Hospital Board

Meet the board of directors for Children’s Minnesota. An asterisk (*) denotes people who serve on both the hospital and foundation boards.

Gary Blackford*
Health Care Executive
Vice-Chair, Children’s Minnesota Board of Directors

Gary Blackford has over 30 years experience leading health care services and technology companies. He most recently served as chairman and CEO of Universal Hospital Services, Inc. for more than 13 years. Mr. Blackford currently sits on a number of public, private and not-for-profit health care boards, including Children’s Minnesota Board (Chair), the Children’s Minnesota Foundation Board, Avanos Medical (Non-executive Chair), Reshape Life Sciences, Inc. and Advance Tissue, Inc.

Garfield Bowen
Vice President of Social Justice Strategy & Initiatives, 3M

Garfield Bowen is a global leader with proven capabilities in business operations, strategy, manufacturing, R&D and human resources. He currently serves as the vice president of social justice strategy & initiatives at 3M. Prior to his current appointment in August 2020, Mr. Bowen held positions as global R&D operations & PMO director and global commercialization director both in the Safety & Industrial Business Group. He was also Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with a manufacturing focus, quality leader, and PMO leader in the Transportation & Electronics Business Group.

Mr. Bowen joined 3M in 2014 with 18 years of experience in the information technology filed. He’s held roles as software engineer, project manager, head of IT, director of PMO, IT director, and associate chief information officer.

He earned a BS in Computer & Management Science from the University of Technology, Jamaica and an MS, Management Information Systems from the University of the West Indies, Mona.

With a passion for service, Mr. Bowen serves on the 3M Foundation Board, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity Board, as well as the leadership board of his church.

He is a Jamaican native and is married to Mauvalyn. They have two boys and live in Plymouth, MN.

Archelle Georgiou, MD
Chief Health Officer, Starkey Hearing Technologies
Chair, Children’s Minnesota Board of Directors

Archelle Georgiou, MD, is the chief health officer for Starkey Hearing Technologies. She is also a nationally recognized medical executive, health reporter and author who is known for her commitment to patient advocacy.

Dr. Georgiou served as chief medical officer of UnitedHealth Group from 1995 to 2007. She is adjunct faculty and an executive in residence at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. As an on-air medical expert, she hosts a weekly segment on KSTP-TV, the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis-St. Paul and has covered over 1,400 medical topics. In 2017, Georgiou published her first book, Health Care Choices: 5 Steps to Getting the Medical Care You Want and Need (Rowman & Littlefield) – a book that explains how consumers can have a voice in their health care decisions. In addition, Dr. Georgiou maintains a diverse portfolio of advisory relationships with companies and organizations that improve health and the health care system. She serves on the Board of Directors for CaringBridge.

Dr. Georgiou graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and was board-certified in Internal Medicine.

Jeff von Gillern
Vice Chair, Technology and Operations Services, U.S. Bancorp

Jeff von Gillern is Vice Chair, Technology and Operations Services, of U.S. Bancorp. He has served in this position since July 2010. From April 2001, when he joined U.S. Bancorp, until July 2010,  Mr. von Gillern served as Executive Vice President of U.S. Bancorp, additionally serving as Chief Information Officer from July 2007 until July 2010.

Prior to joining U.S. Bancorp, he was the Senior Vice President of Processing Services at Visa International, where he spent 12 years.

Mr. von Gillern holds a BS in Business from the University of Arizona and studied at the University of London in London, England.

He has served as a board director of Syncada (for-profit joint venture between Visa and U.S. Bank) from 2010 until 2014, the lead director of ViewPointe LLC (largest industry archive for check imaging and exchange) from 2010 until 2015, and the Chair of the Board of Governors for the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre from 2014 until 2017.

He is married to Janet von Gillern. They have two children, Katie and Jack and live in Edina, MN.

Angela Kade Goepferd, MD
Chief Education Officer, Senior Director of Interprofessional Education, Medical Director of Gender Health, and Chief of Staff, Children’s Minnesota

Angela Kade Goepferd, MD, is the senior director of interprofessional education, chief of staff, and medical director of gender health for Children’s Minnesota and a general pediatrician in the Children’s Minnesota – Minneapolis Primary Care clinic. Dr. Goepferd has been with Children’s for 11 years, and in that time has been an advocate for advancing equitable healthcare for all children, helped to create and cultivate The Children’s Way values to ensure a positive experience for patients, families and professional staff, and has been an engaged member and leader on several committees, strategic planning teams and other initiatives across the organization.

Dr. Goepferd has a passion for working with underserved and at-risk kids and families, speaks Spanish and cares for a diverse community of patients in her primary care clinic. She is seen as a leader in the LGBT community who is driving equitable care for LGBT youth, particularly transgender and gender diverse youth and she is a sought after speaker and trainer on these topics. She was a member of the LGBT Standards of Care Advisory board, developing the first healthcare standards for LGBT people in the state of Minnesota, and is currently a member of the Bush Foundation Community Innovation Grant advisory board to advance health equity for LGBT people across the state.

Marc H. Gorelick, MD*
President and CEO

Marc Gorelick, MD, was appointed chief executive officer of Children’s Minnesota in December 2017. He joined Children’s in March 2017 as president and chief operating officer. He is deeply committed to identifying sustainable ways Children’s can continue to deliver exceptional care in an evolving health care environment.

Dr. Gorelick previously served as executive vice president and COO of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.  A pediatric emergency medicine physician by training, his prior experience includes faculty positions at Medical College of Wisconsin and University of Pennsylvania, and clinical and leadership roles at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, AI DuPont Hospital for Children, and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

His education includes an AB degree in history from Princeton University, an MD degree from Duke University, and a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Gorelick trained in pediatrics at Children’s National Medical Center, and in pediatric emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr. Gorelick’s interests include running, cycling, and paddling; homebrewing; and playing the tuba.

Linda Jean Hall, PhD
Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Carlson School of Business, University of Minnesota

Linda Jean Hall has served on public company, private company and non-profit healthcare boards. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for DentaQuest and IRET where she is a member of the Compensation and Nominating & Governance Committees.

Ms. Hall’s consulting work includes clients; Minnesota Cup semi-finalists, Stemonix, Mayo Clinic, Virtuwell, Shape, Children’s HeartLink, BCBS of MN and Xylo.

Ms. Hall has held executive positions with Accurate Home Healthcare, CEO, MinuteClinic, CEO, Ceridian Performance Partners, president, Honeywell  serving in several capacities, Vice President Worldwide Consumer Business Group, Director HVAC Commercial Controls, Director Traffic, Customer Service and Distribution , Director Information Technology – Residential and Commercial Controls Division, Manager International Marketing – Commercial Controls Business Unit. Her career began in social work/special education in school districts in both Minnesota and Michigan. She earned an MSW and PhD from the University of Minnesota and BS and MA from the University of Michigan.

Chris Hedberg*
Chief Financial Officer, CarVal Investors

Chris Hedberg is chief financial officer for CarVal Investors. In addition to leading finance and operations globally for the firm, Mr. Hedberg also manages capital formation activities, including investor relations and fund financing strategy. Mr. Hedberg joined Cargill in 1996 and has held a variety of financial management positions, including serving as global controller for CarVal’s corporate credit business and manager in Cargill’s internal audit department. Prior to joining Cargill, Mr. Hedberg was with Dain Bosworth. He received his M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas and his BS in finance, magna cum laude from the University of Colorado.

CarVal Investors is an established global alternative investment fund manager focused on distressed and credit-intensive assets and market inefficiencies. Since 1987, their experienced team has navigated through ever-changing credit market cycles, opportunistically investing $124 billion in 5,495 transactions across 82 countries. Today, CarVal Investors has approximately $10 billion in assets under management in corporate securities, loan portfolios, structured credit and hard assets.

Mr. Hedberg is also the Chair of the Children’s Minnesota Foundation Board.

Jean V. Kane
Real Estate Executive

Jean Kane is a strategic and progressive thought leader best known for driving enterprise-wide business transformations that propel shareholder value. She has deep knowledge in commercial real estate and has extensive experience leading across multiple ownership structures.

Most recently, Ms. Kane was CEO of Colliers International-Minneapolis/St. Paul, the Minnesota business unit of Colliers International Group Inc. (Nasdaq:CIGI) (TSX:CIGI). Prior to her role at Colliers, Ms. Kane was CEO of Welsh Companies, a full-service commercial real estate services firm operating throughout Minnesota.

Ms. Kane has a long history of private company and non-profit board service. She serves on the board of JE Dunn Construction, a privately held construction services firm and Children’s Minnesota Hospital & Clinics. In addition, she is a senior advisor with NB Alternative Advisors and will serve on the board of directors or advise certain portfolio companies in the ARS Funds. Ms. Kane previously served as board chair for National NAIOP and currently serves as a trustee and vice chair of the NAIOP Research Foundation.

JJ Kuhn
Vice President, Chief Counsel, Global Investigations, Medtronic

JJ Kuhn is vice president, chief counsel, global investigations for Medtronic. Prior to this he was vice president, ethics and compliance for Medtronic. In this role, Mr. Kuhn provided leadership and strategic vision for Ethics and Compliance with a focus on promoting ethical culture at all levels within the organization by overseeing, monitoring and reporting on the business’s ethics and compliance program.

Mr. Kuhn has been with Medtronic since 2006 and also served as vice president, ethics and compliance for the Cardiac and Vascular Group (CVG). Prior to that, he was senior director of ethics and compliance in Medtronic’s Neuromodulation Business. In addition, he has served in several legal and compliance roles in Medtronic’s Cardiovascular Group.

Prior to Medtronic, Mr. Kuhn worked as a business attorney at Gray Plant Mooty and as director of legal services and business development for Miga Solutions in Minneapolis. He is originally from Portland, Oregon and is a graduate of Carleton College and the University of Minnesota Law School.

Jim Leslie
Chairman of the Board of the James D. Leslie Family Foundation; Business Executive

Jim Leslie was the co-founder & CEO of Flipgrid which was successfully integrated into Microsoft. Mr. Leslie then served as general manager, Flipgrid for Microsoft until he retired in April 2019. He was a member of the Board of Directors for Orion Energy Systems; a member of the Board of Trustees for The Blake School; and EVP strategy & business development for Datalink. Mr. Leslie was founder & CEO of Midwave Corporation; president of OPM Information Systems; and vice president Benchmark Computers.

He earned a BS, Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley.

Damu McCoy
Vice President, Talent Acquisition, Target Corporation

Damu McCoy is vice president, talent acquisition at Target Corporation, and is responsible for recruiting across all corporate and field locations. During his career at Target he has led teams in several other operational areas including buying, planning, and technology development.

Growing up in North Minneapolis, Mr. McCoy developed an understanding for the needs in our local community and a passion for creating equitable opportunities. He has served on several nonprofit boards focused on reducing disparities for diverse individuals and is currently serving as board chair for Project for Pride in Living (PPL). PPL is a results-driven organization that provides transformative affordable housing and career readiness services. He also serves on the Board of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce on the Executive and Planning Committee as well as their Diversity and Inclusion Committee. In addition, Mr. McCoy is a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC) which opens channels of opportunity for the development of black executives to positively impact businesses and communities.

Mr. McCoy earned his BA, Business Administration and Management from Wittenberg University and his MBA from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management.

Brooke Moore, MD, MPH
Pediatric Pulmonologist, Children’s Respiratory and Critical Care Specialists
Vice Chief of Staff, Children’s Minnesota

Brooke Moore, MD, MPH, is a pediatric pulmonologist at Children’s Respiratory and Critical Care Specialists. She completed her fellowship in pediatric pulmonology at the University of Minnesota and Children’s Minnesota in June 2011. She attended medical school at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, received her masters in public health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and completed her pediatric residency at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Moore is board-certified by the American Academy of Pediatrics in Pediatric Pulmonology. She is the medical director for Respiratory Therapy and is the associate medical director for the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Children’s Minnesota. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis. She is currently vice chief of staff at Children’s Minnesota.

Jill Schurtz
Executive Director/CEO, St. Paul Teachers’ Retirement Fund Association

Jill Schurtz’s past business experience includes COO and CEO of Robeco-Sage Investment Management; director, Knight Equity Markets; Attorney at Law, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Associates; VP, Investment Banking, US Bancorp Piper Jaffray; and Officer, United States Army. She is a member of the Board of Directors and Investment Committee Chair for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy; a Board Member of MacPhail Center for Music; President of the Board of Trustees of Breck School. Ms. Schurtz earned her BS from the United States Military Academy at West Point and her JD from Columbia University School of Law. She lives in the Kenwood area of Minneapolis with her wife, Beth Ford, and their three children.

Carolyn Smallwood
CEO, Way to Grow

Prior to Way to Grow, Carolyn Smallwood served as vice president of sales and marketing at Twin Cities Rise! and as executive director of the Minnesota Minority Supplier Development Council. Before entering the nonprofit field, Ms. Smallwood was the director of supplier diversity with ADC, The Broadband Company, and held a variety of senior level positions with US Bancorp. During her corporate career, her influence helped earn ADC national recognition as the “MEED Corporation of the Year,” and “Supplier Advocate of the Year” as well as a designation as one of the “Top 25 Companies in Supplier Diversity.” In addition, Minnesota Monthly magazine awarded Ms. Smallwood “Small Business Advocate of the Year.”

Ms. Smallwood earned her BA in Marketing & Finance from the University of St. Thomas; Master’s in Public Affairs from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs; Executive Leadership and Early Education from Harvard Business School; Executive Leadership and Strategic Planning from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management; Project Management and Development from University of Minnesota. She was named one of the Twin Cities’ “Top African-Americans of Influence” by the Star Tribune in 2014.  She currently serves on the Ciresi and Walburn Foundation Board of Directors; the African American Leadership Forum Board of Directors; Minnesota Comeback Board of Directors (Co-Chair); MinneMinds Executive Committee.

Ms. Smallwood also sat on Governor Mark Dayton’s Early Learning Council for four years. In 2014, she was selected by Mayor Betsy Hodges to co-chair the Cradle to K Cabinet. She also served on the boards of MacPhail Center for Music, the College of Saint Benedict, the Jeremiah Program, the Citizen’s League and the Children’s Theatre Company, Greater Twin Cities United Way’s Early Learning Executive Committee as well as Promise Neighborhood Solution Action Group.

Deneen Vojta, MD
Former Executive Vice President, UnitedHealth Group

Deneen Vojta, MD is the former executive vice president of research & development at UnitedHealth Group. Dr. Vojta also previously served as vice president of research and innovation for UnitedHealthcare. Prior to that, Dr.Vojta held several senior management positions in health care including serving as CEO of MYnetico, a company she founded to focus on the childhood obesity epidemic facing the nation. Dr. Vojta has more than 20 years of executive experience in health system and health plan administration.

Dr. Vojta has served as a board member of non-profit health care institutions, and earned numerous federal and foundation grants to investigate complex health care concerns. She is widely published and frequently invited to speak on a number of health issues.

Dr. Vojta earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and her medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine. She lives in Edina, Minnesota, with her husband and three children.