Louis Diamond has been named chairman of the HIMSS Patient Safety, Quality and Outcomes Committee and vice chairman of the eHealth Initiative Policy Steering Committee. The Axolotl Corp., has appointed Robert Scarbrough director of IT operations. Roger Baker, a former CEO in the information technology industry, has been appointed assistant secretary for information and technology for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Consumer Health Technologies, Inc. has appointed Carol Rudolph vice president of Sales for the market segment consisting of healthcare payers and administrators. CEO Amy Rees Anderson has been named by MediConnect Global, Inc. as The Utah Technology Council’s newest board of trustees member. Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc. has named David Cochran, MD, president and chief executive officer. HT Systems has appointed David Wiener president and Carl Bertrams senior vice president of sales and marketing. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has appointed Cindy Mann director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations. Nazie Eftekhari, founder and CEO of The Araz Group of Companies, has been named 2009 Woman of the Year by the Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. As the creator of the first Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) in the country, Eftekhari is recognized as a healthcare innovator. Dennis Porter of the Northrop Grumman Corporation has been appointed the 2009-2010 executive in residence by the Institute for e-Health Policy for his leadership on the Federal Health Record Gateway project. Cecil B. Wilson, MD, an internist from Winter Park, Fla., was named president-elect of the American Medical Association. Wilson will assume the office in June 2010. Medsphere has named Walter Groszewski vice president of business development. Tristan Van Horne has been named the new sales director for government health information exchange efforts for Ingenix. Kappametrics, Inc. has named Jay D. Miller president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. Aspect has named Robert (Bob) Walker vice president of corporate customer relationships, reporting directly to chief executive officer, Jim Foy.  J. James Rohack, MD, was inaugurated as the 164th president of the American Medical Association. The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) has appointed Steve Smerz, vice president of information technology and security officer of Minneapolis-based VisionShare, to the CCHIT Security Work Group.