la rabida children's hospital

New Trustees Bring Broad Experience to La Rabida's Board

Tuesday January 12th, 2010

Individuals representing the areas of law, technology, and finance have joined the board of La Rabida Children’s Hospital,  trustees bringing domestic and global experience to the specialty hospital’s leadership.  Each will serve a three-year term.

Michelle Bush, Principal, Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C., focuses her law practice on general corporate and healthcare issues and brings 24 years of experience in the public and private sectors to her role as a new trustee.

As an attorney in the firm’s Health Care Practice Group, Bush provides strategic input in the core areas of corporate transactional healthcare, governance, and administrative law.

Among her major concentrations are governmental payer reimbursements and audit programs.  Before joining Miller, Canfield, Bush practiced at MacKelvie & Associates.

Bush also has held general counsel positions with public entities and healthcare providers such as Advocate Health Care.

Fluent in Spanish, Bush has a Master’s of Laws in Health Law from Loyola University Chicago School of Law; a Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law; and a Bachelor’s of Arts with honors from Northwestern University.

Gloria Jacobson, 59, RN, PHD., Dean, School of Nursing, Saint Xavier University,  has more than 30 years of experience in nursing education that includes acute, chronic, and long-term care.

In addition, Jacobson also has written extensively on nursing issues that relate to pediatric and adolescent populations.

Jacobson has a Doctorate of Nursing from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; a Master’s in Nursing from Rush University; and a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Northern Illinois University.

Anthony Kitchens, 38, President and CEO of KBS, Inc., leads the technology company's effort to build an extensive network that today includes Apple, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and the Department of Homeland Security.

Kitchens founded KBS in 1992 and was soon after invited to join one of Chicago’s leading not-for-profit leadership organizations.  The Alliance of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs is a collaboration of 42 prominent business leaders who work closely with corporate and political leaders to support minority interests.

J. Chris Luthin, 46, Executive Vice President, Pharmacy Benefit Management, Caremark, brings more than 20 years of accounting and finance experience to La Rabida’s board.  He leads more than 8,000 Caremark employees who work in the areas of mail service operations, client plan administration, and customer care, among other functions.

Earlier, Luthin has held increasingly responsible leadership roles in Caremark, including Vice President of Finance.

Luthin holds a Master’s of Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management; and a Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting from Northern Illinois University.

Joyce Johnson-Miller, 43, Senior Managing Director and Co-founder, Relativity Fund, has more than 20 years of investment, private equity, and board of director experience.  She specializes in leveraged buyouts and corporate turnarounds.

In addition, Johnson-Miller brings the experience of 11 corporate directorships and four chairmanships to her role on La Rabida’s board.

A Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, Johnson-Miller holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Finance from the University of Denver.

David Patzwald, 47,Vice President, Integration Services, Schneider Electric, leads the global information technology integration effort for Schneider, an international leader in energy management.

He has overseen major IT turnaround at Schneider’s North American organization since joining in 2005.

Previously, Patzwald parlayed nearly 20 years of technology and leadership experiences into leading smallCo, Inc, a technology solutions business that he founded in 2001.  Kinko’s and the Wm. Wrigley Co. were among the clients he served.

Patzwald holds a Master’s of Business Administration from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management; and a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematical and Computational Sciences from Stanford University.