Wellness Foundation elects new officers
EL CENTRO – Imperial Valley Wellness Foundation has elected its 2020-21 officers, as well as announced new members to its board of trustees.
Jose Landeros, vice president sales at David H. West Insurance Services, replaces El Centro Regional Medical Center Chief Strategic Officer Cathy Kennerson as chairman.
Anne Irigoyen, chief operating officer of Ametza LLC, takes over as vice chairman. Allen Tyler, area executive vice president for Gallagher Insurance, is treasurer. Tim Kelley, president and CEO of the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corp., is secretary.
Joining the board as new trustees are James Garcia, broker/owner of Capital Real Estate, and registered dietician Matthew Jaime, a Type 1 diabetic and founder of the Diabetes Coalition at Fresno State.
Other members of the board are ECRMC’s Kennerson, Alex Cardenas, executive director of CASA Imperial County; Sara Griffen, executive director of Imperial Valley Food Bank; Jaime Honold, president of Burgers & Beer Restaurants; Stephen Jaime, clinical nurse specialist of diabetes education at ECRMC, and Victor Jaime, interim CEO of IVWF.
“It’s been gratifying already to be a board trustee of IVWF during this challenging time with the COVID-19 pandemic,” said new Chairman Landeros. “Our mission to advance the health and well-being of our community has played out clearly in our COVID response efforts to bring needed funding to non-profits who are directly serving our communities. There is still much to do and I’m proud to be working with IVWF on this mission.”
IVWF is a tax-exempt public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code formed to advance the health and wellness of vulnerable populations in Imperial County.
The San Diego-based Alliance Healthcare Foundation, nationally recognized for its innovative health and wellness initiatives, has offered a $7.5 million matching grant to endow IVWF and has provided other direct funding to support start-up operations and initial grant making.
Wholly independent from Alliance Healthcare Foundation and locally governed by its own board of trustees, the Imperial Valley Wellness Foundation is raising an additional $17.5 million through a national capital campaign to create a $25 million endowment that will fund local programs and activities in perpetuity.
Visit http://www.ivwf. org/.