Press Release

AHA Names New Trustees to the Board

Marie Watteau, (202) 626-2351, mwatteau@aha.org

Samantha Dean, (202) 626-2264, sdean@aha.org

WASHINGTON (August 3, 2017) - The American Hospital Association (AHA) has elected eight members to its Board of Trustees for three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2018. The Board of Trustees is the highest policymaking body of the AHA and has ultimate authority for the governance and management of its direction and finances.

Incoming members of the AHA Board of Trustees include:

Christina Campos is Administrator of Guadalupe County Hospital, Santa Rosa, N.M. Campos began her career in health care in early 1993 as a hospital volunteer and community “encourager” under the Mountain States Health Corporation’s community health development program. She soon became Finance Officer for the small frontier hospital and served in that capacity from 1993 to 1996. From 1998 to 2005, she served as a member of the Clinical Operations Board of the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque. In 2004, she became the Administrator of Guadalupe County Hospital, a 10-bed general acute care hospital located in rural eastern New Mexico.

Campos received her BA in Latin American Studies and Economics from the University of New Mexico, and her MBA in Health Care Administration from Regis University in Denver, Colo. She is past chair and member of the New Mexico Hospital Association (NMHA) Board of Directors. She also serves on the NM Trauma System Fund Authority, the NM Hospital Equipment Loan Council, and the Hospital Services Corporation Board of Directors. She is the past chair of the NM Rural Hospital Network and past chair of the American College of Health Executives (ACHE) Management Series Editorial Board.

She served as NM delegate to the American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board 8, and in 2013 was appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to serve on the National Advisory Committee for Rural Health and Human Services. She currently serves as co-chair of the NMHA’s Protecting Access to Rural Communities committee. She served on the AHA’s task forces on Ensuring Access in Vulnerable Communities and Physician Leadership, and currently serves on the AHA Section for Small or Rural Hospitals council.

Robert F. Casalou is Regional President and CEO of Saint Joseph Mercy Health System (SJMHS), Canton, Mich., a five-hospital health organization in southeast Michigan that is widely recognized as a national leader in high-quality and compassionate care. SJMHS is comprised of five hospitals, six cancer centers, five ambulatory care centers, more than 2,700 physicians and 16,200 employees. Casalou joined SJMHS in 2008 as president and CEO of St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor and Livingston hospitals, which made the “100 Top Hospitals” list seven times under his leadership. Prior to coming to SJMHS, he served as president of Providence Park Hospital where he was responsible for overseeing the construction of the 200-bed, full-service teaching hospital in 2008.

He is board chair of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan, a delegate to the American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board 5 and is a member of the boards of Together Health Board and Integrated Health Associates (IHA), a multispecialty medical group located in Southeast Michigan. He is the immediate past chair of the Michigan Hospital Association Board and a former member of the American Heart Association Metro Detroit Board of Directors. Casalou founded and currently serves as the captain of the Team Joe's Cycling Team.

In addition, he is a member of the ACHE.

Douglas P. Cropper is President and CEO of Genesis Health System, Davenport, Iowa, a not-for-profit system offering a full continuum of health care services to a 10-county area in Iowa and Illinois. Cropper has more than 35 years of health care experience, starting out as a surgical orderly at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. Prior to joining Genesis, he was executive vice president of Inova Health System and administrator of the Inova Fairfax Hospital campus in Falls Church, Va. Before his five-year tenure at Inova, he served as administrator of St. John’s and St. Joseph’s Hospitals and vice president of HealthEast in St. Paul, Minn.

Cropper is very involved in volunteering in his community and nationally. He has served in many leadership positions in the Mormon Church both regionally and locally. He is currently on the Board and Executive Committee of the Quad City Chamber, on the Board and Executive

Committee of the Illowa Council of the Boy Scouts of America, on the regional Wells Fargo Advisory Board, on the Iowa Hospital Association Board, a member of UnitedHealthcare’s Healthcare Executive Advisory Council and a member of Premier’s Member Value Improvement Committee.

Cropper graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Utah (1984) and received a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration (MHA) from the University of Minnesota in 1988.

David Entwistle is president and CEO of Stanford Health Care in Stanford, Calif. Prior to joining Stanford Health Care, Entwistle served as chief executive officer of the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics (UUHC) in Salt Lake City, a post he held since 2007. Entwistle also held leadership roles at health care institutions across the country, including senior vice president and chief operating officer of the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, Wis., and vice president of professional services and joint venture operations at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif. He earned a bachelor's degree in Health Sciences from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in Health Services Administration from Arizona State University. Entwistle also completed a postgraduate administrative fellowship at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Entwistle serves on the boards and committees of many local and national organizations, including the Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Teaching Hospitals; the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education; and University HealthSystem Consortium, part of Vizient, Inc.

Entwistle has been active in the AHA and previously served as an AHA Board member and chair of Regional Policy Board 8. He is currently the AHA’s liaison to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. He was reappointed after serving a one-year term to fill a vacancy on the Board.

John M. Haupert, FACHE, is president and CEO of Grady Health System in Atlanta, Ga. Haupert began his tenure at Grady in October 2011.

A native of Ft. Smith, Ark., he is a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio where he earned a master’s degree in Health Care Administration. He also received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Trinity.

Haupert’s career in health care management began at Methodist Health System in Dallas in 1992, where he served for 14 years in various roles, including president of one of the system’s hospitals and as executive vice president for corporate services and business development. In October 2006, Haupert left the Methodist Health System to become the chief operating officer at Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas.

Haupert is a board certified Fellow in the ACHE and recipient of the ACHE Regent’s Leadership Award. He served as an ACHE Regent and currently serves on the Nominating Committee. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Hospital Association. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Central Atlanta Progress, The American Heart Association, and The Atlanta Women’s Foundation, as well as The Atlanta Committee for Progress. In 2015, he was appointed by Governor Nathan Deal to serve as a member of the Board of the Georgia Department of Public Health. Haupert is also Chairman of the Advisory Board for The Healthcare Institute at Georgia State University. Nationally, he is the immediate past chairman of the Board of Directors of America’s Essential Hospitals and serves on Regional Policy Board 4 of the American Hospital Association.

Candice L. Saunders, FACHE, currently serves as president and CEO at Marietta, Ga., based WellStar Health System, the largest, most integrated health delivery system in the state. Saunders was appointed president and CEO of the community not-for-profit in July 2015. Prior to this, Saunders served as the president and chief operating officer. Saunders joined WellStar in 2007 as the president of WellStar Kennestone Hospital.

Saunders, who began her career as a critical care nurse, held various health care leadership positions prior to joining WellStar, including vice president of Clinical Strategy and Service Lines for Inova Health System in Falls Church, Va., and chief operating officer of Inova Fairfax Hospital. She also held overall administrative responsibility for the Department of Medicine Clinical Programs at Emory University School of Medicine, managed the Emory Heart Center and Cardiology programs, and served in key leadership roles in nursing and physician practice administration in both academic and community settings.

Saunders currently serves as a member on AHA’s Regional Policy Board 4.

Saunders has a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of South Florida and master’s degrees in business administration and health services administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Peter J. Wright, FACHE, is president and CEO of Valley Regional Healthcare in Claremont, N.H., which includes primary care and specialty clinics, a critical access hospital, and a 55-bed independent and assisted-living facility.

Previously, Wright served as the chief operating officer of Littleton Regional Hospital, a critical access hospital serving Northern New Hampshire. He also worked as a senior director of planning, development and medical group operations at Copley Health Systems in Vermont.

Wright currently serves on the board and executive committee of the New Hampshire Hospital Association and as a New Hampshire Delegate to the American Hospital Association’s Regional Policy Board 1. He is a member of Rotary International and a founding/charter member of the Sugar River/Claremont Rotary.

Wright holds a bachelor’s degree of science and business administration from Lyndon State College and a master’s of science administration from Saint Michael’s College. He is currently working toward a master of health care delivery science at Dartmouth College. Wright is board certified in health care management and a Fellow of the ACHE.

Claire M. Zangerle is Chief Nurse Executive of Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh. She joined in September 2016 after serving as president and CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Ohio for almost 10 years.

At the VNA, Zangerle led Ohio’s largest independent nonprofit home health and hospice provider. She is credited with helping the organization significantly decrease re-hospitalization rates, raise quality STAR ratings and improve bargaining unit relations.

Prior to that, Zangerle served in a variety of prominent roles at the Cleveland Clinic, including chief nursing officer, director of Quality and Accreditation and director of Preventive Cardiology. As CNO at the Clinic, she had clinical and administrative oversight for the organization’s 2,200 nurses and 800 support staff.

She also served on the AONE board and was a member of numerous committees.

Zangerle earned a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Texas A&M University, an associate fegree in Nursing from Houston Baptist University, an MBA from Lake Erie College and a Master of Science in Nursing from Kent State University and will complete her Doctor of Nursing Practice from Texas Christian University in December 2017.

About the AHA

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.