In recognition of the importance of hospital trustees, since 2005, MHA has presented the Trustee Excellence in Leadership Award to honor significant contributions by a trustee leader whose professional achievements have been of exceptional value to healthcare. Nominations are made by any MHA member hospital or health system.
This year, two trustees received the award: Cooley Dickinson Health Care’s Sanford “Sandy” Belden, who has served on the board since 2008 and as chair from 2015 to 2017; and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham’s Christoph Hoffmann, a longtime trustee and current member of the hospital’s Board of Advisors. Belden is the retired president & CEO of a community banking system in New York state, and Hoffman is a retired executive of Raytheon. The CEO’s of Cooley Dickinson and BID Needham, Joanne Marqusee and John Fogarty, respectively, presented the awards.
Of Belden, Marqusee praised, "Sandy’s patience, wisdom, knowledge, ability to bring board, medical staff and administrators together, openness to new ideas and constructive debate, generosity, and advocacy. He has the highest level of integrity, makes everybody feel heard and respected, and has the courage to identify the elephant in the room."
Fogarty said Hoffmann "instills a focus on metrics and performance improvement in both quality of care and finance while guiding efforts to modernize hospital facilities." Hoffmann and his wife Susan, a long-time hospital volunteer, have also set a positive example of generosity with their planned giving, focusing their philanthropy on gastroenterology and digestive care.