5 HFMA members take on new professional roles

HFMA members have assumed new professional challenges over the past few months. For some, that meant starting a new position. For others, it was earning multiple HFMA certifications.

Ballad Health taps Phillip Childree as CFO for Southwest Virginia market

Phillip Childree, CHFP, MBA, is the new CFO of Ballad Health Southwest Virginia, overseeing the health system’s four hospitals located in Wise, Lee and Dickenson counties. Childree has more than two decades of experience in healthcare finance, materials management and revenue cycle, having served most recently as market CFO for Flowers Hospital and Medical Center Enterprise in Enterprise, Ala. He is a member of HFMA’s Alabama Chapter.

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MU Health Care names Greg Damron as CFO

The new CFO at the University of Missouri Health Care (MU Health Care) in Columbia, Mo., is Greg Damron, MAC, CPA. Damron has more than 20 years of healthcare finance experience, including service as vice president and division CFO at Banner University Medicine in Phoenix as well as in CFO roles with Augusta and Duke universities. A member of Georgia’s HFMA Chapter, Damron began his career as an auditor at Ernst & Young, LLP.

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Lakmini Kidder joins Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Lakmini Kidder, MBA, has been selected for the newly expanded role of senior vice president, finance, and chief revenue officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., where she’ll oversee all aspects of the organization’s integrated revenue cycle. Kidder previously held revenue cycle leadership roles at both Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore and Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn. She is a member of the Minnesota Chapter.

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Lake Regional Health System welcomes Paula Littleton as CFO

Following an extensive search, Paula Littleton, CSMC, CHFP, MBA, CPA, has been selected as the new CFO for Lake Regional Health System in Osage Beach, Mo. Littleton brings 20 years of healthcare finance experience to her new role. She most recently served as CFO for a Saint Luke’s Health critical access region, overseeing the financial operations of four nonprofit hospitals. Previously, she worked for 17 years at MU Health Care, ultimately serving as senior director of finance and controller. A member of HFMA’s Greater Heartland Chapter, Littleton is currently the Chapter President.

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Julia Puchtler is new CFO at UPHS

The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) in Philadelphia has a new vice president and CFO: Julia Puchtler, FHFMA, MS, CPA. She originally joined Penn Medicine in 2015 as vice president for financial operations and budgeting, before being named as CFO of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 2019 — a position that included financial management of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. Puchtler is a member of HFMA’s Metropolitan Philadelphia Chapter.

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