St. Charles Health System Board of Directors

Todd Taylor, Board Chairman

Todd Taylor is President of Taylor Northwest and brings more than 15 years of experience in management, finance, construction, business acquisition and corporate business development to the SCHS board. He was appointed to the board in November 2006. Through the years, he has provided extensive community service on a multitude of community boards.

When asked what is behind his passion for health care and service to the SCHS board, Taylor said, "Central Oregon offers a quality of life for all individuals and families who live and work in this area. Great quality of life includes a wonderful health care system. From an employer standpoint, it is essential to have quality health care for all employees as they are spending a portion of their wages to pay for their health care coverage. Each year this cost outpaces the cost of living increases most families receive, therefore causing more and more hardships on families. My passion is to help govern and set polices that allow for the highest level of integrated health care for all residents throughout Central Oregon while staying focused on affordability."

Thomas Sayeg, Vice Chairman

Tom Sayeg is an attorney with the law firm Karnopp Petersen specializing in business, taxation and estate law. Sayeg served on the St. Charles Foundation board from 2000 to 2006. He was also a member of the Foundation Development Committee and the Planned Giving Committee where he served as chair. During the Expanding The Vision capital campaign he served as co-chair of corporate gifts. In addition, he provided board service to the Humane Society, Oregon Innovation Center and St. Francis School Foundation. He has also served the Central Oregon Community College Finance Advisory Board Committee and he is an officer and chair of the Executive Committee of the Oregon Board of Taxation and Business.

"The reason I chose to serve on the board was to offer my expertise and experience in assisting SCHS in addressing the myriad of issues facing health care organizations today," Sayeg said. In addition, he wanted to be part of an organization with a mission to provide compassionate health care to all.

Knute Buehler, M.D.

Dr. Knute Buehler is an orthopedic surgeon with The Center: Orthopedic & Neurosurgical Care & Research. He has been a member of the SCHS Board since April 2007, a member of the St. Charles Foundation board since January 2003 and has served on several SCHS medical staff committees. He is a former member of the Oregon State University-Cascades advisory board and past President of The Center - Orthopedic & Neurosurgical Care and Research and Oregon Orthopedic Association.

When asked why he serves on the SCHS board Buehler said, "I serve on the SCHS board since the hospitals in our respective cities are community treasures. They achieve this status in several ways - they are frequently the final place of refuge for those most in peril; they provide all of us services in the time of utmost need; and they have become remarkable economic engines providing high-paying jobs, spin-off businesses and an important attraction to those looking to relocate to Central Oregon. Keeping these treasures secure is a satisfying way for me to contribute to our community."

Dennis Dempsey

Dennis Dempsey is the superintendent of the High Desert Education Service District and president of the Oregon Association of Educational Service Districts. He serves as chairman of the SCHS Compensation and Mission Effectiveness Committees. Dempsey brings more than 28 years of management experience to his role as a SCHS board member.

Dempsey recently shared that he was honored more than seven years ago to be asked to serve on the SCHS Board of Directors. He believes the board members of SCHS have a sacred trust with the community to provide the best medical services possible for residents of Central Oregon. He serves on the board because he wants his family, friends and community members to receive the most cost-effective, high-quality care that is possible when it is needed most.

James A. Diegel

Jim Diegel is the President and CEO of St. Charles Health System. He serves as an "ex-officio with vote" member of the SCHS board. In June 1994, he became Executive Director of Central Oregon District Hospital in Redmond, and he has held several senior vice president positions after the merger between the Bend and Redmond hospitals in 2001 and before assuming the President and CEO position of SCHS in June 2006. Jim has been an active community member throughout the years, serving on numerous boards and commissions and in local elected office.  He currently serves on the St. Charles Foundation board, Oregon Health Fund Board Finance Committee, and the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems board.

Doug Downer

Doug Downer is president of Sundowner Capital Management, LLC., which he founded in 2000. Downer, who was appointed to the SCHS board in 2008, joined the St. Charles Foundation Board in January 2005 after serving as a member of the Foundation's Finance Committee starting in 2004. He and his wife Amy were the General Chairs of the St. Charles Foundation Expanding the Vision capital campaign, which raised more than $10 million for hospital expansion projects. He has also been a member of the SCHS Finance Committee since 2006 and has served on the Greater Bend Rotary Board and the Central Oregon Community College Foundation Board.

When asked why he wanted to serve on the SCHS board Downer said, "SCHS is our community health care system, and I am dedicated to the betterment of our hospital to help ensure the future health and well-being of our entire community."

Robin Gould

Robin Gould was appointed to a three-year term beginning May 1, 2008. He brings extensive governance experience to the SCHS board, and is current vice-chair and consultant to Bonne Bell, Inc. He also services on the NetWorth Strategy Board, is consultant to Square-H Brands, Inc. and is a board member of Bend Venture Conference and Pub Talk. He has held positions with Guess?, Inc., E&J Gallo Winery, Mars, Inc., Scott Paper Company and Boeing Co.

Gould chose to serve on the SCHS board after his wife, Joan, lost her nine-year battle with breast cancer. "I want to do everything I can to help other people who are fighting this disease," Gould said.

Lauri Miller

Lauri Miller is retired after serving as the Chief Financial Officer for Eagle Crest for many years. She joined the SCHS board in April 2007, bringing expertise in finance having worked for more than 20 years as a CPA. She also has experience in community services as treasurer of both the Seven Peaks School and the Bethlehem Inn board and as a member of the Deschutes County Budget Committee.

Miller joined the SCHS board because she thought it would be a challenge considering she had no formal health care background and had always thought the industry was interesting. She wanted to get over her aversion to hospitals -- thinking of them only as places for the sick and dying. "I have gotten over any of my fears and have come to realize that the hospital is a place where people also go to get well," Miller said, "and I find that rewarding."

Derek Palmer, M.D.

Dr. Derek Palmer has been an internal medicine physician at St. Charles Redmond since 1997. He has served on the SCHS board since June 2007. Palmer was president of the St. Charles Redmond medical staff.

When asked what interested him about serving on the SCHS board, Palmer said, "As an 'insider' I wanted to be in a position to shape the future of medicine in a way that would make health care delivery more efficient and of higher quality. Being in the trenches has allowed me to see what does and doesn't work in the current system. Being on the board allows me to do something about it."

Daniel Schuette

Dan Schuette joined the SCHS board in November 2007 after serving on the Pioneer Memorial Hospital board of directors since 2004 and the SCHS Planning and Development Committee for two years. Schuette brings more than 22 years of financial planning and investing experience to this leadership position for SCHS. He currently serves as the manager of the Financial Planning and Investment Department at Community First Bank.

Being a Prineville native and having grown up in Central Oregon, Schuette has a strong interest in the development of a quality regional health care system. In addition to his service to the community of Prineville, Schuette served on the Union County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development boards, as well as the LaGrande Downtown Association Board and the Salvation Army Advisory Board.

Carol J. Woodard-Kozimor

Carol Woodard-Kozimor has been a SCHS board member since April 2002. She is a CPA and currently divides her time between strategic planning consulting, real estate investment management and community volunteerism. Previously a health care practitioner, Woodard-Kozimor brings a diversity of experience in health care, finance, accounting, economic development, strategic planning, business acquisition and leadership team transitions. She served on the Greater Bend Rotary Club Board, the State of Oregon Economic Development Council, the University of Oregon Accounting and Advisory Board and the Northwest Economic Development Council. She was a founder and director of the Oregon Jobs Coalition.

Her passion for health care led to several volunteer years with the hospital system beginning with the St. Charles Foundation Board from 1991 to 1993, as a member of the St. Charles Board of Directors Finance Committee from 1994 to 2002 and as a member of the St. Charles Health System Board of Directors from 2002 to present.

Mike Boileau, M.D.

Dr. Michel Boileau has worked as a urologist in Bend for 22 years. He received his medical degree and training at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. He worked as the chief of urology cancer at the University of Washington and the University of Texas at Houston. Boileau says his goal is to work with the medical community and the hospitals in the region to create a health care delivery system that is superb.

In July, Boileau spearheaded an effort to create a group of area physicians that formally aligned with the hospitals in the region in an effort to reform health care. The Physician Hospital Alignment group now has 150 physician members who have signed a mission statement and code of conduct. The local reform effort aims to improve the patient experience, reduce the cost of care and improve the health of the region.

Bob Hakala, M.D.

Dr. Bob Hakala began practicing medicine in Central Oregon in 1976 at the Bend Memorial Clinic. In September of 2005, Hakala retired from the BMC and began working as the medical director at the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic of the Cascades. VIM provides care for individuals with annual incomes that are less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level and have no health insurance coverage. James A. Diegel, FACHE, president and CEO of SCHS, said that Hakala’s wide breadth of experience in the region was one of the many reasons he was asked to join the board.