MN Community Measurement President and CEO Julie Sonier to Step Down in 2024

January 3, 2024

MINNEAPOLIS – JANUARY 3, 2024

MN Community Measurement (MNCM) announced today that Julie Sonier, who has led the organization as its President and CEO since 2017, plans to step down in the spring of 2024. During her tenure, Sonier has led major transformational efforts to position MNCM for continued success in its role as a multi-stakeholder nonprofit that drives improvement in health care quality, cost, and equity.

“During her tenure as President of MNCM, Julie Sonier has guided our organization to become a national leader and a premier source of data addressing health care quality, costs, and health disparities,” noted Joe Bianco MD, Chairman of the Board, MNCM. “Her leadership has brought us into a new era of quality assessment and monitoring. She has made a tremendous impact on this work both statewide and nationally.” 

MNCM has long been a national leader in collecting, analyzing, and reporting information about health care quality, cost, and equity. It publishes several reports each year on health care quality, cost, and disparities in Minnesota, and serves as a neutral convener of health care providers, health plans, employers, consumers, researchers, and state agencies to establish common priorities for measurement and improvement.

MNCM is unique in the nation in the breadth and depth of measures that it collects from both electronic medical records data and health plan claims data. In recent years, MNCM’s accomplishments include:

  • Transforming and modernizing data collection from health care providers and health plans to improve timeliness and consistency of the data, as well as ease of reporting;
  • Establishing the Common Health Information Reporting Partnership, or CHIRP, to facilitate efficient and timely data sharing between health care providers and health plans aimed at improving quality of care and patient outcomes;
  • Designing and implementing a unique roadmap for collecting and harmonizing data about social risk factors such as food and housing insecurity; and
  • Expanding MNCM’s analytic capacity to support quality improvement activities and research aimed at improving health care outcomes.

“I am so proud of the progress that MNCM has made over the past several years that positions the organization to adapt and innovate in response to evolving needs for data related to health care quality, cost, and equity,” said Sonier. “MNCM is a place where stakeholders with many different perspectives come together to work on how we can use data together to drive improvement in health care, and it’s been a great privilege to lead this work over the past seven years.”

Bianco notes, “The Board of Directors is currently engaged in a search process for a new President.  Our goal is to have a smooth transition to new leadership within the next few months.”

About MN Community Measurement

MNCM is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering health care decision makers with meaningful data to drive improvement. A trusted source of health care data since 2005, MNCM works with doctors, hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, and state agencies to collect, analyze, and report health care data related to quality, cost, and equity of health care. Learn more at www.mncm.org.


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October 20, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — October 20, 2026 — MN Community Measurement (MNCM) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Koble-MN's health information exchange (HIE) business line and the MNSHINE brand from The Koble Group. On November 1, MNCM will officially change its legal name to Minnesota Statewide Health Information Network and Exchange, known as MNSHINE. The transition follows a special joint meeting of MNCM's Board of Directors and members on October 12, at which the Board unanimously approved resolutions authorizing the acquisition, changing the organization's legal name, and establishing a new HIE Advisory Committee. Members unanimously adopted the name change and related amendments to the organization's Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. An intentional decision to collaborate The transition is the result of an intentional decision by Minnesota health care leaders to collaborate on a health data landscape that makes sense: one that reduces redundancy, increases efficiency, and delivers needed information to those with legal authorization to receive it, where and when it is needed, without unnecessary administrative barriers. "This is not simply a merger of services. It is a deliberate choice to build the kind of health data infrastructure Minnesota deserves," said Liz Cinqueonce, President and CEO of MNCM. "For too long, organizations across our state have had to navigate duplicative systems and disconnected data. By bringing measurement and exchange together, we can reduce that burden and make sure the right information reaches the right people at the right time, with patient privacy protections firmly in place, so they can focus on improving care." The effort builds on months of work by the Executive Leadership Council, convened earlier this year by MNCM, the Minnesota Electronic Health Records Consortium, and Koble to explore how a sustainable, statewide health data utility could serve the public interest. "Minnesota is at its best when we take on difficult challenges together and align on solutions," said Mark Steffen, MD, Chair of the MNCM Board of Directors. "The Board's unanimous support reflects a shared conviction that our future depends on organizations keeping their unique strengths and missions while participating in shared infrastructure and governance. That balance is what enables greater coordination, transparency, efficiency, and impact." A trusted backbone for Minnesota's health data Minnesota's future health data ecosystem is one in which organizations retain their unique strengths and missions while participating in shared infrastructure and governance. The vision for MNSHINE is to become the health data utility, governed in the public interest with strong privacy protections and transparency, that serves as the trusted backbone connecting these efforts, ensuring data can be used more effectively to improve health, wellbeing, and outcomes for all Minnesotans. By bringing the measurement of health care quality, cost, and utilization together with the infrastructure that moves clinical data between organizations, MNSHINE will be positioned to support providers, payers, public health, researchers, policymakers, and communities alike, each within the limits of applicable law and participant agreements. The goal is healthier people, stronger communities, greater equity, better public decisions, smarter investments, and a health system that learns continuously. Continuity for HIE participants HIE services will continue without interruption. To ensure continuity of leadership and relationships, Chad Peterson, CEO of The Koble Group, has joined MNCM as Senior Vice President of HIE Services. “For HIE participants, this transition opens new possibilities,” said Peterson. “When exchange and measurement are guided by one mission, we can reduce duplication for providers and better support care coordination, while holding firm to the privacy protections patients expect. I’m proud to help lead that work, and I’m committed to making sure every participant feels supported as we grow.” MNCM has also established the HIE Advisory Committee as a standing committee of its Board of Directors. The committee continues the work of the Koble-MN Advisory Committee and will advise the Board on interoperability, participant relationships, privacy, security, data governance, and health equity. 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