Nemours Foundation Board Of Directors Elects Lord As New Chairman

Jacksonville, Florida
Thursday, February 22, 2007 @ 12:34 PM EST
by: Odette Struys
(904) 697-4186
ostruys@nemours.org

Former State of Florida Lt. Governor Toni Jennings also named as new board member

John S. Lord is elected Chairman of the Board of Directors for The Nemours Foundation, one of the nation's largest children's health systems. Lord previously served as Vice Chairman for two years, having been elected to that position in 2005. Lord also serves as a trustee of the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust.

It was also announced that former State of Florida Lt. Governor Toni Jennings has been elected as a member of the Nemours Board of Directors. Jennings was the first woman in Florida's history to serve as Lt. Governor and is a former two-term State Senate President.

The role of Vice Chair will be filled by Richard (Dick) T. Christopher. Christopher was elected to the Nemours Board in January 2005 and serves on the Nemours Delaware Board of Managers, which he joined in 1990 and has chaired since 1995.

"These appointments are a reflection of Nemours quest to elevate the standards of health care for children in this country," said Chairman of the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust Hugh M. Durden. "With its vision, leadership and passion, I am confident Nemours will continue to positively impact care of children in all the communities it serves."

Lord became a member of both the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust and Nemours Board of Directors in 2000. However, he has been affiliated with Nemours since 1998 when he became a member of the Board of Managers. He was first involved with the Trust and Nemours as a representative of the former Corporate Trustee, Nations Bank. Lord is a private investor and business consultant. He retired as President of Bank of America - Central Florida in 2000.

According to Lord, "I am so proud to follow in the legacy of the great individuals who have led this organization over the decades. Particularly, I am humbled to follow Jack Porter, who has brought such clarity and consensus to this organization. Nemours has a strong foundation from which we can continue to reach for even greater excellence in children's health care. From the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children to KidsHealth.org to the Nemours Children’s Clinics and Nemours Health and Prevention Services, this enterprise is an exceptional testament to the focused hard work of thousands of people who are dedicated to the care of children. I intend to celebrate and support that dedication as Chairman."

This year, she was named chairman of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Her elected public service career spans 28 years. She was the youngest female ever elected to the Florida Legislature, in 1976, and served an unprecedented two consecutive terms as President of the Florida Senate, from 1996-2000.

"It's an honor to be selected to join an organization like Nemours, which is doing so much to serve children in this country. The commitment of Nemours to elevate the care of medically complex children and their families is tremendously exciting to me," said Jennings. "I look forward to being a part of this influential team of leaders."

Christopher was the first person who was not a Trustee of the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust to be elected to the Nemours Board of Directors. Christopher was born in Wilmington, Delaware and is the current President of Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate.

'I look forward to serving as Vice Chair of the Nemours Board of Directors and value the opportunity to continue to make a positive difference with this organization," said Christopher. "Nemours is unique in many ways and we are committed to improving the process by which we address the medical needs of our youngest populations."

Nemours Board of Directors is charged with setting the priorities and direction for the four-state pediatric enterprise. Members of the Nemours Board of Directors include:

• Hugh M. Durden, Chairman of the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust
• John S. Lord, Chairman of Nemours
• Richard T. Christopher, Vice Chairman of Nemours; President and Chief Executive Officer of Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate; and Chairman of the Delaware Board of Managers
• John F. Porter III, Immediate past Chairman of Nemours
• William T. Thompson III, Former Chairman of Nemours
• Winfred L. Thornton, Immediate past Chairman of the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust
• Brian P. Anderson, Retired Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Baxter International and OfficeMax
• Leonard L. Berry, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Marketing at the Lowry Mays College and Graduate School of Business at Texas A&M University
• Rosa Baumanis Hakala, Senior Vice President, Retail Sector for PWC Logistics
• Terri L. Kelly, President and Chief Executive Officer of W.L. Gore
• J. Michael McGinnis, MD, MPP, Senior Scholar at the Institute of Medicine in The National Academies of Science
• Robert G. Riney, Chief Operating Officer for the Henry Ford Health System
• Toni Jennings, Former State of Florida Lt. Governor

About John Lord

Lord, a private investor and business consultant, retired as President of Bank of America - Central Florida in 2000. He held various positions with Bank of America and its predecessor banks for more than 15 years.

Lord was elected a Trustee of the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust in July 2000 and became a member of the Nemours Board of Directors the same year. However, he has been affiliated with Nemours since 1998 when he became a member of the Board of Managers.

He is also a member of the board of overseers for Rollins College's Crummer Graduate School of Business, director of the Edyth Bush Foundation, and corporate director of St. Joe Co. and ABC Fine Wine & Spirits. Lord lives in Winter Park, Florida.

About Dick Christopher

Christopher was the first person who was not a Trustee of the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust to be elected to the Nemours Board of Directors. He will continue to serve on the Nemours Board of Managers, which he joined in 1990 and has chaired since 1995.

Christopher was born in Wilmington, Delaware and received his undergraduate degree in accounting from Mount St. Mary's University (1961) where he serves as a Trustee. He is the current President of Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate. An active member of his community, Christopher is involved with the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Catholic Diocese Foundation, Delaware Council for Economic Education, The Delaware Valley Real Estate Information Network, and The Realty Alliance and is a director of TreNd. He is also co-chair for the capital campaign for Habitat for Humanity of Newcastle County, Delaware. Christopher resides in Wilmington.

About Toni Jennings

Florida's first female lieutenant governor, two-term president of the Florida Senate, successful businesswoman and former fifth grade teacher, Toni Jennings is among the most prominent public figures in Florida's history, dedicating over 28 years to the citizens of Florida.

Jennings has distinguished herself as a skilled consensus builder, shaping key policy initiatives important to Floridians for almost three decades. Jennings served as Florida's 16th Lieutenant Governor, officially taking office in March 2003. She served an unprecedented two consecutive terms as President of the Florida Senate from 1996-2000. When she took the oath of office in 1976 as a member of the House of Representatives, Jennings became the youngest woman ever elected to the Florida Legislature and the first female Republican leader of either house of the Legislature - her first historic mark on Florida politics with many to follow throughout her political career.

Jennings' strong business acumen and years of public service contributed greatly to her successful partnership with Governor Bush as his Lt. Governor. As co-chair of the Governor's Task Force on Access to Affordable Health Insurance, Jennings helped craft reforms that apply sound principles of quality, competition and technology to increase patient access and modernize Florida's health care market. Consumer information and choice, as well as an emphasis on transparency, are cornerstones of the new system. She led the Universal Pre-kindergarten Education Advisory Council, which worked to develop recommendations for a voluntary, free pre-kindergarten education program for all Florida four-year-olds. Jennings also chaired the Governor's Hurricane Housing Work Group charged with assessing long-term housing recovery needs following one of the most active and destructive hurricane seasons in Florida's recorded history. In addition to her role in hurricane recovery initiatives, Jennings spearheaded the Governor's Commission on the Future of Space and Aeronautics in Florida to ensure the state remains the premier location for aerospace activities. Her talents were enlisted to tackle the state's insurance crisis resulting from two unprecedented hurricane seasons. As head of the Governor's Property and Casualty Insurance Reform Committee, she helped develop recommendations for the Governor and the Legislature on improving Florida’s insurance market for homeowners and businesses.

Jennings' contributions to Florida have been far reaching. During her Senate Presidency, she was a driving force behind the state's welfare reform initiative. She is recognized for her work in creating a system of accountability in public education, championing solutions to Florida's sky-rocketing workers' compensation costs and launching Florida's School Readiness program. Jennings also shepherded the passage of the Workforce Innovation Act of 2000. This reform initiative re-designed Florida's workforce development system to establish partnerships among economic development, workforce development and businesses. Workforce Florida, Inc. is managed by a governing board appointed by the Governor to oversee and monitor the administration of the state's workforce policy, programs and services carried out by business-led regional workforce boards.

Jennings' commitment to education and workforce training initiatives has made a significant impact on preparing Florida's future workforce. Key to the successful integration of education standards and workforce needs were recommendations of the Task Force on Career and Professional Education chaired by Jennings. The curriculum reforms adopted by the Legislature equip middle school and high school students with skill sets necessary to maximize career and postsecondary education opportunities.

Of these accomplishments, Jennings considers the University of Central Florida Exceptional Education Institute created in 2000 as one of the most gratifying contributions of her public service. The Institute was named in honor of Jennings for her leadership in establishing and funding an exceptional education component of the UCF Academy for Teaching, Learning and Leadership. As Senate President, Jennings was able to turn into reality this ground-breaking approach to providing education and clinical services for children and adults with exceptional needs.

A native of Orlando, Jennings began her professional career as a public school teacher at Killarney Elementary in Orlando. She was graduated cum laude with an A.B. in Elementary Education from Wesleyan College, the world’s oldest women’s college.

At the age of 23, Jennings joined her father's commercial construction company, Jack Jennings & Sons, Inc. Founded in 1948, Jack Jennings & Sons has been a longstanding corporate citizen serving the Central Florida area for almost 60 years. This award-winning firm has successfully completed a diverse range of construction projects consisting of entertainment and themed facilities, office and retail, institutional and public sector work, health care and medical facilities and specialty restaurants. Jennings served as its president from the mid-1980's until becoming Lt. Governor in 2003.

Jennings' commitment to civic duty is reflected by her many years of service on various community boards and commissions such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce, first chair of Workforce Florida, Inc., the Rollins College Board of Trustees and the University of Central Florida Foundation Board. Additional organizations with which she holds board positions include Brown & Brown, SunTrust, and Florida Power & Light.

Jennings' distinguished public career has earned her numerous awards and recognitions. She was named to the Florida Women's Hall of Fame in 2002 and recognized as the "2004 Central Floridian of the Year" by the Orlando Sentinel for her hurricane recovery efforts. The National Association of State Workforce Agencies honored Jennings with the William L. Heartwell Award for her workforce education and training advocacy. Her accolades also include the "Florida Guardian of Small Business" by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Florida Economic Development Council's Distinguished Service Award, Florida League of Women Voters' "Distinguished Florida Women Award," "Friend of the First Amendment" bestowed twice by the First Amendment Foundation and the coveted "Friend of Education Award" given by the Florida School Boards Association.

modified: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 @ 08:01 AM EDT
created: Monday, August 06, 2007 @ 12:35 PM EDT

About Nemours

Nemours, one of the nation’s largest pediatric health systems, is dedicated to achieving higher standards in children’s health. Nemours offers an integrated spectrum of clinical treatment coupled with research, advocacy, and educational health and prevention services extending to all families in the communities it serves. Starting with Alfred I. duPont’s bequest over seventy years ago, Nemours has grown into a multi-dimensional organization offering personalized clinical and preventive care focused on children.

Nemours owns and operates the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware and major children’s specialty clinics in Delaware (Wilmington), Florida (Jacksonville, Orlando and Pensacola), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr) and New Jersey (Atlantic City and Voorhees). Having recently received preliminary approval from the State of Florida, Nemours will establish a new full-service children’s hospital as part of an integrated pediatric health campus in Orlando. KidsHealth.org, the world’s most visited pediatric health care Web site for parents, kids and teens, is a project of Nemours.

Nemours employs over 4,400 individuals, including 430 pediatric physicians, specialists and surgeons who cared for approximately a quarter of a million children in 2007. The organization’s goal is to align with parents, physicians, community leaders, children’s advocates and elected officials to ensure optimal wellness for every child. Additional information about Nemours can be found at www.nemours.org.