Fletcher Allen Partners Board Announces Change in Composition, New Trustees

Release Date: 
January 13, 2014

BURLINGTON, VT – The Fletcher Allen Partners’ Board of Trustees has announced changes to the structure of the Board, most significantly, a reduction in the number of board members from 27 to 19 to improve operational effectiveness. Fifteen Board members have been elected from the Boards of the four affiliated hospitals. Upon expiration of their terms, replacements will be elected by the Partners Board and do not need to be trustees of any subsidiary board.

Two seats are for ex officio members -- the president and chief executive officer of Fletcher Allen Partners, and the dean of the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Two seats are vacant and reserved for possible future affiliations.

Fletcher Allen Partners was founded in January 2012 to create an integrated health care delivery system in Vermont and Northern New York that provides appropriate care as close to a patient’s home as possible. It has governing powers over its four member hospitals: CVPH Medical Center, Plattsburgh (CVPH), NY; Elizabethtown Community Hospital (ECH), Elizabethtown, NY; Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC), Berlin, VT, and Fletcher Allen Health Care, Burlington, VT. Community Providers, Inc. (CPI), the parent organization of CVPH and ECH represents those two hospitals on the Partners Board.

Partners governing powers include rights of approval over significant matters within each organization such as the budget, strategic plans, major financial decisions and selection of the chief executive officer.

“We adjusted the membership size to enable the Board to be more responsive and efficient when addressing issues at the system level,” said Tom Robbins, board chair, Fletcher Allen Partners.  In comparing Fletcher Allen Partners to similar organizations, a 19-member board is well-suited to provide effective governance for a health care system of this size.”

In addition to the board chair, other Board officers include Donald Gilbert, vice chair, and Jane Preston, secretary.

The two ex officio members are John Brumsted, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Fletcher Allen Health Care and Fetcher Allen Partners, and Rick Morin, M.D., dean, UVM College of Medicine.

The following is a list of fifteen individuals elected to the Partners Board from the member hospitals. Their terms begin January 1, 2014.

Two-year Terms

From CPI: Bob Perkins, retired executive, New York State Electric & Gas

From CVMC: Marta Marble, president, Marble Consulting, a web-based content management systems and ecommerce company

From Fletcher Allen: John Powell, home designer/builder

Gretchen Morse, retired executive director, United Way of Chittenden County 

Three-year Terms

From CPI: Paul Sands, retired general manager, WPTZ-TV

From CVMC: Greg Voorheis, retired, former senior grant manager, Vermont Department of Labor

From Fletcher Allen: Stephen Marsh, president, Community National Bank, Derby, VT

Phillip Mead, M.D., retired OBGYN specialist

Four-year Terms

From CPI: Soham Patel, M.D., retired Neurosurgeon

From CVMC: Tom Robbins, vice president of finance, chief financial officer, Vermont State Colleges

From Fletcher Allen: Donald Gilbert, president, Vermont Gas

Scottie Ginn, retired vice president, IBM Engineering

Five-year Terms

From CPI: Jane Preston, director, Greenberg Traurig, LLP

From CVMC: Mike Dellipriscoli, second vice president, Strategic Analysis, Financial Management Group, National Life Group

From Fletcher Allen: Lawrence DeShaw, retired president, Peoples United Bank

New Board Appointments at the Affiliate Hospitals

Fletcher Allen Partners’ member hospitals announced new board members in December.

Eric Miller was elected to the Fletcher Allen Health Care Board of Trustees. Miller is a principal in the Burlington law firm of Sheehey Furlong & Behm.

Debra Whitson, an attorney with a private practice in Elizabethtown, was elected to the ECH Board of Trustees.