Missouri Foundation for Health recently welcomed three new members to its Board of Directors. Judy Baker, K. Brooks Miller Jr., and Ryan Rippel were nominated and voted into the 15-member group, effective January 1, 2018. Baker and Miller previously served on the Foundation’s Community Advisory Council. Reelected incumbents include Connie Cunningham, Janet Gooch, and Andwele Jolly. All six have terms that will last three years, with the exception of Gooch, who has filled a one-year vacant spot on the Board and will be up for a full-term reelection in 2019.
Judy Baker is an experienced health care executive, policymaker, consultant, professor, and a former lawmaker. Currently, she teaches health care policy and social policy analysis at Washington University and leads SEED Success, a nonprofit delivering asset building services for youth. She serves as a senior fellow for the Governing Institute, lending her expertise in health and human services, health IT, and Pay for Success policy initiatives. Her executive positions include public and private integrated health care delivery systems. While a state lawmaker from 2005-2009, she was ranking member of the budget, health care, and education committees in the Missouri General Assembly. From 2009-2012, she served as the regional director, Region 7, for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of the Secretary. Judy has consulted Health Care IT and a biotech startups, as well as governmental agencies and foundations, on policy, business development, and innovative models for health care delivery.
Ryan Rippel leads the Gates Foundation’s national work on U.S. poverty and economic mobility. He is an attorney by training. Outside of the Gates Foundation, he serves as an Adjunct Professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri, where he co-leads a course and clinic focused on local government law and approaches to urban revitalization. He is the secretary of the board of directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri and a member of the board of directors of InvestSTL, a new initiative focused on community development in St. Louis.
K. Brooks Miller, Jr. is president and chief executive officer of Jordan Valley Community Health Center, which provides medical and dental health services in southwest Missouri. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, and a master’s degree in education administration, both from Truman State University. He has served on the boards of organizations including City Utilities of Springfield, Isabel’s House, and the Springfield Regional Health Commission.
The Board of Director’s Executive Committee has also changed, reflecting the new elections. Serena Muhammad has been named chairperson, Steve Renne is vice chairperson, Janet Gooch is secretary, Pamela Campbell is treasurer, and Andwele Jolly is member-at-large.
About the Board of Directors: Board members must have demonstrated an ability to contribute perspective in either health care access for the poor and uninsured; affordable care for the poor and uninsured; health promotion in underserved communities; health care quality and outcome improvement; health care needs of women, children, the elderly, low income, ethnic, and cultural minorities; health education; or general issues of public health. Prospective Board members are identified, screened and nominated by the Foundation’s 13-member Community Advisory Council. Applicants must be Missouri residents and live within the Foundation’s service region of 84 counties and the city of St. Louis. Learn more and see a full list of Board members by visiting the Board of Directors page.
