Health Care Personnel Update for October 2007
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) appointed Matthew Powers (D) of Pleasant Hill to the Commission on Emergency Medical Services.
Powers since 2000 has served as chief of emergency medical services for the North County Fire Authority. Senate confirmation is not required for the position, which offers no salary (Office of the Governor release, 10/31).
Schwarzenegger made two appointments to the Department of Industrial Relations. Both positions require Senate confirmation. Summaries appear below.
- Caroline Oldman Nevans of Sacramento was appointed administrative director of the division of workers' compensation in the Department of Industrial Relations, which offers annual compensation of $132,179. Nevans since 2005 has served as acting administrative director and deputy administrative director for the division. Nevans has declined to state a party affiliation.
- Len Welsh (D) of Kensington was appointed chief of the division of occupational safety and health in the Department of Industrial Relations, which offers annual compensation of $125,004. Welsh since 2003 has served as acting chief of the division (Office of the Governor release, 10/12).
Schwarzenegger appointed Veronia Vuksich (D) of Santa Rosa to the Osteopathic Medical Board.
Since 1995, Vuksich has served as a clinical preceptor of family practice resident physicians at the Family Practice Center for Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa and an assistant professor of family and community medicine at UC-San Francisco. Senate confirmation is not required for the position, which provides compensation of $100 per diem (Office of the Governor release, 10/12).
Catholic Healthcare West on Oct. 16 announced the appointment of Benjamin Williams as senior vice president and chief information officer. Williams will oversee technology efforts at CHW's 42 hospitals in California, Arizona and Nevada.
Williams previously served as senior vice president of information services and CIO of St. Joseph Health System in Orange (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 10/16).
Thomas Nesbitt -- executive associate dean for clinical and administrative affairs at UC-Davis School of Medicine -- was appointed to the Joint Advisory Committee on Communications Capabilities of Emergency Medical and Public Health Care Facilities.
The panel was established under the 9/11 Commission Act to inform Congress about the country's communications needs during national emergencies and disasters (Griffith, Sacramento Bee, 10/19).
Jean Fraser has announced she will resign as CEO of San Francisco Health Plan in March.
Fraser has held the position since 2000. The community health plan's governing board will hire Fraser's replacement (San Francisco Business Times, 10/4).
Stanford Hospital & Clinics on Oct. 17 announced that Daniel Morissette has been appointed CFO. Morissette began the position in September.
Morissette previously served as CFO for both the University of Toledo and University of Toledo Medical Center (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 10/17).
The governor appointed Francis Quinlan of Corona del Mar to the State Compensation Insurance Fund Board of Directors. Since 1982, Quinlan has served as a partner with the law firm Kester & Quinlan.
Senate confirmation is not required for the position, which offers compensation of $100 per diem. Quinlan has declined to state a party affiliation (Office of the Governor release, 10/12).
William Kingman was named vice president of clinic operations for Woodland Healthcare. Kingman's duties include management of overall operations and strategic planning for physician practices in Woodland and Davis.
Kingman previously served as vice president and chief operating officer for Community Healthcare Network in New York (Sacramento Bee, 10/22).