During the June 27th Board of Directors meeting, the ACU Board elected its officers for the next year. The Board reelected Kathy Brieger as President and Virna Little as Vice-President, while also adding two new officers – Mary Kasal and Kirsten Thomsen. Kasal was elected as Treasurer, replacing Dr. Ellis Frazier, while Thomsen was elected to the Secretary position, replacing Earle Rugg. All officers received unanimous votes from the Board, with all terms running for one full year.
Kathy Brieger is a registered dietitian and works at Hudson River HealthCare in New York State. She is the Chief Operating Officer of HRHCare and her main clinical areas of focus have been on diabetes, nutrition and health promotion. Among the special population groups she has worked with and developed programs for are migrant and seasonal farm workers and new immigrants living in urban settings as well as homeless shelters. Brieger has been on the ACU Board of Directors since 2008 and has been President since 2012.
Virna Little is the Senior Vice-President for Psychosocial Services and Community Affairs at The Institute for Family Health in New York. She is in charge of the administration and delivery of behavioral health, community and grant-funded programs in 26 centers throughout New York City and New York State’s Hudson Valley Region. Little has been on the ACU Board since 2010 and has been the Vice-President since 2012.
Mary Kasal is the President and founder of the 8th Layer Group. She currently manages all operations and the execution of 8th Layer Group’s mission to help build and use sophisticated Health IT systems. Kasal has been on the ACU Board since 2013.
Kirsten Thomsen currently serves as the President of the Maine Association of Physician Assistants and was previously faculty at George Washington University’s PA program. Thomsen was sent to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina through her service with the Emergency Medical Reserve Corps and managed the Healthcare for the Homeless community service team at GW. She joined the ACU Board earlier this year.