Board Of Directors
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Board Of Directors

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Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System has a 5-member, publicly elected Board of Directors.

Jim GattisJim Gattis, President

Known for his leadership in the Salinas business community, Jim Gattis opened and operated two retail men's wear stores for 17 years. Currently working in the field of real estate investments, he is involved in the renovation of commerical real estate in downtown Salinas and is the past chairman of the Central City Authority. With first-hand experience as a Hartnell College graduate, Jim is the Past Vice Chairman of the Hartnell Foundation. He is a Founding Director and Past President of the California International Airshow and is the Past Secretary of the International Council of Airshows. He is also a Member and Past Director of the Salinas Rotary Club and a Director of First National Bank of the Central Coast. Gattis has been a member of the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System Board since 2005.

 

Deborah Nelson, RN, MSDeborah Nelson, MS, RN, Vice President

Deborah Nelson received a Master of Science Degree from Boston University. Nelson speaks Spanish and has practiced in Salinas over 20 years as a nurse practitioner in women's health care and primary care at Doctors on Duty and Salinas Valley Prime Care. Nelson has been an educator of student nurses for Hartnell College at Natividad Medical Center and on the critical care staff at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. The Association of Hospitals and Health Systems named her Trustee of the Year in 1999. A Captain in the United States Naval Reserve she represents all reserve navy nurse corps officers in California, Arizona and Nevada to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Washington, DC. Nelson has been a member of the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System Board since 1988.

 

Patrick EganPatrick Egan, Secretary

Patrick Egan, a Chicago native and graduate of Lewis University, Joliet, IL, has  lived in the Salinas Valley since 1979. He has taught English at Alisal High School for 25 years and was the football and baseball coach for many years. Previously, he taught at Palma and King City high schools. Health insurance for teachers has been a focus of his involvement in the local and state teachers' unions. Egan was President of the Salinas Valley Federation of Teachers, and is now Chairman of the Safe and Nonviolent School Committee of the California Federation of Teachers. He also serves on the School Site Councils for Alisal High School. Egan was elected to the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System Board in 2008.

 

Harry WardwellHarry Wardwell, Treasurer

Harry Wardwell, a life-long resident of Salinas, graduated from North Salinas High School and Hartnell College. Wardwell is Regional President for Rabobank, N.A.. Prior to banking, he spent over 25 years managing the family business. Wardwell is active in the community having served as President of the Salinas Chamber of Commerce, the Salinas Rotary Club, the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Foundation Board of Governors and Executive Director for the California International Airshow. Wardwell has been a member of the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System Board since 2000.

 

Nathan J. OlivasNathan J. Olivas, Assistant Treasurer

Nathan J. Olivas, a native of Gilroy, has lived in Monterey County for the past 33 years. Olivas entered Hartnell College in 1955 and in 1960 graduated from Cal Poly with a Bachelor of Science Degree in crop science. Olivas went into the seed business in 1961. Over the span of the next 40 years he was involved in the founding and implementation of three successful commercial seed ventures, and recently founded GeneFresh, which will be developing lettuce varieties, and producing and marketing lettuce seed. He has served on the Advisory Council to the School of Agriculture at Cal Poly and as a Board Member of Palma High School. Olivas has been a member of the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System Board since 1983.