Board Members Submitted for Sharon Area Community Health Foundation

Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation has submitted thirteen names to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to present to the Litchfield Superior Court for approval as the founding Board of the Sharon Area Community Health Foundation (SACHF). The submission is the culmination of a two-month recruitment effort initiated at the request of Attorney General Blumenthal during the final stages of the sale negotiations between Sharon Hospital and Essent Healthcare, Inc. Berkshire Taconic's board of directors ratified the slate at a meeting on April 26, and it was formally submitted to the Attorney General's office on April 30. He will review the slate and submit his recommendations to the Litchfield Superior Court for review and final approval.

The proposed board includes: John Charde of Lakeville, chief medical officer for Health Net of the Northeast, Inc. in Shelton, CT; Ella Clark of West Cornwall, social service agent for the Town of Sharon; Wendy Curtis of Millerton, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation board member and community volunteer; Joan Dunlop of Lakeville, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation board member and International Women's Health Coalition board member; John William Gallup of Salisbury, retired from private practice in pediatric medicine; Barbara Maltby of Lakeville, medical ethicist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital; Martin T. Nweeia of Sharon, clinical instructor at Harvard University, School of Dental Medicine and in private practice of general dentistry in Sharon; Catherine Roraback of Canaan, lawyer in private practice in Canaan; Richard Taber of Salisbury, pastor of the Congregational Church of Salisbury; Miriam Tannen of Millbrook, NY, site manager for Planned Parenthood of the Mid-Houston Valley; Anna Timell of Cornwall, medical director, Taconic Developmental Disabilities Services Office; Barbara Tobias of Norfolk, admissions director and social services director at Noble Horizons; and John P. Tuke of Millerton, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation board member and chief financial officer at the Hotchkiss School.

The closing of the sale of Sharon Hospital to Essent occurred on April 12. Connecticut law requires that the net proceeds from the sale of a not-for-profit hospital acquired by a for-profit organization, such as Essent, remain in the charitable sector through the creation of a conversion foundation. As stated in the hospital sale law, the resulting charitable fund is to be used for charitable health care purposes consistent with the nonprofit hospital's original purpose and for the support and promotion of health care generally in the affected community. Berkshire Taconic, under the direction of the Attorney General and pending eventual approval of the Litchfield Superior Court, is establishing SACHF to serve that purpose.

Berkshire Taconic undertook the search process to assemble the board for the new SACHF by initiating a process of open application and proactive recruitment. The public was made aware of the process through a press release issued early in March and through a letter mailed to approximately 1,500 households in Litchfield and Dutchess counties outlining the application process and the qualities being sought for the new board. To facilitate discussion of the process, public forums were held on March 18 in Canaan and on March 22 in Millerton. A total of 42 candidates applied. Entrepreneurial Support Services, an executive search firm which provided part of its services pro bono, was engaged to recruit further candidates; they identified 42 additional people, bringing the total number of potential candidates to 84. Applications continued to arrive well into April and were incorporated into the process.

Berkshire Taconic sought to assemble a board where members were currently unaffiliated with Sharon Hospital or its related corporations as employees and had not served on its boards in the past five years. In addition, the SACHF bylaws require that board members maintain a residence in the Sharon Hospital service area. Entrepreneurial Support Services worked with Berkshire Taconic to identify the candidates, and a nominating committee was formed in April to review the candidates and interview the finalists.

The nominating committee drew on the expertise of local community leaders from the Sharon Hospital service area and representatives from the Berkshire Taconic board. The members were: Lo-Yi Chan, an architect from Sheffield and a Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation board member; Diana Gurieva, executive director of the Dyson Foundation in Millbrook, NY; Arthur Rosenblatt, a Norfolk selectman and a Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation board member; and Alice Yoakum, an attorney in private practice in Lakeville. Gail Cashen, board chair of Berkshire Taconic, chaired the nominating committee as facilitator but was a non-voting member. The committee interviewed finalists on April 18-20 before deciding on the final slate of ten to join three directors from Berkshire Taconic who will serve on the SACHF board under the new foundation's bylaws.

Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization that serves as a catalyst for philanthropy with a goal of improving the quality of life in Berkshire, Columbia, northeast Dutchess and northwest Litchfield counties. Berkshire Taconic has been working to help establish SACHF for nearly two years. Under the proposed structure approved by the Attorney General and awaiting court approval, SACHF will be a supporting organization of Berkshire Taconic. For more info contact Berkshire Taconic at 271 Main St., Suite 3, Great Barrington, MA 01230-1606, or 800-969-2823; or visit <www.berkshiretaconic.org>.