Great Living Cincinnatians: Honorees

Vickie Buyniski Gluckman’s legacy to the Cincinnati region was one of a business trailblazer and community leader. During her long and storied career, she not only achieved great professional success, but also had a significant impact on our community through tireless service. In doing so, she also became a model for women everywhere, especially those who either led or aspired to lead their own business.

At the age of 25, Gluckman created Southwest Indiana Medical Review Organization, a non-profit located in Evansville, Indiana. She then was recruited to come to Cincinnati to guide Medco Peer Review as CEO, another non-profit organization. Her time leading both medical organizations would lay the groundwork to her founding United Medical Resources, Inc. in 1983. At the time, she was one of just a few female business owners in the region.

She served as Founder, Chairman, and CEO from the company’s inception until 2005 when UMR was sold to United Health Group, the single largest health carrier in the nation. Gluckman remained as CEO until 2008, marking 25 years of leading the company.

While at UMR she exceled in designing and managing utilization review programs. Her prowess in data analytics allowed her to author programs used to monitor the cost-effectiveness of services, a role especially vital to medical organizations.

Born in Kingsport, Tennessee, she moved to Cincinnati in 1979, and quickly fell in love with the region. That would be further demonstrated through her involvement in more than a dozen community boards, including many that foster the same entrepreneurial spirit she possesses. They included time as Chair of Junior Achievement, as well as serving on the boards of: ArtsWave, The Health Alliance, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, and as a Trustee at Xavier University. In her retirement, she served on the boards of U.S. Bancorp, Ohio National Financial Services, The Christ Hospital, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Additionally, she was a founding Board Member and Chair of the Board for Success By 6, and served on the Executive Committee and as a Board Member for STRIVE.

Gluckman’s accolades are many. She gained national recognition after being named among the “Top 25 Women who are Changing the Game” by Fast Company Magazine. She won the NKU Entrepreneurship Institute’s Master Entrepreneur Award, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, was selected as a member of the Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky Business Hall of Fame, and was chosen as the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Small Business of the Year. Last year, she was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Chamber’s Women Excel Pinnacle Award.

Gluckman is married to Jack Gluckman, MD, retired Chair of University of Cincinnati’s ENT/Head & Neck Cancer Department. She has two children and four stepchildren.