Center City, Minn. (Feb. 14, 2018)—The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation today announced that seven new leaders have joined the organization’s Board of Trustees.
"We are excited to have such talented, experienced and diverse individuals joining our board, all of whom are committed to our mission of helping individuals, families and communities overcome addiction," said Mark Mishek, president and CEO of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, the nation's leading nonprofit provider of addiction treatment and recovery resources. "Our new board members represent a great cross-section of expertise, professional backgrounds and geography, and we are grateful to have their leadership."
The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation's 25-member board meets quarterly to provide governing oversight for the organization's wide-ranging activities. Its first meeting of 2018 is this week, Tuesday and Wednesday. Here is a snapshot of each new board member …
Ruth Barker is a small business owner in Dedham, Mass., an active leader in a variety of civic and cultural organizations, and a former employee and longtime leader and supporter of FCD Prevention Works, the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation's prevention arm based in Boston.
Barker worked at FCD in numerous roles prior to it becoming part of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, serving as assistant to the director, client school coordinator, conference and special workshops coordinator, and prevention specialist. She also assisted with family interventions and adolescent evaluations. Since retiring from employment at FCD, Barker has continued to volunteer for a number of leadership roles there.
She also serves on the board of the Adwell Corporation, a family-owned company involved in real estate and farming and has previously served on the board of Care to Communities, the Parents Council of Connecticut College, the Headmasters Council at Brooks School and as president of the Parents Association on the Dedham Country Day School Board. In addition, she has served on both regional and national committees of the Garden Club of America and as president of her local club.
Barker, who also runs her own retail business, graduated from the Hotchkiss School and earned her bachelor's degree in business at the University of Colorado.
Thomas A. Bradley recently retired from Allied World Assurance Company Holding, AG in New York City, where he had been the chief financial officer and executive vice president since 2012.
Through its subsidiaries, Allied World provides property, casualty, and specialty insurance and reinsurance solutions worldwide. Prior to joining Allied World, Bradley served as the chief financial officer of Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Fair Isaac Corporation, Zurich North America and the St. Paul Companies (now The Travelers Company, Inc.).
Bradley earned a bachelor's degree in accounting at the University of Maryland and an MBA at Loyola University of Maryland. He is a Certified Public Accountant.
Kathryn Helgaas Burgum is the First Lady of North Dakota and a high-profile public recovery advocate.
In long-term recovery for 15 years, she uses her personal experience to help others battling addiction. Helgaas Burgum is chairing a seven-member advisory council that will guide the efforts of a new Office of Recovery Reinvented, launched recently in North Dakota. This visionary office, which was created through an executive order, aims to promote "strategic and innovative efforts to eliminate the shame and stigma associated with the disease of addiction."
Helgaas Burgum has donated her time and leadership to many charitable causes over the years, including at-risk women and children, animal welfare, and visionary artists and the arts, along with addiction and recovery. The second youngest of four children, Helgaas Burgum grew up in Jamestown, N.D., where her family was in the John Deere business. She held her first job at the family business working in the parts department. Helgaas Burgum earned her undergraduate degree in retail business at Arizona State University and an MBA in human resources from the University of North Texas. In 2016, she married Douglas J. Burgum, an entrepreneur, philanthropist and Governor of North Dakota.
Paul W. (Bill) Parker is the vice chairman and chief risk officer of U.S. Bancorp, where he has worked since 1984.
Parker began his U.S. Bancorp career as a commercial lending officer and has held subsequent positions as senior credit officer in retail and wholesale banking and as the executive vice president and chief credit officer.
Parker also serves on the boards for the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and Como Friends, both in St. Paul, and Summit Academy, in Minneapolis. He earned his bachelor's degree at Amherst College in Massachusetts and his master's degree at The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.
John Power Sr. is a founding partner of Farley White Interests, a commercial real estate investment and development firm based in Boston.
Power began his career in the commercial brokerage business with Peter Elliot and Company and was later a principal of Whittier Partners (CB Richard Ellis). He has served on numerous boards, including as trustee of Merrimack Repertory Theater and board co-chairman for The Lowell Plan, a nonprofit focused on economic development.
In addition, Power serves on committees at several organizations including Lowell General Hospital, Counselors of Real Estate, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Northeast Province of Jesuits, where he also served as the 2010 Gala Chair. Power earned a bachelor's degree in history at the College of the Holy Cross.
Robert (Rob) E. Reifschneider is the retired senior vice president of Manchester Tank & Equipment Co., the largest North American manufacturer of propane tanks and cylinders and a company owned by his family since 1946.
Reifschneider has also been a community service leader for years, serving at various times as president of the California Jaycees; national vice president of the U.S. Jaycees; president of Western Liquid Gas Association; president of the Saint Francis Medical Center Foundation in Lynwood, Calif.; and president of Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert, Calif.
In addition, Reifschneider founded the Sigma Chi/Betty Ford Alliance and has provided leadership to Betty Ford Center activities in various capacities since 2005. He holds a degree in business management from San Diego State University.
Quint Studer is the founder of the Studer Community Institute, a nonprofit research-based entity committed to improving quality of life, and one of the leading thinkers and strategists in the healthcare field.
Studer serves as "entrepreneur in residence" for the University of West Florida, and his Institute is currently focused on early brain development, small business growth and community engagement.
Prior to January 2016, Studer spent more than 30 years in the healthcare industry. His healthcare experience includes four years as chief operating officer of Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago, Ill., and five years as president of Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, Fla. In 2000, he founded the Studer Group, a coaching company focused on improving organization performance. The Studer Group received the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award in 2010. Studer himself was named one of the "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare" by Modern Healthcare, and Becker's Hospital Review named him one of the "40 Smartest People in Healthcare."
Studer has written seven books including Hardwiring Excellence, which has more than 1 million copies in print and made Business Weekly's bestseller list. Another book, Results That Last, was No. 9 on the Wall Street Journal's bestseller list.
Studer and his wife Rishy are philanthropists and investors in Northwest Florida. They are the owners of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos baseball team, the Double-A affiliate for the Cincinnati Reds. Two-time Masters golf champion Bubba Watson is a minority owner in the Blue Wahoos. Studer earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
About the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is a force of healing and hope for individuals, families and communities affected by addiction to alcohol and other drugs. It is the nation's leading nonprofit treatment provider, with a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center. With 17 sites in California, Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, New York, Florida, Massachusetts, Colorado and Texas, the Foundation offers prevention and recovery solutions nationwide and across the entire continuum of care to help youth and adults reclaim their lives from the disease of addiction. It includes the largest recovery publishing house in the country, a fully accredited graduate school of addiction studies, an addiction research center, an education arm for medical professionals and a unique children's program, and is the nation's leader in advocacy and policy for treatment and recovery. Learn more at HazeldenBettyFord.org and on Twitter @hazldnbettyford.