.  She holds a Master’s of Public Health in Health Policy from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Scott Bennett
Chief Legal Officer & Privacy Officer

Expertise: Compliance, privacy, healthcare, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence law

As Chief Legal Officer, Scott Bennett leads the team that provides legal guidance and support to Contexture and oversees the organization’s compliance program.

Before joining Contexture, Scott was a partner at the Phoenix law firm Coppersmith Brockelman. In private practice, Scott helped hospitals, healthcare providers and health technology companies navigate a variety of legal issues, including U.S. and international privacy laws; data breaches; government investigations; litigation; and healthcare-specific laws and regulations like the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute.

Scott has earned certifications in both U.S. and European privacy law from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (CIPP/US and CIPP/E).

Scott received his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Arizona State University. (Go Devils!)

Outside of work, you are most likely to find Scott hiking on a Phoenix trail, camping in the woods or baking in his kitchen (his specialty is macarons).
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Sharon Burdett
Chief Financial Officer

Expertise: Accounting, corporate communications, recruiting, onboarding and training

Overseeing the accounting, administrative, recruitment, onboarding and training aspects of Contexture, Sharon Burdett helps ensure that the organization’s culture aligns with its values.

As a member of the executive leadership team, she helped navigate the merger of Colorado-based CORHIO and Arizona-based Health Current to form Contexture in 2021. The merger created the largest health information exchange in the western United States.

Sharon joined Health Current in 2011 as chief financial officer when the company was known as Arizona Health-e Connection (AzHeC). Sharon earned a Bachelor of Science in accounting and finance from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Prior to joining AzHeC, Sharon was the president of Independent Hydro Developers, an independently owned corporation that developed, owned and operated hydroelectric facilities.

After hours, Sharon enjoys camping and fishing with her family. She also restores classic automobiles with her husband.
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Kelly Joines
Chief Strategy Officer

Expertise: Operations management, IT strategy, healthcare and enterprise architecture

Kelly Joines is responsible for furthering the overall vision and mission of the company, focusing on conceptualizing and formulating strategic initiatives that further that mission and make sure that the day-to-day activities of the company support those initiatives.

She ventured into CORHIO, Colorado’s largest HIE, during its 2009 inception, driving IT operations and becoming the chief information officer. She eventually assumed the role of CORHIO’s chief strategy officer, with the goal of improving healthcare in Colorado through HIE. After a decade of consistent growth, CORHIO announced plans to merge with Health Current, Arizona’s HIE, forming the regional organization Contexture in 2021, with Kelly leading the merger integration activities. As chief strategy officer, she serves on Contexture’s executive leadership team.

Prior to CORHIO/Contexture, Kelly worked as an IT and management consultant. She has considerable systems development, implementation and operations experience across multiple industries, as well as large scale IT project and program management expertise. Kelly received her Bachelor of Science in information systems from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Her extracurricular activities include gardening, hiking, paddleboarding, yoga and world travel with her husband. She’s a devout foodie and speaks fluent German.
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Deanna Towne
Chief Information Officer

Expertise: Health IT, strategic planning, security risk assessments, capabilities-based planning, data security, project management, executive IT leadership

Deanna Towne oversees Contexture’s team of information technology professionals, as well as the development of new products to meet the needs of the Colorado and Arizona healthcare communities. All of Contexture’s vast IT functions fall within the CIO’s purview -- including network support, security, system administration, server management, data management, development, project implementation and management, and security. She oversees all IT systems required to support Contextures’ objectives and goals, as well as leads the digital transformation of the organization.

She joined CORHIO, Colorado’s largest health information exchange, as CIO in 2019. In 2021, CORHIO formalized a merger with Health Current, Arizona’s HIE, to become Contexture and Deanna assumed the CIO role for the larger organization.

Prior to Contexture, Deanna was the deputy chief customer officer and IT director for the Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology. She has also served as the budget director for the Colorado Department of Revenue and the deputy director of the Colorado Governor’s Office of Homeland Security.

Deanna received her MBA and a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree from Regis University in economics and politics. She also graduated from the Executive Leaders Program for the Center of Homeland Defense and Security and completed coursework for a Certificate in Public Administration from the University of Colorado. She’s also an EMC Certified Expert Cloud Architect and brings Lean/Six Sigma training to her role.

She resides in Castle Rock, Colorado, with her husband, Marc, and young son. In her free time, she loves being outside and spending time with family, including a family dinner every Sunday night. In August 2022, Deanna was honored as CIO of the Year in the Corporate category of the ORBIE awards.
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