Steven R. Garske

Vice President and Chief Information Officer

Steven R. Garske began his assignment as Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles September, 2006.

Prior to his appointment at Childrens Hospital, Mr. Garske was Chief Operating Officer of Perot Systems Corporation at St. Joseph’s Health System in Anaheim. At Perot Systems, he managed several high-profile clinical systems and was responsible for more than 300 IT professionals. Mr. Garske also worked for Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) for more than six years. He worked as the Global Director of IT Procurement for one of CSC’s largest clients in London, England, and Account Executive for CSC’s emerging healthcare accounts. Steve has a decade of outsourcing experience and 5 years of executive healthcare IT experience.  

Mr. Garske and his new Information Services team at our hospital have transformed the computing environment within three short years. Within this period, the new team has increased the IT staff size by over 50% while decreasing the operating budget by more than 30%. Mr. Garske and the IS team insourced all infrastructure services in 2007, saving the hospital over $6.5M annually, while improving survey satisfaction rates by 30%. The new team has replaced the entire network, created and implemented a new award winning Internet site, upgraded the PeopleSoft HR and Financials from 8.4 to 9.0, successfully implemented the EHR in surgery, radiology, and the Intensive Care Units, and created a Project Management team, Security team, Web Development team, Finance team, and Engineering team. The IS Team is now preparing to move into a new state of the art 317-bed acute care pediatric facility, scheduled to open in 2011.

Mr. Garske received his bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics, Scientific Programming, from the University of California, San Diego. He received his master’s degree in Business Information Technology from Kingston University Business School in London England and is currently a PhD candidate in Applied Management Decision Sciences, Information Systems Management . He is presently working on his dissertation which is related to IT outsourcing in healthcare. Mr. Garske is a Certified Novell Administrator, and an experienced software computer programmer. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors within the IT industry, and is a member of several influential IT organizations.

Mr. Garske is an avid triathlete and has competed in multiple triathlons and running competitions. He enjoys deep sea fishing off the coast of Mexico, surfing and skydiving. Mr. Garske and his wife Martha live in Hollywood, California.