Smart Business Magazine, December 2018

48 Smart Business Cleveland December 2018 2018Pill r Award for Community Service W hen the Cleveland Area Chapter of the Alzheimers Association merged with the national organization two years ago Bonnie H Marcus was sought by others in the organization to build a new kind of board that could work in concert with staff leadership to advance its mission and meet its goals After the merger Marcus chaired an important chapter board workgroup that would move the board from a fiduciary to a non fiduciary board She previously chaired the investment reserves policy work group established after the recession hit in 2008 a workgroup that successfully instituted a first time policy to ensure chapter stability in the event of future financial emergencies and created a method to ascertain and prudently use available reserve excess funds In her new role she spent countless hours learning about effective boards and brought energy and excitement to a process that few other chapters in the country even thought to undertake One of the byproducts of this work was the identification of a strategic impact board that would work closely with staff leadership to advance the Alzheimers Association Cleveland Area Chapters annual strategic goals In 2017 she took on the role of board chair While Marcus has dedicated countless hours to the Alzheimers Association she also has distinguished herself with civic engagement through the Junior League of Cleveland and academia at Hathaway Brown School She has held every leadership position in the Alzheimers Association Cleveland Area Chapter and is driven to find a cure for this disease and continue to provide care and support services at no cost to those who need it Bonnie H Marcus Board chair Alzheimers Association Cleveland Area Chapter O U R L A DY O F T H E WAY S I D E N O N P R O F I T B O A R D E X E C U T I V E O F T H E Y E A R AWA R D T here have been weeks especially during the past two years when Thomas M McDonald spent more hours in The MetroHealth Systems boardroom than in his office at McDonald Partners LLC where he is founder president and CEO He gets paid for only one of those jobs Since McDonald joined MetroHealths board of trustees in 2008 he has used his intelligence experience and devotion to help turn the health system 180 degrees Consider where MetroHealth was a decade ago The country was plunging into recession and federal agents were launching an investigation that would entangle many county institutions McDonald skillfully guided MetroHealth through the tumultuous waters of scandal economic and political upheaval sudden leadership changes layoffs and hospital consolidation Its no exaggeration to say there were moments when the future and very survival of MetroHealth hung in the balance To McDonald the system is essential to the community Despite calls for MetroHealth to be acquired absorbed or shut down he believed such a move would significantly harm the regions most vulnerable citizens The turnaround began in 2009 when the system returned to the black McDonald ascended to the role of chairman of the board of trustees in 2013 and MetroHealths revival accelerated Since then the system has remained in the black investing its earnings back into programming and care for its patients Revenue has jumped 44 percent patient volume is up 40 percent and the portion of costs covered by county taxpayers has decreased to 29 percent We are a different institution McDonald says Thomas M McDonald Chairman board of trustees The MetroHealth System O U R L A DY O F T H E WAY S I D E N O N P R O F I T B O A R D E X E C U T I V E O F T H E Y E A R AWA R D