Jim Hinton
President and CEO

Mr. Hinton has been with Presbyterian for 27 years and has the distinction of being New Mexico’s longest tenured healthcare CEO.  He serves as a member of the Presbyterian Board of Directors and also serves as the chair for the Presbyterian Health Plan Board of Directors.

Under Mr. Hinton’s leadership, Presbyterian has dedicated itself to achieving national excellence on behalf of its patients and members.  The organization is committed to accomplishing “3 Things” – objective markers of excellence:  earn the National Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award, earn an “AA” financial rating, and establish patient safety results in the top ten percent of the nation.

As President and CEO of Presbyterian Healthcare Services since July of 1995, Mr. Hinton has been recognized both locally and nationally for his exceptional leadership. His current community involvement includes chairmanships and board roles for the Rio Rancho Economic Development, Economic Forum, Association of Commerce and Industry (ACI), United Way of Central New Mexico, and ACCION New Mexico. Throughout his career at Presbyterian, Mr. Hinton has held leadership roles on the boards of the New Mexico Hospitals and Health Systems Association, Albuquerque Economic Development, New Mexico First, and the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Hinton also served as chair of the Governor’s task force for health care reform and served on the Insure New Mexico Council. In addition to serving in board and chair roles for several local organizations, Mr. Hinton also serves on the Boards of Premier, Inc. and The Healthcare Institute.  In 2007, he was selected by the UNM Alumni Association to receive the Erna S. Fergusson Award for distinguished alumni.  In 2005, he was the recipient of the Foundation Open Government Freedom of Speech Award.  Leadership Albuquerque selected him as “Outstanding Leader” in 2002 and The Health Care Forum named Mr. Hinton “One of the Nation’s Four Emerging Leaders” in 1993.

Prior to joining Presbyterian, Mr. Hinton received his Bachelors of Arts in 1981 from the University of New Mexico and a Master’s of Health Care Administration from Arizona State University in 1983.  He served as Chief Operating Officer of PHS from 1992 to 1995, when he became CEO.

Paul Briggs
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Paul Briggs serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services.  He oversees the financial operations and strategy of the organization.

Mr. Briggs’ primary responsibilities include ensuring adequate capital to support Presbyterian’s growth and purpose. He provides oversight to the financial planning, budgeting and reporting systems.  Mr. Briggs also directs Presbyterian’s internal and external auditing functions and is responsible for directing the systems’ Revenue Cycle, Information Services, and Supply Chain.  Mr. Briggs’ responsibilities also include direct support for three Board committees:  Finance, Compliance and Audit, and Investment.

Mr. Briggs has twenty-eight years of healthcare finance and operations experience with hospital systems, physicians groups and health plans.  He served as the Chief Financial Officer for the Carondelet Health System in St. Louis and the Greenville Hospital System in Greenville, South Carolina.  He also worked for Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound for ten years in senior financial and operational roles.

Mr. Briggs received his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Accounting from Brigham Young University.  He is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the HFMA Principles and Practices Board, and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

 

Diane Fisher
Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Diane Fisher joined Presbyterian in 2002.

After graduating from Stanford University and the University of New Mexico School of Law, Ms. Fisher practiced law in several venues, focusing on healthcare issues including organization, licensure, healthcare contracting and state and federal legislative and regulatory issues.

She was the General Counsel for the New Mexico Department of Health and was in private practice in Albuquerque just prior to joining Presbyterian.

She is licensed to practice law in New Mexico and Colorado and before the United States Supreme Court. She is a member of the Order of the Coif and the American Health Lawyers Association.

Peter Snow
Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning Services

Peter Snow is responsible for strategic development for Presbyterian.

He has his Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Chicago, and has an extensive consulting background with Herman Smith and Associates and Booz, Allen, and Hamilton.

Before starting a career in health care, he served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Brazil from 1969 through 1972.

Mr. Snow joined Presbyterian in 1983 and has subsequently developed and fine-tuned the Presbyterian strategic planning process leading to the organization's program model and its two major business unit expansions: Presbyterian Medical Group and Presbyterian Health Plan.

He participated on the teams involved in the development of the organization's product for Salud (the state's managed care program for Medicaid recipients) and the acquisitions of FHP and the Talbert Medical Group.

Zizi Fritz
Vice President and Executive Director Foundation

Zizi Fritz spearheads a volunteer board of over 50 members and oversees a staff of 11, conducting major fund-raising campaigns and a variety of community events.

She is also responsible for Volunteer Services and Chaplaincy Services.

She came to the Foundation with over seven years of experience as the Market General Manager for The Alderwood Group, which operates funeral homes and cemeteries in New Mexico and Texas. Before that she served as General Manager of an assisted living facility in Lubbock, Texas, and was vice president of Trust Company of New Mexico.

She has served as president of Rotary Club of Albuquerque, is past president of the local chapter of Toastmasters, and is on a number of other community boards.

Ms. Fritz earned her BA from Stephens College of Business Management in Missouri and also has taken specialty training in accounting, business and law.

J.J. Parsons
Vice President, Performance Excellence

J.J. Parsons serves as Vice President of Performance Excellence and leads the enterprise effort to achieve the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) through an enterprise focus on continuously improving processes to produce nationally excellent clinical, service and business results.

She also oversees the customer market research and PresEssentials coaching staff to facilitate understanding of customer needs and support leader skill development and coaching to obtain customer loyalty.  She is accountable for the key process, Customer Acquisition and Retention, and chairs its council accountable for managing an enterprise-wide process to improve and attain customer growth. 

Ms. Parsons has been with Presbyterian since 1984 and previously served as Vice President of Business Development and Contracting; Vice President of Network Marketing; and worked a number of years at the Health Plan.

She graduated from Ohio University with a Bachelors of Science with honors in Journalism and is a graduate of the IHC Advance Training Program in Healthcare Delivery Improvement.  Ms. Parsons serves as a national Senior Examiner for MBNQA, the Presidential quality award program dedicated to improving U.S. organizations.  She is a past recipient of the Executive of the Year Award from Executive Women International.

Ms. Parsons is active in the community and currently serves on a number of boards including the Executive Committee for Governor’s Business Executives for Education; the Board of Directors for Youth Development, Inc. Foundation;  and Vice President of the Board of Directors for CNM Foundation.  She has played an active role in Quality New Mexico serving six years as Chair of the Board of Directors and lead judge on the Panel of Judges.  She is an alumnus of Leadership Albuquerque.

Donna Agnew
Chief Information Officer

Donna Agnew is vice president and chief information officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services.

Ms. Agnew earned her bachelor's of nursing degree from Montana State University in Bozeman, MT., her master's of nursing degree from University of Texas and her MBA from University of Phoenix.

Ms. Agnew joined PHS in 1993. Her career has included leadership roles in nursing in various settings include acute care and homecare, quality and performance improvement and clinical informatics.
 

Jackson R. Ellison
Vice President Corporate Compliance

Jackson Ellison joined PHS in 1993 as Executive Director of Presbyterian Physician Resources. He is a graduate of the University of New Mexico, Robert O. Anderson School of Business & Administrative Sciences, B.B.A., 1969.

Prior to joining PHS, Mr. Ellison served as the Executive Director of Radiology Associates of Albuquerque, PA. He is the former President of the New Mexico Chapter of the Medical Group Management Association.

Mr. Ellison served as the Administrative Director for PHS-A Ancillary Services from 1995-1998, and served on the Board of Directors for the Reference Laboratories, Affiliated Imaging Associates, and Southwest Magnetic Imaging Associates.

He assumed PHS Corporate Compliance Officer duties in late 1998. Mr. Ellison is responsible for corporate business ethics and regulatory compliance.