Methodist Hospitals Add New Board Members
12 prominent North Texas men and women will join Methodist hospitals’ board leadership
DALLAS – Methodist Health System, which includes seven hospitals and 27 Methodist Family Health Centers and Medical Groups, is proud to announce the addition of 12 new leaders to its boards: the Rev. David Alexander, Frank Bracken, the Rev. Greg Buckles, Bruce Capehart, Robyn A. Doty, Carol Esstman, Robert Garza, Greg Geissner, Tim Griffy, Harold F. Kleinman, Dale McCaskill, and Robert Mong.
The Rev. David Alexander has served as a United Methodist Church pastor for 15 years, 11 of those years at the First United Methodist Church in Mansfield, Texas. In January 2015, Alexander was appointed as the senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Mansfield. He holds a Master of Divinity from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Texas A&M University. He also serves as a member of the Central Texas Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, as well as on the Core Leadership Team for the Central Texas Conference.
From 1994 until 2006, Frank Bracken served as president of Haggar Clothing Corp. In 2006, he concluded the sale of the company to Infinity Partners and chose to retire. Bracken began his career at Haggar as a management trainee and held 13 different management positions during his career, actively managing every functional area of the business, including sales, marketing, product design, manufacturing and sourcing, retail, and international. In 1994, Bracken was the first and only non-Haggar to be named president of the company. During his career at Haggar, Bracken innovated and successfully marketed many new breakthrough products, the biggest of which was Wrinkle Free, which completely revolutionized not only the men’s trouser market but also all garment products. During that time, he also invented the “garment indicia strip,” popularly known as a “size strip,” on which he holds the patent in the U.S. and in many other countries around the world. He has served on many corporate and nonprofit boards, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and his alma mater, the University of North Texas.
An ordained minister, the Rev. Greg Buckles serves as lead pastor at Mansfield Bible Church, which he started 30 years ago. After graduating from Abilene High School, Greg attended the University of Texas at Austin. While in college, he played viola in the UT Symphonic Orchestra and the Austin Symphony. After receiving a Bachelor of Music in 1977, Buckles taught orchestra in the Arlington ISD for two years. He attended Dallas Theological Seminary where he received a Master in Theology in 1985. He has served as a volunteer chaplain for the Mansfield Police Department, on the advisory board for Mansfield Community Bank, and as a youth soccer coach. He loves ministering internationally in places such as Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Ecuador and has had opportunity to speak in India at a pastor’s conference and in Brazil at the Word of Life Seminary. Buckles has led four tours to Israel with one side trip to Jordan and has a fifth tour planned for June. Greg has been married to Susan for 35 years and has an adult son.
Bruce Capehart is director of software engineering at Lockheed Martin’s operations in Grand Prairie. He is responsible for the development and management of the organizational budget, job assignments, the development and training of 200 software engineers, and knowledge and integration of multiple missile systems and programs. Before this role, he was manager of software engineering of Lockheed Martin’s ASAT Missile System. In this role, Capehart was responsible for program software development and integration for the ASAT Program (anti-satellite), new systems development, and marketing.He previously served on the John Peter Smith (Tarrant County) Hospital Board of Managers Committee and on the selection/integration of EPIC software committee. He currently serves on Methodist Mansfield Medical Center’s Patient Safety Committee and as chairman of the Tarrant County Child Protective Services Board. He is also vice chair – finance for Community Partners of Tarrant County.
Robyn Doty has more than 26 years of leadership experience in marketing, consulting, and learning development. For most of her professional career, Doty was the owner and president of her own communication services business specializing in custom corporate communication, documentary videos, multimedia, and online learning. She worked with organizations including Sprint, Frito-Lay, Home Sports Entertainment, Raytheon, and Integrity Solutions. After a 17-year consulting relationship with Integrity Solutions, she accepted an in-house role with the firm as vice president of product development. In 2005, she became executive vice president of client support and operations, managing all product development, training, and customization of classroom and technology-based solutions. Doty worked closely with the company’s founder and current CEO, developing custom programs worldwide for clients including Sanofi-Aventis, Johnson & Johnson, Hudson Global, DePuy, Principal Financial Group, and others. She officially retired in 2008 but continues to work occasionally as project manager for Integrity Solutions. She also works closely with her parents in their family business.
Carol Esstman and her husband, Ed, have been residents of Mansfield for 25 years. She has been an active citizen in the community with interests ranging from the social to the philanthropic to the athletic. An avid supporter of Methodist Mansfield Medical Center, Esstman has also been a board member for the Mansfield Golf Association and the Mansfield Women’s Club and a charter member of the Methodist Mansfield Auxiliary and Walnut Creek Country Club. Esstman is also an active member of the PEO Chapter HN, an international philanthropic educational organization.
Robert Garza, EdD, was appointed president of Mountain View College in 2015, by Joe May, EdD, chancellor of the Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD), with the approval of the DCCCD Board of Trustees. Under Dr. Garza’s leadership, Mountain View College recorded its highest level of enrollment in the fall 2015 semester, enrolling more than 9,500 students working toward credit. The college awarded its first honorary degree to Trinidad “Trini” Garza, the namesake of the Garza Early College High School at Mountain View College, and saw a record number of students participate in its May 2015 graduation ceremony. To bring the college’s mission of empowering people and transforming communities to life, Dr. Garza led the first neighborhood block walk in Mountain View College’s history, which increased community support and awareness of the campus. Before joining Mountain View College, Dr. Garza served as vice president for student success at Palo Alto College (part of the Alamo Colleges system in San Antonio).
Greg Giessner is an insurance agency principal and agency business manager with the Giessner Insurance Agency/Farmers Insurance Group. Hired in August 1995, he has assisted the agency in earning recognition and designation in the Farmers Insurance Toppers Club and Championship. The Giessner Insurance Agency is celebrating its 27th year serving the insurance needs of their clients in Grand Prairie and the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex on matters relating to personal, commercial, business, life, and financial services. In May 2005, Giessner was elected to the board of directors of Grand Bank of Texas. Since that time, Grand Bank has continued to successfully grow its assets, deposits, and loans and has expanded from two locations in Grand Prairie to now include branches in Dallas, Marble Falls, and Horseshoe Bay. Giessner has also served as president of the Grand Prairie Metro Rotary Club, chairman of the board of directors for the Grand Prairie Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the Government and Legislative Committee for the Grand Prairie Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the city of Grand Prairie and Chamber of Commerce Partnerships, president of Children First Counseling, and chairman of Mountain Lake District. He also has served on the Grand Prairie Park Board, the Circle Ten Council Boy Scouts board, and the Grand Prairie Quality of Life Foundation board of directors. The Grand Prairie Chamber of Commerce named him Member of the Year in 2004, Man of the Year in 2005, and Director of the Year in 2007.
Tim Griffy spent 35 years with Ernst & Young, LLP (EY). He recently
retired after serving as southwest area managing partner, a role in which
he oversaw client service and operations in North Texas, Oklahoma, and
Arkansas. Previously, he was the global managing partner – people.
Based in London, this position oversaw performance management, training,
recruitment, and diversity for EY’s 100,000 people worldwide. In
this role, Griffy was also a member of EY’s Global Executive Board
and reported directly to the firm’s Global CEO. Personally, he has
served as past chairman of the board for Methodist Richardson Medical
Center and Southeastern Guide Dogs in Bradenton, Florida. He is a member
of the Methodist Richardson Hospital Heritage Society, Rice University
Council of Overseers, and Jesse Jones Graduate School of Management.
Harold F. Kleinman is of counsel and a former partner with Thompson &
Knight LLP, where he spent more than 50 years as an attorney in the firm’s
Corporate & Securities Practice Group. He served as the firm’s
managing partner from 1976 to 1988. Kleinman is an active Dallas community
and business leader, with extensive leadership roles that have included
past chairman of the Methodist Health System board of directors; past
chairman for the Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation; former president
of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas; former president of the Center
for Nonprofit Management; former president of Temple Emanu-El; and past
chairman of the board of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. The Texas
Equal Access to Justice Foundation has honored his outstanding character,
commitment, and public service to the people of Texas by creating an award
in his name to honor leaders in the field of equal access to civil justice.
Kleinman was the recipient of the 1991 United Way of Texas Helen Farabee
Volunteer Award; the 1999 United Way Erik Jonsson Award; and the Texas
Bar Foundation’s 2008 Fifty Year Lawyer Award. He currently serves
on the Methodist Dallas Medical Center Advisory Board, and will be taking
over as chair from George Schrader. He also continues to provide insight
and advice as a consulting director on the Methodist Health System board.
Dale McCaskill began his career in the fire service in 1986 as a volunteer firefighter with the Midlothian Fire Department. During the time, he served the community as a volunteer, he became a certified firefighter and paramedic. After achieving his certification, McCaskill’s professional career began with the Rowlett Fire Department in 1989, where he was promoted through the ranks to the position of captain. McCaskill returned to the Midlothian Fire Department on Jan. 1, 2007, as the deputy chief over training. Eight years later, on Jan. 1, 2015, he was named fire chief.
Robert “Bob” Mong, recently retired from the role of editor-in-chief at The Dallas Morning News, was recently named the third president of the University of North Texas at Dallas. During his 36-year career at DMN, Mong served as the paper’s managing editor before later being promoted to editor-in-chief. During his time in news leadership, the paper won nine Pulitzer Prizes and was named a Pulitzer finalist 16 other times. Mong also gained significant business experience as the paper’s general manager for three years and before that as CEO and publisher of the then company-owned Owensboro (Kentucky) Messenger-Inquirer. Throughout his professional career, higher education was the principal outlet for his volunteer activities. He developed volunteer ties to the University of North Texas in Denton, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at Dallas, Southern Methodist University, Austin College, University of Texas at Austin, and Louisiana State University, among other institutions. In 2014, Mong was instrumental in attracting a $250,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to create the Hispanic Families Network. The network trains Hispanic parents in three Dallas neighborhoods to report on early childhood education issues. DMN partnered with SMU to train participating parents. Mong served as chairman of The Dallas Morning News Charities from 1998 to 2015, raising money for the hungry and homeless in North Texas. In 2004, he won the national Empathy Award, sponsored by the Volunteers of America. The award each year recognizes a journalist who has made their community a better place to live.
“Methodist is grateful to these servant leaders who’ve agreed to share their time and expertise with us by serving on various boards,” says Stephen L. Mansfield, PhD, FACHE, president and CEO of Methodist Health System. “Each of these individuals shares our commitment to compassionate, quality healthcare and serving the needs of North Texans, and I look forward to working with them in a variety of ways.”
About Methodist Health System
Guided by the founding principles of life, learning, and compassion, Dallas-based Methodist Health System (Methodist) provides quality, integrated health care to improve and save the lives of individuals and families throughout North Texas. Four hospitals and 27 Methodist Family Health Centers and Medical Groups are among the facilities served by the nonprofit Methodist Health System, which is affiliated by covenant with the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the fastest-growing health systems in America, Methodist continues to add facilities and services to enhance patient care along the entire continuum.
CONTACT:
Calvert Collins-Bratton
calvertcollinsbratton@mhd.com
(214)886-9354