FUNDING & FINANCING STRATEGY
To enable and sustain the successful implementation of the THRIVE Portfolio of interventions and achieve the projected beneficial impact on both health and community economic success for the region.
The work underway will:
- Build out the master plan or strategy for funding and financing.
- Implement high readiness Phase I and Phase II THRIVE interventions while staging implementation to the entire THRIVE portfolio.
- Provide a financial sustainability plan for the full functioning of the THRIVE portfolio.
THRIVE FUNDING & FINANCING TEAM
Cathy Baase, MD, FAAFP, FACOEM, Board Chair - MIHIA
Dr. Baase formerly served as Chief Health Officer and Global Director of Health Services for The Dow Chemical Company. She is a member of the Roundtable on Population Health Improvement of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and served as the initial chair of the Business Collaborative. She is a member of the National Alliance to impact Social Determinants of Health, the Advisory Council for the RWJF Culture of Health for Business Project with the Global Reporting Index, and serves n the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences Advisory Board at UCIrvine. She has co-authored more than 30 publications and received many awards for leadership in the health field. Dr. Baase is a Fellow in the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and THRIVE.
Heidi L. Tracy, CEO, MiHIA
Heidi Tracy joined the Michigan Health Improvement Alliance (MiHIA) in December 2021 as the organization’s CEO. A strategic-thinking executive with a proven record of accomplishment in higher education, nonprofits, and community development, Tracy is dedicated to continuous community improvement by developing programs and securing support for organizations serving underrepresented groups.
Prior to MiHIA, Tracy served as the vice president for Advancement at Central Michigan, Texas Woman’s and Otterbein universities and assistant vice president for Individual Giving at Carnegie Mellon University. Tracy began her career in higher education at Ohio University where she served as the assistant dean for Development, assistant director for Major Gifts and finally as executive director for Major Gifts.
Tracy’s service to community well-being extends beyond higher education. She has worked on a number of local and statewide elections and covered the 1988 Republican and Democratic conventions and subsequent presidential inauguration as a journalist.
As a private consultant, she has worked with numerous nonprofits on board relations and development, fundraising, finance, organizational leadership, marketing and communication, program development, public policy and legislative affairs. She has helped organizations raise more than $200 million throughout her career.
A native of Ohio, Tracy earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University and completed Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management Program.
Mark Kato, DHA, Chief Operating Officer
Dr. Mark Kato, DHA is Chief Operating Officer for the Michigan Health Improvement Alliance and the Executive Director for Health Impact and Strategic Partnerships. Previously, Kato served as a Program Consultant for MiHIA/THRIVE, and has over a decade of experience in healthcare quality improvement, data analytics, and financial analysis.
Mark led the Achieving the Right Medications for Health (ARM4Health) Project. The initiative implements a focused, coordinated action plan to increase education on appropriate prescribing, deprescribing and adverse drug events, and implement policies and care team models which improve these practices. Mark comes to MiHIA from UnitedHealthcare where he led a Quality Improvement Analytics team and prior to that he was the Director of Performance Improvement at MidMichigan Health.
Mark obtained his Doctorate of Healthcare Administration from Central Michigan University and Masters in Business Administration from East Carolina University. He resides in Bay City with his wife and three children.
Sasha Savage, MD, Chief Health Officer - THRIVE
Dr. Savage works at MidMichigan Medical Center, where he serves as the Medical Director of the Family Practice Center. His pioneering leadership has involved provider burnout, system wellness reform, and enhancing provider resiliency. Prior to his current position, he served as Chief of Staff within the hospital and was instrumental in graduate medical education in a variety of roles including serving as Chair of the Department of Family Medicine and inaugural Chair of the Ethics Committee. Dr. Savage’s graduated Summa Cum Laude from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He completed his medical doctorate training with High Honors from Wayne State University and continued his training with a postdoctoral fellowship in faculty development from the University of Michigan. He is a former Bishop of a Midland-based church.
Dallas Rau, Director of Program Development, Community Impact and Partnership Engagement
Before joining MiHIA, Dallas worked for a local security integration company, in charge of day-to-day business operations as well as project and employee management for over 16 years. Dallas graduated Summa Cum Laude with her BBA in Business Management form Northwood University in Midland, Michigan. Community involvement has always been very important to Dallas, who is a board member of the Midland Noon Rotary Club. Dallas’s other volunteer endeavors include Salvation Army, Midland Public Schools, the Midland Lacrosse Club, and The Bridge.
ADVISORY BOARDS
THRIVE Funding & Financing Advisory Board
(FFAB)
The purpose of the THRIVE Funding & Financing Advisory Board (FFAB) is to provide information and feedback on the THRIVE Funding & Financing Strategy (THRIVE FFS). This includes information and feedback on proposed funding and financing use cases in delivering improved health and sustained community economic growth, venues for deepening THRIVE FFS knowledge and sharing project learning and THRIVE’S
proposed regional implementation plans.
Renee D. Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD - Founding Director of the Vital Village Community Engagement Network
Renée Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD is a pediatrician and social epidemiologist and the founding director of the Vital Village Community Engagement Network
(www.vitalvillage.org). Her work focuses on the role of early-life adversities as life
course social determinants of health. She has a specific concentration on psychosocial stress and neuroendocrine and reproductive health outcomes, including obesity and early puberty. She is interested in social ecology and the role of neighborhood attributes in influencing health trajectory. Specifically, she has studied the intersection of community violence, intimate partner violence, and child abuse and neglect and neighborhood characteristics that influence these patterns. Her current work is developing community-based strategies to promote child well-being and reduce child maltreatment using a collective impact approach in three Boston neighborhoods.
Nathaniel Counts - Expert Member of the Forum on Promoting Children's Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health
Nathaniel works on innovative federal policy solutions for problems in behavioral health. In particular, he focuses on issues in incentive alignment and sustainable financing in behavioral health care, as well as issues in population health. Nathaniel is an expert member of the Forum on Promoting Children’s Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and he serves on the Board of Directors for the One Circle Foundation, the Anne Frank House, and the Flawless Foundation. Nathaniel received his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was a Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy Student Fellow, and his B.A. in biology from Johns Hopkins. His most recent publication was “(Expected value-based payment: from total cost of care to net present value of care” in Healthcare:
The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation.
Dinah L. Waldsmith Dittman, MBA - Professional Advisor for the Council of Michigan Foundations
Ms. Dittman is a proven executive who conceives, designs, and implements innovative philanthropic and community engagement strategies and programs. She is results- oriented, with an excellent record of leading teams and delivering results on time and within budget. Areas of expertise include governance, strategic planning and crisis/disaster response, with an emphasis on equity, inclusion, diversity and transparency in engagement design and practice.
Ms. Dittman is currently affiliated with the Council of Michigan Foundations as a
professional advisor in areas of general management, operations, and strategic planning to help clients increase impact and enhance value of their community-oriented efforts. Prior roles include long tenure at Kaiser Permanente’s, creating and leading national strategy and policy for the health care organization’s involvement in the communities it serves. She has also worked in community and economic development leadership roles at Business for Social Responsibility (San Francisco), Shawmut National Corporation (Boston), and was president of an independent community relations consulting practice serving Fortune 100 companies.
In field-building work, Dinah is currently serving as a volunteer on the Funding and Finance Strategy Advisory Board of the Michigan Health Improvement Alliance, Inc.
She has been active with the Council on Foundations in leadership roles, including serving on its Board of Directors. She was a member of the Conference Board’s CSR Council, including serving as its Chair in 2015.
Ms. Dittman holds a Master in Business Administration from Boston University and a Bachelor of Science in Arts and Media from Grand Valley State University. She and her husband live in Detroit.
David J. Erickson - Senior Vice President and Head of Outreach and Education at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
David J. Erickson is senior vice president and head of Outreach and Education at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His areas of research include community development finance, affordable housing, economic development, and institutional changes that benefit low-income communities. Erickson has a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on economic history and public policy. He also holds a master’s degree in public policy from
Berkeley and an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College.
David has been a leader in the collaboration between the Federal Reserve and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in bringing the health sector together with community development. To date, this collaboration has resulted in 52 conferences and numerous publications, including a cluster of articles in Health Affairs in November, 2011. His book on the history of community development, The Housing Policy Revolution: Networks and Neighborhoods, was published in 2009 by the Urban Institute Press. He also co-edited Investing in What Works for America’s Communities: Essays on People, Place, and Purpose (2012); What Counts: Harnessing Data for America’s Communities (2014); What It’s Worth: Strengthening the Financial Futures of Families, Communities and the Nation (2015); and What Matters: Investing in Results to Build Strong, Vibrant Communities (2017).
Gary Gunderson - Vice President for FaithHealth at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Rev. Dr Gary Gunderson is Vice President for FaithHealth at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center which includes spiritual care, Clinical Pastoral Education and counseling centers in 37 locations across North Carolina. The work is best known for its highly innovative “ground game” focused on training and deploying varieties of roles into the most vulnerable communities across the state. The Division is developing clinically relevant partnerships with hundreds, indeed, thousands, of faith groups through FaithHealthNC especially focused on building webs of trust with the undocumented, stigmatized and left behind. Population health for the 21st century.
Gary is known for more than two decades of creative work in the field of faith and public health initially at The Carter Center and Emory School of Public Health and then in Memphis, Tennessee where the ideas found ground through more than 600 congregational partners showing hard evidence of significant improved outcomes including mortality, cost and dramatically lower hospitalization. The work has been cited by JAMA, AHRQ, AHA, IHI, WHO, IOM the White House, HHS and numerous industry venues.
This model is now being adapted to the very different operational demands of an 850 bed academic medical center with a large referral area demanding complex partnerships. FaithHealthNC is working closely with the NC Hospital Association and regional foundations to spread the model across the state. He is secretary of Stakeholder Health, a learning group of more than 40 healthcare systems convened in working collaboration with the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services. He represents Stakeholder Health on the Roundtable on Population Health Improvement of the National Academies of Science.
As Vice President Gunderson is deeply involved in the challenges facing 17,000 employees, faculty and operational managers adapt to the profound and jarring changes in healthcare today including his own institution.
Gunderson is Professor of Public Health Science in the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Professor of the Health of the Public in the School of Divinity. He is visiting faculty at the University of Cape Town Division of Family Medicine and Public Health where he was one of the founders of the International Religious Health Assets Program. Gary has authored five books including the most recent, Speak Life: Crafting Mercy in a Hard-hearted time.” Deeply Woven Roots, by Fortress Press is widely used in seminaries since its publication in 1997. “Religion and the Health of the Public” with Dr. James Cochrance by Palgrave/McMillian lays the academic base underneath much of the work.. Leading Causes of Life by Abingdon Press launched a global network of Fellows working on its seminal ideas. Boundary Leaders, also by Fortress, explores the life and work of those working in community and public health improvement and was the basis for a multi- year initiative with the Centers for Disease Control training teams of such leaders nationally.
Gary is an ordained American Baptist minister with degrees from Candler School of Theology at Emory University and Doctor of Ministry at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta as well as an honorary doctorate from the Chicago Theological Seminary. He is married to Dr. Teresa Cutts, also faculty at Wake Forest School of Medicine with four daughters between them: Lauren, Kathryn, Tess and Maya.
Maureen Donohue Krauss - CEO of Donohue Krauss
Maureen Donohue Krauss serves as the CEO of Donohue Krauss, working with communities on activating their strategic plans in the areas of international and domestic business development, community development, and talent attraction. Many communities have studies that give them important data to base their economic development programs, but are lacking the boots on the ground direction that will lead to success. Krauss has been joined by several partners to assist communities in achieving their economic development goals.
She served as the first Chief Economic Development Officer at the Indy Chamber, where she oversaw the Indy Partnership, a regional economic development program of the City of Indianapolis and 9 surrounding counties. Krauss provided leadership through the Indy Partnership on programs and initiatives encouraging innovation and helping enhance business growth and acceleration. Specifically, these programs focus on attracting and retaining a talented workforce; helping mid-sized companies connect with new customers at home and abroad; international business attraction; and creating vibrant and inviting places where people want to live and work. She coordinated the development of platforms for marketing the region and led the region’s Top 20 Amazon HQ2 proposal.
Prior to joining the Indy Chamber, Krauss served as Vice President of Economic Development and Business Attraction at the Detroit Regional Chamber. She was responsible for strategy, operations and projects of the Chamber’s Business Attraction program, a key part of the Chamber’s economic development program portfolio. She collaborated with local partners in 11 counties in the Detroit Region, as well as the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, on
trade missions for both Governor Granholm and Governor Snyder. Krauss joined the Chamber in December 2011 after working in a similar capacity for Oakland County, Michigan for 13 years. She served as the Oakland County Director for the Department of Economic Development and Community Affairs following her promotion to that position in 2009. While at Oakland County, Krauss coordinated and participated in over 50 international trade missions in Europe and Asia.
In 2003, Krauss served as the President of the Michigan Economic Developers Association, along with serving three terms on the MEDA board. She has been awarded the top two economic development awards in Michigan and Arizona.
Krauss has most recently been an active Board member of the International Center and the Matchbook Learning Charter School in Indianapolis. Previously, she has been engaged in numerous international business and education Boards. Krauss has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Albion College and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Michigan.
Bobby Milstein, PhD, MPH - Director of System Strategy for ReThink Health and the Rippel Foundation
Bobby Milstein, PhD, MPH, is Director of System Strategy for ReThink Health and the Rippel Foundation, as well as a Visiting Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management. With an educational background that combines cultural anthropology, behavioral science, and systems science, he concentrates on efforts to spark large-scale institutional change. He works with innovators who see themselves as system stewards, often equipping them with practical mindsets, models, and measures to understand their own scenarios for equitably enhancing well-being. He is a member of the National Academies Roundtable on Population Health Improvement, a co-founder of the Well Being in the Nation Network, and a trusted design consultant for new endeavors that strive to expand the dynamic and democratic dimensions of system stewardship. Previously, Bobby spent 20 years planning and evaluating system- oriented initiatives at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he was the principal architect of CDC’s framework for program evaluation. He received CDC’s Honor Award for Excellence in Innovation, as well as Article of the Year awards for papers published in Health Affairs and Health Promotion Practice.
Cynthia Muller - Director of Mission Investing at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Cynthia Muller is the Director of Mission Investing at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation based out of Battle Creek, Michigan. In this role, she is responsible for driving the strategy and performance of the foundation’s $100 million mission driven investments portfolio. She also oversees the foundation’s $50 million program-related investment portfolio and manages strategic impact investment activities that address systemic barriers that create vulnerable conditions for historically marginalized communities and children. Cynthia came to the foundation in September 2016 as the program and portfolio officer where she was responsible for developing and managing strategic market rate impact investment activities; sourcing and deploying market rate investments to increase social change impact; analyzing solutions and trends; and developing relationships in the field.
Prior to joining the foundation, Muller developed and managed Arabella Advisors impact investing practice where she helped foundations and individuals understand the field of impact investing; develop strategies and structure investments to accomplish their social and environmental goals.
During her tenure she oversaw deal sourcing and structuring of investments in health, education, microfinance, housing, and green technology—both domestically and internationally. Muller also led several evaluations of impact investment portfolios, and she regularly presented and blogged about trends and practices within the field. Muller previously led strategic initiatives at Capital Impact Partners, where she developed and managed impact investments and worked on nationally focused investment funds and initiatives targeting health, food, education, energy efficiency, and economic development. Cynthia serves on the boards of Groundswell and Enterprise Community Loan Fund.
Muller holds a Master of Business Administration from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Stanford University.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.
Elissa Sangalli - Senior Vice President/Incoming CEO at Northern Initiatives
Elissa Sangalli is committed to building sustainable local economies that put people first. She is the Senior Vice President/Incoming CEO at Northern Initiatives, a community development finance institution that provides loans and business services to small business owners in Michigan and neighboring Wisconsin. Previously, she served as the President of Local First and
Founder of Good for Michigan, bringing nearly 1,000 West Michigan businesses together to collaborate in building a vibrant community that encourages sustainable business, social enterprise development, and the creation of a more equitable and inclusive region. As a consultant and speaker, Elissa has magnified her impact in communities around the world. Elissa is a founding BALLE Fellow and a B Corp Measure What Matters Champion. She serves on the boards of Michigan Main Street, Michigan SBDC, and Social Venture Circle.
THRIVE Funding and Financing Strategy Regional Advisory Board
(FFS RAB)
The purpose of the THRIVE Funding and Financing Strategy Regional Advisory Board (FFS RAB) is to provide feedback, guidance, referrals and introductions in support of THRIVE’s regional efforts to attract the range of funding and financing needed to deliver improved health and sustained economic growth in our communities.
Pamelia Brazil - Mortgage Loan Officer at Chemical Bank
As a member of the mortgage team, Pam works to ensure her customers have a partner throughout the mortgage process as she lives and works in the communities she serves and believes in creating an experience for my customers that is enjoyable, valuable and memorable.
JoAnn Crary, CEcD, FM, HLM - President of Saginaw Future
JoAnn Crary is the President of Saginaw Future, a non-profit economic
development organization. She has held that position since 1993. Crary has a
Bachelor’s degree from Ferris State University and a graduate degree from
Central Michigan University. She is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD), a
graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute and is
a certified Economic Development Finance Professional. In 2015, Crary received
the Fellow Member and Honorary Life Member designations by the International
Economic Development Council.
Crary was the 2015 Board Chair of the 5000-member International Economic
Development Council and in that role, she focused on Inclusive Economic
Development. It was a top priority of the IEDC Board, the Economic Development Research Partners and work of an Equity Committee, which identified policy issues, solutions and tools around economic opportunity. Widening the circle for economic inclusiveness continues to play an important role in IEDC’s strategic plan today. JoAnn remains involved in IEDC as is a member of the Committee for Professional Conduct and the Economic Development Research Partners.
She is also a member of the MEDC’s Collaborative Development Council, an advisory group to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation leadership. In 2016, Michigan’s Governor Rick Snyder appointed JoAnn to serve on the 21st Century Economy Commission to help recommend a vision for Michigan’s economic future and in 2017, the Governor appointed Crary to serve on the Saginaw Valley State University Board of Control.
Ms. Crary also serves on the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, DOW Community Advisory Panel, Huntington Bank Market Area Board, the City of Saginaw Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Mobile Medical Response Finance Committee, The Hospital Bond Development Authority, Saginaw County Career & Technical Education Consortium Committee and the
Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance Board of Directors.
Larry Daly - Director of Planning and Business Development for Covenant HealthCare
As the Director of Planning and Business Development for Covenant HealthCare, Larry Daly has responsibilities for developing and guiding the organization’s plan to meet the future needs of its patients, exploring and initiating new product offerings and creatively promoting Covenant HealthCare services. Daly joined the Covenant team in April of 2008 and has 40 years of healthcare experience. His career has included the development of strategic plans, the execution of marketing and advertising campaigns and collaborative work focused on improving community health. He has also been the organizational lead in measuring and delivering five-star customer service. Daly serves and has served on numerous boards and committees, from healthcare and finance, to the arts. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, and is currently on the board of the Michigan Society of Healthcare Marketing & Planning, and the Saginaw Medical Federal Credit Union. Daly is an active member of committees for the Michigan Health Improvement Alliance, the Saginaw Community Health Improvement Plan, the Saginaw Art Museum, and Riverfront Saginaw’s Art and About committee.
Daly, a New Jersey native, holds a MBA from the University of Michigan-Flint and an undergraduate degree from Western Michigan University. He is married and has five children. His wife, Terri, is the co-owner of a Michigan manufacturing company, Precision Industries, in Flint.
Greg Dietrich - Business Intelligence Analyst at Frankenmuth Credit Union
Greg has recently been promoted to be the Business Intelligence Analyst at Frankenmuth Credit Union where he oversees financial literacy efforts and government relations. He is responsible for FCU’s Low Income certification from the National Credit Union Association (NCUA) as well as becoming one of the first Community Development Financial Institution’s (CDFI) in the Great Lakes Bay Region. Over the past five years Greg has been the project coordinator for over $5M in awards from US Treasury’s CDFI fund that leveraged $30M in mortgages for credit challenged families and helped small businesses who offer fresh food options in federally designated food deserts. Greg is a Saginaw native, holds an MBA from Northwood University and is a US Air Force Veteran.
David Dittenber - Chief Marketing Officer/Gene-5
David Dittenber is the President and CEO of Downtown Restaurant Investments and DLR Development in Midland, MI. For over twenty- five years, Dave has owned restaurants in the Great Lakes Bay Region of Michigan. He also founded GENE-5, a Start-Up Business Accelerator in 2018.
Dave graduated from Aquinas College with a Bachelor of Science degree with majors in Biology and Chemistry, which led him into the healthcare field where he worked for 10 years. He then spent four years as a consultant with Global Sales and Marketing Solutions, working on marketing and change management strategies for small to medium enterprise businesses.
In the time since, Dave earned a Master of Business Administration from Phoenix
University. He is recognized as a leader of economic development in Michigan’s Great Lakes Bay Region and is a very active member of the community, serving on a wide variety of regional and statewide boards. Dave’s commitment to the community has earned him recognition and prestigious awards including the Top 30 Under 30 and Entrepreneur of the Year by Saginaw Valley State University(2016), Central Michigan University(2017), and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (2017, 2018).
He was also recently inducted into the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame class of 2020. He is a past chairman of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association and a Regional Board of Director at Chemical Bank. He is also a member of numerous non-profit boards including Infuse, and the Michigan Health Improvement Alliance.
Dave enjoys the challenge that comes with being an entrepreneur and building successful teams. He resides in Midland, MI with his wife Amy, and children Drew (9) and Kelsey (7).
Craig Douglas - Retired Dean of the College of Education/SVSU
Craig Douglas lives in Carrollton with his wife, Joan, and serves on the Township Board there after more than four decades of service in public education in Michigan. Originally from Concord, Michigan, Douglas spent thirty-eight years in k – 12 education, working in Chesaning, Big Rapids, Oscoda, Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port, and Carrollton school systems. Retiring in 2013, Douglas came out of retirement to get a glimpse of higher education, working at Saginaw Valley State University four more years. Douglas is a member of First Presbyterian Church (Saginaw) and belongs to the Saginaw Valley Rotary Club, Carrollton Lions Club, Emmaus House Board of Directors, Carrollton Education Foundation, and Saginaw YMCA. WNEM TV 5 regularly allows Douglas to appear in a 9:40 a.m. Tuesday segment entitled, “Education Matters,” designed to inform and uplift viewers on various aspects surrounding teaching and learning in the Great
Lakes Bay Region.
Wayne Hofmann - President and Co-Founder of Infuse Great Lakes Bay
Born and raised in the Great Lakes Bay Region, Wayne is committed to forging partnerships across boundaries, real or imagined, to make our communities thrive and prosper. With a background that includes engineering, community planning, construction, and project finance, he seeks to bring insight, resources and relationships together to solve problems and fulfill community needs. He serves as Michigan Project Director for LocalCode, a socially conscious company seeking to spur regenerative economies across the Nation through physical redevelopment, strengthening local businesses, and encouraging local ownership. The first targeted community is Bay City, Michigan, where he also serves as CEO of LocalCode Bay City.
Wayne is also President and Co-Founder of Infuse Great Lakes Bay, an organization that seeks to enable incremental, residential, and historic redevelopment in the 8-county Great Lakes Bay Region in Michigan. The organization seeks to build municipal resiliency by rebuilding the tax base of communities throughout the region by revitalizing its physical assets and contributing to placemaking in traditional downtowns. He will discuss recent redevelopment efforts, as well as planned initiatives, in the Great Lakes
Bay Region.
Andrew D. Kruse - Director of Community Benefit for Ascension Michigan
Andrew Kruse is the Director of Community Benefit for Ascension Michigan.
Mr. Kruse has been with Ascension for over 30 years. Positions that he has held while with Ascension include: St. Joseph Hospital, Flint, MI Health Education Manager; Director of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Genesys Health System Vice President of Mission Integration; Ascension Mid-Michigan Vice President of Mission Integration and his current role of Director of Community Benefit for the Ascension Michigan Market. In his current role, Mr. Kruse serves as the ministry market leader to oversee the process, schedule, accountabilities, relationships, reporting, and other administrative responsibilities related to Community Benefit, the Community Health Needs Assessments and Implementation Strategies for the Ascension Michigan Market.
He has a Bachelors of Science degree in Health and Physical Education from Central Michigan University, a Masters of Science degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Arizona and a Masters of Arts in Health Care Mission from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, MO.
He is married to his wife, Jodi who is a Middle School principal in the Grand Blanc Community School system. He has two grown children who work for Deloitte and reside in Royal Oak, MI.
Kristen McDonald - CEO/Greater Midland Community Center
Kristen most recently served as vice president of Program and Policy for The Skillman Foundation, a Detroit non-profit organization focused on improving the lives of children. She has made it her mission to improve outcomes for children and ensure students graduate from high school ready for college, career and life.
In her role there, she developed and implemented city-wide education reform strategy, place-based neighborhood revitalization/school improvement integration strategy and public policy agendas addressing institutional inequality issues. In addition, she served as external voice for the vision of the foundation and provided leadership and management for all foundation program strategy including the direction of over $175 million in grants to Detroit schools over the last eight years. Prior to her work at the foundation, Kristen served as the chief of staff to State Superintendent of Schools Mike Flanagan. She has worked extensively in the policy field of early childhood education and was one of the chief architects of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC) and Great Start, Michigan’s system of education and care for children from birth to kindergarten. Kristen earned her bachelor’s degree in history from Michigan State University and her master’s degree in public administration from the University of Michigan Flint/Ann Arbor.
Francine Padgett - Senior Vice President and CFO of MidMichigan Health and MidMichigan Medical Center– Midland
Francine Padgett serves as the senior vice president and CFO of MidMichigan Health and MidMichigan Medical Center– Midland. Francine functions as an officer of MidMichigan Health, its Secretary and Treasurer. She oversees Compliance, Internal Audit, Financial Planning and Analysis, Finance, Revenue Cycle, and Treasury. Her working relationship with MidMichigan Health began in 1990.
Previously, she provided audit services to The Dow Chemical Company, as a senior manager at Deloitte & Touché. Francine received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Missouri and an M.B.A. from the University of Cincinnati, both with honors. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a Fellow in the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
Tony Stamas - President and CEO of the Midland Business Alliance
Tony Stamas is the President and CEO of the Midland Business Alliance. As a lifelong Midland resident, Stamas brings 30 years of expertise in business, government and advocacy at the local and state levels. Growing up in a local business – his family has owned Pizza Sam’s since 1960 – gives Stamas a unique and first-hand perspective on Midland’s business community.
Stamas also has experience advocating for business at the statewide-level, most recently as a Vice President at the Small Business Association of Michigan. He also served as Chief of Staff for the Senate Majority Leader and as the Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs in the Michigan Department of Community Health. Stamas also served as both a State Representative (98th House District) and State Senator (36th Senate District). Tony is a graduate of Michigan State University. He resides in Midland with his wife Sara and their two children.
