Bernie Hengesbaugh is the new Chief Operating Officer of the American Medical Association (AMA). He oversees key elements of the AMA, including business operations, finance, human resources, administrative services, Board governance support and information technology. Among his most important current projects are efforts to ensure the AMA can support physicians in adopting e-health technologies, and spearheading a customer relationship management project within the AMA, so that the AMA can serve its members more effectively. Hengesbaugh is also the recently retired Chairman of CNA Financial Corporation (CNA), a leading property/casualty insurance company based in Chicago. Hengesbaugh's tenure with CNA spanned twenty-three years beginning with Corporate Accounting and followed by twenty years in operating roles. He spent the first seven of these years in Field Operations and then was appointed to lead CNA's Specialty Operations in 1990. He became CNA's first Chief Operating Officer in 1998 and was named Chief Executive Officer one year later. He served in the CEO role until 2002 after which he continued as Chairman until his retirement in early 2004. He has also been active in insurance industry issues. He served as Chairman of the American Insurance Association in 2001 and 2002 and was also Chairman of the Insurance Information Institute in 2001. Before joining CNA, Hengesbaugh was a Partner with Touche Ross & Co. (now Deloitte & Touche). Hengesbaugh is the recent past-Chairman of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). JCAHO is the leading accreditor of hospitals and other healthcare providers in the United States and is a leading consulting organization outside the United States. He also serves on the boards of Arthur J. Gallagher (NYSE) and The Adler Planetarium. Hengesbaugh received his undergraduate degree in accounting at Saint Joseph's College, Rensselaer, Indiana and an MBA at Indiana University Graduate School of Business, Bloomington, Indiana. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. |