Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg welcomes new board leaders, trustees

Rose Wong, Tampa Bay Times
·2 min read

ST. PETERSBURG — The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg announced the ascension of two new leaders to the board of trustees and the addition of four board members to lead the organization in the new year.

The new board chair is Donna Petersen, dean of the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida and senior associate vice president of USF Health. She has been a board member for six years and served as vice chair in the last two.

Joining her is the incoming vice chair, the Rev. Kenneth Irby, director of community intervention at the St. Petersburg Police Department and the pastor of Historic Bethel AME Church. He has spent three years on the foundation board.

The leadership and trustee selection process prioritized diversifying the existing board’s experiences and skill sets, said foundation president and CEO Randall Russell. The new board members, who will begin their initial one-year terms on New Year’s Day, bring expertise in law, medicine, and advocacy for health and race equity. Three of the incoming trustees are people of color.

“We will continue to accelerate our race equity mission, pay attention and deepen our listening to lived experiences,” Russell said, “and taking those voices of lived experiences to system leaders with power.”

The new trustees include Michèle Alexandre, dean and professor at the Stetson University College of Law; Stacy Conroy, attorney and Florida Holocaust Museum board member; Kevin Sneed, dean of USF’s Taneja College of Pharmacy and senior associate vice president at USF Health; and Nichelle Threadgill, chief medical officer at the Community Health Centers of Pinellas.

Russell said he looks forward to hosting the city’s first annual equity summit in March, along with USF St. Petersburg and city government.

The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg was formed in 2013 and is funded by the proceeds from the city’s sale of its nonprofit hospital, Bayfront Medical Center, now known as Bayfront Health St. Petersburg. The foundation oversees $164 million in assets dedicated to improving health equity by addressing racial, social and structural disadvantages in Pinellas County. Learn more about the foundation online by visiting healthystpete.foundation.