NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Veteran health care executive Jon Lehman has been named associate dean for health care at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, effective Sept. 1. In his new role, Lehman will have responsibility for the school‘s new Health Care MBA program, while continuing to conduct research and teach health care information technology strategy classes as professor for the practice of management.
“I am especially pleased to have Jon join us in this role,” said Owen School Dean Jim Bradford. “Having served Owen both as an adjunct professor and a member of the team that developed the Health Care MBA, he has a passion for this place as well as a compelling vision for what the health care program can become in the short and long terms.
“He also brings to the school exceptional real-world experience as both an entrepreneur and corporate leader, which will be essential to this program‘s intent to produce graduates who will be productive in the health care field from the first day.”
Vanderbilt designed the Health Care MBA curriculum in concert with a panel of health care industry leaders who expressed the need for a different kind of graduate business education. The Owen School program requires a rigorous, structured curriculum of health care-specific courses and immersion in the day-to-day realities of health care through a combination of real-world clinical experiences and strategic projects with health care organizations. The program, which got underway this week with the incoming class of 2007, will have its students working in close collaboration with professionals at the top-ranked Vanderbilt University Medical Center and with some of the country‘s most innovative health care companies.
Lehman continues as vice chairman of Evolved Digital Systems, a leading provider of digital-based image and information management systems for the health care industry. He previously served as its president and CEO. Evolved Digital resulted from the merger of Nashville-based InPHact, which Lehman co-founded in 1996, and a Canadian concern.
“Our goal is to build the premier management and leadership education program for the health care industry,” Lehman said. “We are starting with our excellent core MBA program and combining it with the unique health care resources available at Vanderbilt and in
Nashville
. By pioneering an innovative immersion-based curriculum that incorporates real-world experience, we will equip our graduates to identify and overcome the challenges that will face tomorrow‘s health care leaders.
“Beyond the Health Care MBA program, we will also provide executive education and leadership development opportunities for all levels of management within the health care industry. By developing a deep expertise in the areas of health care technology, entrepreneurship and innovation that will be critical to the future of the health care systems around the globe, Vanderbilt and Owen will be at the vortex of the changes that will sweep health care over the next decade,” he said.
Lehman previously served as executive vice president and director of Futurekids, an international computer training company that helps K-12 schools use technology to transform education. In 1990, he founded The Section Companies, a consulting and private investment firm whose clients included The Walt Disney Company and Ziff-Davis. He remains a principal of that organization.
He earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Colgate University in 1982 and his MBA from Harvard in 1986.
Lehman served as InPHact‘s representative to the Nashville Health Care Council and in 2003 was named one of the Nashville Business Journal‘s “Health Care 100,” a listing of the top 100 leaders in the health care industry. He serves on the Alumni Association Board of Leadership Nashville, where he was a member of the class of 2004. He also has served on the boards of several community organizations including the YMCA of Middle Tennessee‘s Joe C. Davis Outdoor Center, the Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Nashville Academy Theatre and the Young Leader‘s Council. He was honored as a White House fellow national finalist in 1996.
The Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University is ranked as a top institution by Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Financial Times and Forbes. For more news about Owen, visit www.owen.vanderbilt.edu.
Media contact: Susanne Hicks, (615) 322-NEWS