JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The St. John’s Health board of trustees today appointed volunteer board advisor Katharine Conover-Keller as trustee, filling a vacancy created by the resignation of Joe Albright in November.
After twelve years of service, Albright announced he would leave his St. John’s Health role to focus on his work with the Teton County Health Department. Conover-Keller will serve through the next general election in November 2022.
Conover-Keller served as president of the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole for more than 14 years, prior to her retirement in February 2020. During her tenure, the organization’s assets grew over 40% to more than $85 million. Annually, the Community Foundation raises millions of dollars for local nonprofits through Old Bill’s Fun Run.
“I feel humbled, given the depth of the other applicants, to be selected for this office,” said Conover-Keller.
Previously, Conover-Keller was the executive director of Community Safety Network, also serving on the Governor’s Domestic Violence Elimination Council and the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Earlier in her human services career, she was a licensed clinical social worker at the Jackson Hole Community Counseling Center. In 2015, she was named Citizen of the Year by the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce.
“Katharine has been an outstanding member of the Nominating and Governance Committee at St. John’s Health. I am delighted to see her appointed as a trustee and also as chair of the CEO search committee,” said board vice-chair Debby Hopkins. “Her wealth of leadership experience will be invaluable to the board and her extensive experience in executive search will be an important addition to the process.”
A total of 12 qualified candidates provided St. John’s with more than an ample pool to identify additional people who could make significant, unique contributions to St. John’s Health and St. John’s Health Foundation.
“We studied the applications, met each candidate before the interview, and prepared interview questions to assess style and fit with the organization’s needs,” said chair Cynthia Hogan. “The entire board was highly engaged in the interview process in order to select our new trustee and also to match candidates’ core skills and interests with additional roles that may be available.”
Board treasurer Scott Gibson added, “One of the exciting outcomes of the trustee application process is finding and putting to work outstanding citizens for our SJH Board committees and our SJH Foundation, as well as identifying citizen experts to advise us on pressing issues, and helping us find individuals whom we may invite to become board advisors.”
The applicants for the vacancy have deep professional experience in various areas of critical importance to St. John’s Health, including finance, human resources, medical practice management, quality measurement and improvement, public relations, fundraising, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
“Talent abounds in Teton County and it is on display in the twelve applications for the trustee appointment,” Gibson said. “We hope to recruit several more individuals, in addition to our newly appointed trustee, from this amazing group of applicants.”
