Children's Minnesota Appoints Four New Members to Hospital Board of Directors

MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Children's Minnesota announced today the appointment of Alvin Abraham, Gary Blackford, Bonnie Speer McGrath and Kelly Lemieux, MD, to its Hospital board of directors. These appointments were made effective on Jan. 31, 2017.

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The Children's Minnesota Hospital board members are dedicated to improving pediatric health care for families throughout Minnesota and beyond. The board governs the Children's Minnesota system of hospitals and clinics, overseeing facilities, staffing, budgets and financials, policies and ethics.

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The new board members bring decades of experience in the health care, business, education and community service fields:

• Alvin Abraham, Executive Director, KIPP Minnesota As executive director of KIPP Minnesota, Alvin Abraham oversees KIPP North Star Academy and KIPP North Star Primary college preparatory charter schools in North Minneapolis. Prior to Mr. Abraham's current role he served as principal of KIPP North Star Academy. Before joining KIPP, Mr. Abraham served as a teacher and principal in schools in Houston, Texas. He also currently serves on the Advisory Board of Teach For America's The Collective.
• Gary Blackford, Former Chairman and CEO, Universal Hospital Services, Inc.Gary Blackford has over 30 years of experience leading health care services and technology companies. He most recently served as chairman and CEO of Universal Hospital Services, Inc. for more than 13 years. Mr. Blackford currently sits on a number of public, private and not-for-profit health care boards, including the Children's Minnesota Foundation Board, Wright Medical Group, N.V., Halyard Health, Inc., Enteromedics, Inc. and PipelineRx, Inc.
• Bonnie Speer McGrath, Senior Strategic Advisor, TruScribeBonnie Speer McGrath is senior strategic advisor for TruScribe, a whiteboard video animation production studio and software company. Previously she served as a board director and founding president of the division that launched TruScribe and TruGlyph software. She is also an advisor to two medical startup companies, Tiumed and Brain Health Technologies. Earlier in her career she founded Speer Software Training and was an executive at Kaplan. Ms. McGrath founded the Ladies Who Lead group for CIOs in the legal industry and previously served on the boards of KIPP, Teach for America and Storyworks OnDemand.
• Kelly Lemieux, MD, Primary Care Pediatrician and Owner, Wayzata Children's Clinic; Vice Chief of Staff, Children's Minnesota Kelly Lemieux, MD, is a primary care pediatrician and owner at Wayzata Children's Clinic. She is also the Children's Minnesota vice chief of staff, and a director on the Children's Health Network board and past chair of its clinical operations and performance committee. Dr. Lemieux currently volunteers at Bridge for Youth, where she performs intake health assessments on homeless youth and provides recommendations for ongoing medical care. She was previously on the board at St. David's Center for Child and Family Development.

"We are thrilled at the depth of expertise the new board members will bring to advancing our vision to be every family's essential partner," said Bob Bonar, Children's Minnesota chief executive officer. "The board plays a vital role in contributing to our organization's strategy and shaping how we successfully evolve in the changing health care landscape."

The new Hospital board members and leaders will join current board members, including:

• J. Hayes Batson, Chair
• Martin L. Bassett, Vice Chair
• Bruce P. Shay, Treasurer
• Russ Becker
• Robert I. Bonar, Jr.
• Matt Furman
• Paul H. Marvin
• Richard J. Migliori, MD
• Richard T. Murphy, Jr.
• Stephen C. Nelson, MD
• Thomas M. Tefft

About Children's Hospitals and Clinics of MinnesotaChildren's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is the seventh largest pediatric health system in the United States and the only health system in Minnesota to provide care exclusively to children, from before birth through young adulthood. An independent and not-for-profit system since 1924, Children's serves kids throughout the Upper Midwest at two free-standing hospitals, 12 primary and specialty-care clinics and six rehabilitation sites. Children's maintains its longstanding commitment to the community to improve children's health by providing high-quality, family-centered pediatric services and advancing those efforts through research and education. This work is made possible in large part by generous philanthropic and volunteer support from individuals and organizations throughout the state and region. An award-winning health system, Children's is regularly ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a top children's hospital. Please visit childrensMN.org.

Media Contact: Madeline Riggs, Children's MinnesotaCell: [email protected]

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SOURCE Children’s Minnesota