After Virginia’s decision to accept the Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) from Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont health systems for their merger, leadership has been officially mapped out for the future of Ballad..

Elizabethton native Dr. David May was one of the 11 regional leaders that were recently named to the inaugural Ballad Health board of directors, according to a statement released by both health systems last week.

May will assume the role of Quality Committee Chair of the board. Over members, and their roles for the board, include:

• Alan Levine – Chair/President
• David Lester – Vice Chair/Lead Independent Director
• Keith Wilson – Governance Committee Chair
• Gary Peacock – Finance COmmittee Chair
• Doug Springer, M.D. – Community Benefit/Population Health Committee Chair
• Barbara Allen – Workforce Committee Chair
• David Golden – Audit/Compliance Committee Chair
• Scott Niswonger – Executive Compensation Chair
• Brian Noland – Ex-Officio Voting Member

The board will officially assume its role as fiduciary responsibility oversight when the merger closes, reportedly in early 2018. From now until the closing, the board members will focus on the “preparatory work needed to establish governance, including policy development and development of strategic plans for the future of Ballad Health,” and will take over the role first spearheaded by the early joint-task force.

“We are grateful for the hard work done by the members of the joint board task force, especially the chairs of the Wellmont and Mountain States Boards – Roger Leonard, Bob Feathers and Barbara Allen – who spent an enormous amount of time, without any compensation, leading our boards through this process,” said Alan Levine, who will serve as executive chairman of the new board as well as president of Ballad Health. “The transition to our new governance is an important step both health systems contemplated when the agreement was reached to merge, and both health systems have been committed to following proven best practices in establishing local governance.”

With the board spanning various areas across the region, May brings a wealth of knowledge into the medical profession along with a community representative to the group. May is a practicing anesthesiologist, covering anesthesia needs for Sycamore Shoals and Indian Path Medical Center. May is also a member of Holston Air Holdings, LLC, and managing member of Endeavor Properties, both located in Elizabethton.

The announcement comes on the heels of both health systems’ decisions to form a transitional team after Virginia gave the OK for the COPA. Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner John Dreynzenher gave approval to the COPA a month prior to Virginia’s decision.

“Health care is changing and evolving,” Levine recently told the Elizabethton Star. “When you talk to people about where they want to locate their businesses, where they want to leave or where they want to retire, they want a stable, capitalized healthcare system with doctors that can take care of them.”