Susan Reinhard has been named the new chair of the RWJBarnabas Health board of trustees, effective July 1, the health system announced Monday.
Reinhard, a nationally recognized expert in health and long-term care policy, will be the first woman and the first nurse to hold this position for the health system. She succeeds Lester Owens, who had served in the role since 2022.
James Vaccaro, the chair and CEO of Manasquan Bank and a board member at Monmouth Medical Center, was named vice chair.
RWJBH CEO Mark Manigan applauded the announcement.
“We are thrilled to welcome Susan as our new board chair,” he said. “Her vast experience and expertise have been tremendous assets to our organization and will continue to be instrumental to the growth and advancement of our mission to create and sustain healthier communities across New Jersey.”
A founding member of the board since 2016, Reinhard has served as vice chair since 2022, served as chair of the quality and safety committee and participated on the compliance and strategic planning/academic affairs committees.
She previously served on the board of directors for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital since 2013 and was a member of its finance, strategic planning and quality committees.
Reinhard, who has extensive experience in conducting, directing and translating research into action to promote policy change, said she is eager to take on her next challenge.
“I am deeply honored to serve as board chair for the largest academic health system in New Jersey,” she said. “I look forward to working with Mark and my fellow trustees in continuing to enhance and transform the health care landscape across New Jersey and beyond.”
Reinhard resume is as extensive as it is impressive.
She is a visiting professor for the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators at the University of California, Davis. Prior to that she served as a SVP and director of the AARP Public Policy Institute, the focal point for policy research and analysis in health, long-term care, and economics at the federal, state and international levels. She also served as the Chief Strategist for Family Caregiving Initiatives and the Center to Champion Nursing in America, a national resource center created to ensure that America has the highly skilled nurses it needs to provide care in the future.
Reinhard was a professor and co-director of the Rutgers University Center for State Health Policy, where she advanced the formulation of sound and creative state health and long-term policy across the nation. She also served as Deputy Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Health from 1996-1999 and again from 2002-2005. In that role, she served three governors from both political parties and was responsible for hospital, nursing home and community-based care licensing, regulation, financing and quality oversight. She earned a PhD from Rutgers University and an MSN from University of Cincinnati.
As evidence of her belief in service, Dr. Reinhard has served on numerous boards including the National Alliance for Caregiving, the National Academy for State Health Policy, the International Journal of Care and Caring, Generations and The Leapfrog Group.
Dr. Reinhard will succeed Lester Owens, who has served as Board Chair since 2022.
Manigan thanked him for his service.
“When Les became Chair, the health system and the health care industry at large were still recovering from the pandemic,” he said. “During his tenure, we have seen improvements in quality and safety scores, patient outcomes and satisfaction, and employee engagement; growth in our ambulatory densification strategy; and historic investments in our community health initiatives. We are grateful for his leadership.”
Owens was also a Founding member of the Board and served as Vice Chair from 2019-2022. He served on the Audit, Compliance, Compensation, Nominating and Governance, as well as other committees. He is also a long-time trustee of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and will continue to serve as a member of the Board.
“There has been no greater honor for me than to have served as Board Chair,” Owens said. “I am incredibly proud of all we have accomplished over the past three years and look forward to working with Susan as we continue to advance critical initiatives in support of the health system.”
