The Porter Medical Center Board of Directors is pleased to welcome four new members who will join the board this summer, two of whom fill vacant board positions prescribed by the PMC Bylaws.
Anne Collins, by virtue of her election as President of the Porter Medical Center Auxiliary Board of Directors will be joining the parent board to replace Jan Bark who is the outgoing Auxiliary Board President. Anne is an active volunteer with Porter, the Parent Child Center, Town Hall Theater, and the Middlebury Garden Club, and has recently published a cookbook. She will also be working part-time in the office of her husband, Dr. Brian Collins, who is opening a new pediatric dental practice in Middlebury.
Cheryl Mullins will serve as one of three appointments from Middlebury College as outlined in the PMC Bylaws and will replace Patrick Norton who has accepted a new position at Tulane University. Mullins is the Director of Human Resources at the College and leads the Human Resources staff in serving the employees of Middlebury College to ensure an environment of collaboration and partnership among all members of the Middlebury community. She also is responsible for policy development, strategic planning, legal compliance, staffing management, HR forecasting and program development for the Middlebury College, the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and related schools and programs.
Two additional members have been appointed to their roles by the current PMC Board to fill vacancies until formal elections are held at the next Porter annual meeting next spring. These two new members are Sherry Greifzu, RN, MSN, AOCN, Executive Director of Addison County Home Health and Hospice and Bob Thorn, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Counseling Service of Addison County. Greifzu joined ACHHH as its leader in May of 2015 and Thorn has served as the CEO of the Counseling Service since 1994. In addition to representing two of the largest health and human service agencies in Addison County, both Thorn and Greifzu have extensive experience in health care leadership and strategic planning and Greifzu is a registered nurse.
“The process of identifying new potential board members starts with an evaluation of Board needs and the strengths and experience of existing Members. Consideration is given to educational and professional experience, financial and strategic planning background, leadership skills, geographic diversity within our service area, and gender and age diversity,” said PMC board Governance Committee chairman Peter DeGraff. “The specific attributes we put on the top of our list this year included a strong financial and business background, strategic planning skills, and familiarity with Vermont’s healthcare landscape. Representation from other area health and human service organizations as well as someone with a nursing background were seen as important as we move toward a more integrated health care delivery system in Vermont”, he added. “We are very pleased with the diversity of talent and perspective these new members will bring to our board at this critical time in Porter’s history,” said PMC Board Chairperson Maureen McLaughlin.
All potential candidates are initially vetted by the PMC Governance Committee and then approached individually to gauge their interest.
The PMC Board is currently comprised of 20 members who serve as volunteers to set the strategic direction of the organization and provide governance oversight to all areas of operations for Porter Hospital and Helen Porter Rehabilitation & Nursing Center.