Sheila O'Donnell retires, leaving behind a legacy of key achievements at HTS

Since 2016, Sheila O'Donnell has played a role in Crothall's Health Technology System (HTS). HTS now manages one million medical devices and clinical technologies in more than 200 US hospitals.

As Senior Vice President of the Technical Resources Group, she is responsible for HTS operations including information technology, cybersecurity, supply chain management, technical evaluation, procurement, and quality and compliance. Her contributions go beyond these responsibilities to foster large investments in technology, presenting customers on behalf of HTS, leading clients, and representing Crothall in key industry organizations.

“Sheila is the ultimate professional and very supportive of the sales team, helping us drive year-over-year growth,” said Brooke Fairbanks National Vice President of National Sales Brooke Fairbanks. “I can always count on Sheila for advice and strategies, she is an important part of almost all new sales opportunities.”

Outstanding career in medical technology

Sheila will retire on March 31, ending her 40-year career with 30 years of healthcare technology. Her journey began after graduating from James Madison University. One of her early positions was as a senior buyer of the University of Virginia Alternative Hospital program, which manages the procurement of all mobile medical and imaging devices at the UVA New Level III Trauma Center.

“The challenging mission attracted me and I was fascinated,” she recalled.

Prior to joining Crothall in 2016, Sheila spent 15 years in General Electric’s progressive role, including serving as general manager of its $260 million Southeast imaging operations and later as general manager of National Imaging Facilities Services.

Key achievements of HTS

After transitioning to Crothall, Sheila recognized the customer’s need for continuous improvement in the quality of medical equipment repair and repair. She worked hard to make a lot of investments and positioned Crothall as an industry leader.

In the spring of 2018, she proposed to obtain ISO 13485:2016 certification, an international quality and safety standard. HTS achieved this in June 2019, making Crothall one of the first independent service organizations to do so.

“Sheila has been a strategic thinker since the moment she joined our team, and he advanced our technology and programs, cementing our position as a center of excellence in information technology,” said Jim Cheek, division president. “This achievement has subsequently adopted benchmarks for our competitors, establishing it as an industry standard.”

“Shila never got rid of her high goals and she realized that ISO 13485 QMS certification would be a game-changer,” said Richard Eliason, HTS Compliance Director. “It instills a quality culture throughout HTS, which we can attribute to Sheila’s long-term vision.”

Technology Transformation

Sheila led the technology upgrade of HTS in 2021 through TeamChamps, a cloud-based computer maintenance management system (CMMS), powered by Nuvolo. The platform is now available in all Crothall HTS service hospitals and provides customers with comprehensive data analytics.

“When we activate CMM, we greatly improve customer support by providing timely data to understand the entire life cycle of their medical devices,” Sheila explained.

Sheila's contributions are further expanded. This includes addressing cybersecurity threats through strategic partnerships with automated digital systems, advocating Crothall in representatives of the Alliance for Quality Medical Equipment Services, and mentoring many employees, especially young women, in management positions.

Looking to the future

While retired, Sheila planned to spend time with her three grandchildren and continue to serve on the AAMI Foundation Board. She may consider working as an industry consultant after the summer. She left the company to achieve many goals and helped herself position HTS as a future success.

“Under Jim’s leadership, we invested the right amount of technology, people and training. Being part of the dynamic changes in HTS has been an amazing team over the past decade. I’m honored to be a part of it.”