Michael D. Thornton Sr., PMP, CPHIMS

Michael D. Thornton, Sr. (Mike) is a retired career military officer and private sector corporate executive with over 31 years of experience as a healthcare administrator and information technologist. During his military career he served as Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Air Force’s largest western United States medical center and also as the Deputy CIO for the Air Force Medical Service, responsible for the Information Technology/ Information Management initiatives of all Air Force Medical Treatment Facilities worldwide. In the latter capacity, he was a pioneer in the design, development and deployment of the longitudinal electronic health record, now known as AHLTA, of the Department of Defense.


In the private sector, Michael served as Program Management Executive for a Fortune 500 corporation, responsible for portfolio management covering medical and healthcare programs in North America, Europe and the Pacific region. His portfolio value exceeded $100 million in revenue, earning 10-15% growth annually. Additionally, Mike has served as Vice President of a Washington-based consulting firm, whose core competency is program and project management for executives of the Department of Defense and the private sector internationally. He is professionally certified by both the Project Management Institute and the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society.