Faculty Profile: Thomas Stearns

Tom Stearns is the Vice President of Medical Practice Services for State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company in Brentwood, Tennessee.

He received a Bachelor of Art degree in Economics from Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina.  After serving as a Medical Service Corps Officer in the US Army and a brief stint as a medical supply salesman before he entered Clinic Management in 1976.  Over the next 20 years he managed two orthopaedic practices in Middle Tennessee.  In 1996 he started the Medical Practice Services Department at SVMIC. 

Tom has been very active in professional matters, serving as President of Tennessee Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), President of Southern Section MGMA, Finance/Audit Chair for the national MGMA, served on the national MGMA Board of Directors, and Chair BONES (professional association for orthopaedic group managers).  He has completed a tenure on the Board of the American College of Medical Practice Executives as Chair. 

In the Spring of 2010 Tom was presented The Martha Johnson Distinguished Service Award by the Tennessee Medical Group Management Association.  At the October 2010 meeting of the Medical Group Management Association Annual Conference and the Conclave of the American College of Medical Practice Executives in New Orleans, Tom was given the Harry J. Harwick Lifetime Achievement Award - This award is MGMA and ACMPE’s highest recognition to an individual who has displayed a lifetime of achievement and made outstanding, nationally recognized contributions to healthcare administration and education over the course of his career.

In 2009 Tom completed the four year program in Education for Ministry from the School of Theology at the University of South in Sewanee, Tennessee. 

He is very active in community affairs where he was the Board Chair for United Way of Williamson County and Board Chair of Waves, Inc., an agency caring for the developmentally disabled.  He and his wife, Marida, are members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Franklin where he has served as Senior Warden and two terms on the Vestry.  They have five grown children and eight grandchildren.