SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Aug. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Direct Relief has elected four new directors to its board and selected Angel Iscovich, M.D., as its chair.
Dr. Iscovich, a board member since 2010, succeeds Rita Moya who chaired Direct Relief's board from 2015 to 2016 and oversaw the organization's largest expansion its 68-year history.
Dr. Iscovich, who received his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, brings a tremendous background in public service and a wealth of clinical and executive health care expertise.
Dr. Iscovich currently serves as CEO of Envision Healthcare's Qualitas Group, a healthcare staffing and telemedicine solutions provider, and as the medical director of the Montecito Fire Department.
An active member of the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American College of Physician Executives, and the California Medical Association, Dr. Iscovich previously has served as founder and CEO of First Medical Group Inc., Commissioner of the California Emergency Medical Services Commission, EMS medical director for Santa Barbara County, at the USC School of Medicine as an assistant clinical professor, and for the American Heart Association as a national faculty member. Dr. Iscovich also has served on the boards of the Cottage Health System, Catholic Healthcare West, and the St. Francis Foundation of Santa Barbara.
The new directors – Jeffrey P. Branch, Michael A. Kelly, Jane Olson, and Byron Scott, M.D. – bring diverse fields of interest and skills to Direct Relief. Each will serve up to two three-year terms.
Jeffrey P. Branch is a 32-year veteran of the commercial real estate industry in the southwestern United States. The commercial investment and development firm he leads as CEO, Columbus Capital/Branch Design & Development Inc., has led more than $1 billion in commercial real estate sales, leases, and developments.
With his wife, Michelle, Branch co-founded Adoption Means Love, a foundation that educates, advocates and supports children in foster care. Since 2011, when Adoption Means Love merged with Heart Gallery of New Mexico Foundation, Branch has remained involved as a member of the board. He has also served as President of the Santa Fe Commercial Council, the Santa Fe Metropolitan Redevelopment Commission, and the City of Santa Fe History Design Review Board.
Michael A. Kelly, a veteran biopharmaceutical industry executive, is currently the senior vice president of global business services at Amgen Inc. Since joining Amgen in 2003, Kelly has served in a number of executive finance assignments, including five years as chief accounting officer and more recently as CFO for international commercial operations. Before joining Amgen, Kelly had finance roles at Tanox, Biogen, and Monsanto Life Sciences. He has also held senior leadership positions at Tanox Inc., Biogen Inc., and Monsanto Life Sciences Co.
Jane Olson chaired the international board of trustees of Human Rights Watch, the largest U.S.-based international human rights organization, from 2004 to 2011, having worked on behalf of HRW since 1988. She was founding board chair of Landmine Survivors Network and served as its chair for 13 years, through its transition to Survivor Corps. LSN and HRW were among the five organizations to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for the International Landmine Ban Treaty. Olson currently serves on the board of the Pacific Council on International Policy and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Olson has received numerous awards, including the inaugural 2005 Eleanor Roosevelt Award from Feminist Majority; the Silver Achievement Award from the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles; the Community Achievement Award from Public Counsel, and The Alison Des Forges Award in 2010 from Human Rights Watch.
Byron Scott, M.D., brings to Direct Relief extensive experience in healthcare analytics, hospital and physician practice management, and emergency medicine. In his current role as associate chief medical officer at Truven Health Analytics, an IBM company, Dr. Scott provides strategic guidance to hospital, employer, health plan, pharmaceutical, and government clients on initiatives relating to healthcare, clinical performance, quality, and leadership. Before Truven, Dr. Scott worked for the hospital-based physician practice management company EmCare. He also practiced medicine for 19 years at Methodist Richardson Medical Center in Richardson, Tex., where he served as chief of staff, medical director of the emergency department, and on the hospital's the board of trustees. Scott holds a medical degree from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, an MBA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Isenberg School of Management, and a bachelor's degree from UCLA.
About Direct Relief
Founded in 1948, Direct Relief is a California-based nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian medical aid in all 50 states and more than 70 countries, with a stated mission to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergency situations. Among other distinctions, Direct Relief has been named among the world's ten most innovative nonprofits by Fast Company, received the CECP Directors' Award, the President's Award from Esri for excellence in GIS mapping, and the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation. Of the more than 8,000 charities rated by Charity Navigator, Direct Relief is one of only 49 to receive a perfect overall score of 100. For more information, please visit http://www.DirectRelief.org.
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