Health Care Personnel Updates for May 2007
Larry Dodds on May 4 was appointed executive vice president and chief operating officer of Adventist Health. Dodds currently serves as senior vice president of Adventist (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 5/4).
Dodds will succeed Robert Carmen, who in April was appointed president of the health care system. Adventist owns 19 hospitals with 18,000 employees and numerous clinics in Hawaii, Oregon, Washington state and California (Smith, Sacramento Bee, 5/5).
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) appointed Robin Dezember of Sacramento as director of the Division of Correctional Health Care Services under the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Dezember since 2001 owned and served as principal consultant for RJ Dezember Associates, a government consulting firm. Senate confirmation is required for the position, which offers annual compensation of $179,784 (Office of the Governor release, 5/17).
Schwarzenegger made five appointments to the Public Employee Post-Employment Benefits Commission. None of the positions requires Senate confirmation. Summaries of the appointments appear below.
- Jan Boel (R) of Gold River was appointed staff director. Boel previously served as deputy director of legislative and intragovernmental affairs for the Department of General Services. The position offers annual compensation of $125,000.
- Margaret Walker (D) of Sacramento was appointed office manager. Walker previously has worked as a scheduler for Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and as executive assistant to the director for the Governor's Office of Planning and Research. The position offers annual compensation of $65,000 (Office of the Governor release, 5/2).
- Thomas Branan (D) of Inverness was appointed policy director. Branan for 15 years owned and edited the monthly publication, Public Retirement Journal. He also served as a legislative consultant for the State Association of County System and the California Retired County Employees Association. The position offers annual compensation of $90,000.
- Stephanie Dougherty (D) of Sacramento was appointed research director. Dougherty previously held positions at Blue Shield of California and the Governor's Office of Planning and Research. The position offers annual compensation of $90,000.
- Ashley Snee Giovannettone (R) of Davis was appointed communications director. Snee Giovannettone previously worked as an assistant secretary of state for public affairs and a deputy press secretary for Schwarzenegger's office. The position offers annual compensation of $60,000 (Office of the Governor release, 5/24).
Kaiser Permanente officials on May 1 announced that Lawrence Leisure in late April stepped down as national senior vice president of sales and account management for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals.
Leisure joined Kaiser in 2004. He left to pursue "entrepreneurial opportunities with former colleagues," according to a spokesperson. A replacement has not yet been named (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 5/2).
In other Kaiser Permanente news, company officials on May 17 promoted three top executives. Kathy Lancaster, Arthur Southam and Bernard Tyson were promoted from senior vice presidents to executive vice presidents (East Bay Business Times, 5/17).
Cheryl Fama on May 2 was named executive director of the Peninsula Health Care District. The district's board selected Fama "to help the district manage its assets and to help it oversee its role in improving health care of the district," according to a spokesperson.
Fama until August 2006 served as president and CEO of Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 5/2).
State Compensation Insurance Fund officials on May 10 announced that David West has been promoted to vice president and member of the executive committee. West will oversee State Fund's group programs' business, which has been the focus of a state investigation, a spokesperson said.
Former president James Tudor and former vice president Renee Koren, who were overseeing the group programs' business, on March 20 were fired following an internal investigation (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 5/10).