Dave Kempson FAIDH · FACHSM · CHCIO

I spent thirty years in uniform with the United States Air Force and Arizona Air National Guard, finishing as a Colonel commanding the 161st Medical Group: the first non-clinical officer to hold that command, leading it to the number one national readiness ranking. That service, and the disciplines it taught about readiness, clarity under pressure and teams that perform when it counts, is what Digital Tactics carries forward: tactics, in the military sense, applied to high-stakes leadership decisions.

Alongside and after the uniform came two decades running technology for major health systems on two continents. As CIO of Maricopa Integrated Health System in Phoenix I helped bring a billion-dollar public health system back from the brink of default, implemented an $85M Epic EHR across every facility, and lifted the organisation into the top 8% of US hospitals for EMR adoption. In Australia, I led the go-live of the country's first fully digital hospital at St Stephen's Hervey Bay (the only Australian facility to reach HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7, awarded the HIMSS Davies Award), and as Chief Digital Officer of Mater in Brisbane I led a 250-person team and a $50M budget across 12 hospitals, delivering the group's digital strategy and overhauling its cybersecurity program.

Since 2020 I have worked independently, serving health executives, boards, and government and defence organisations across Australia. The practice spans executive coaching (an active caseload of more than 30 leaders across organisations including the Australian Digital Health Agency, eHealth Queensland, Metro South Health, Calvary and Monash Health), facilitation at national conferences and board tables, cybersecurity advisory including Essential Eight assessments and executive tabletop exercises, and independent strategic and ICT reviews. Different doors into the same room: helping serious leaders make better decisions under pressure.

What clients say they value isn't the CV. It's that the advice comes from someone who has sat in their chair, and that the conversation stays confidential, always. That's why the case studies on this site are redacted, and will stay that way.