MHSC hires IT director

Terry TJ Thompson is the new Information Technology Director at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County.

He comes to Rock Springs from Alaska, where he most recently worked as the IT Project Architect for a company in Anchorage.

“I needed someplace warm,” he said. “Alaska was getting to be too cold for me.”

Chief Financial Officer Tami Love said the hospital is fortunate to have TJ join the team at this time.

“He was able to jump right in and assist our team with the electronic medical record conversion to Cerner,” Love said. “His prior experience in the medical IT field and years of leading successful teams made him an excellent choice.”

Thompson has had a successful career in technology.

“I was schooled as a computer programmer, employed as service technician, system and network engineer, IT Director, Infrastructure Manager, IT Service Manager, IT Project Manager and now as the IT Director here at MHSC,” Thompson said. “Most of my IT career has been within the government, internet provider, managed services, and medical sectors.”

Some of his accomplishments that stand out include:

• The management of international enterprise service provider with Cycle30
• Military Networking at USAFE NOC with Northrop Grumman Corporation
• System and Networking Engineering with GCI

At Sweetwater Memorial, Thompson will manage four direct reports and four service contractors. The scope in managing the hospital’s IT Department is quite broad.

“As a people manager, and a service leader, I believe you must measure to manage and communicate to lead,” Thompson said. “The IT Director must be service orientated, bring together the people, the processes, and the technology, providing successful technical solutions for MHSC information service's needs; while maintaining system operations, keeping with security compliance, and reducing technical debt.”

His technical skills include knowledge of a wide variety of networking devices and network management.

Until now, Thompson has worked as IT Project Architect for Agile IT in Anchorage, Alaska. Prior to that, he worked in a variety of IT director and network engineer positions throughout Alaska. Serving in the US Army, 1983 – 1988. Thompson was a network engineer at Northrop Grumman, Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, from 1999 to 2002, and a computer specialist with the Military Sealift Command Europe in Naples, Italy, from 1997 to 1999.

He is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and a Cisco Certified Network Associate. Thompson has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Studies from the University of Maryland.