As per bylaws approved by the membership and adopted in January of this year, we have expanded our board of directors to include members as well as nonmembers with an interest in our goals and mission. The objective is to bring varying perspectives to the board in the fields of advocacy, medicine, business and other areas.
I’m pleased to report the addition of the following board members effective July 2007.
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• Chris M. Fossel, Vice President, Corporate and Enterprise Recruiting, Merrill Lynch; founder and National Leader of Merrill Lynch’s Disability Awareness Professional Network.
• Lex Frieden, Senior Vice President, Memorial Hermann TIRR Hospital, Houston, TX; professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Baylor College of Medicine.
• Samuel Lin, M.D., PhD, formerly DHHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health; founder and proprietary consultant of The Lin Group, LLC, a firm specializing in domestic and global health care ventures.
• Ronnie E. Raymond, Founder and former President of a Reinsurance Brokerage Firm (negotiator of financial contracts between insurance companies); volunteer for various organizations, including United Spinal Association.
• Edmund J. Rowan (re-elected to the Board), has been involved with the organization for 50+ years as Volunteer Coach of our sports teams, Board Member, President, Employee and again as Board Member.
On behalf of the board of directors and our members, I extend a warm welcome to these individuals. Your generosity and caring are deeply appreciated.
We have over the past few years achieved some gender and disability diversity on our board. We continue to seek qualified individuals and would ask interested members and nonmembers to contact me. I will in turn forward names to our Nominations Committee for consideration in May of next year. We are looking for diversity based on skills sets, geography and ethnicity. Our goal is to build a strong board representative of our membership, with the strength to carry United Spinal forward as a driving force for people with spinal cord injuries and disorders.
Paul J. Tobin
President and Chief Executive Officer
