Board of Directors

Edward R. (Ned) Book

Director

Ned Book and his wife, Inga, live in State College. Ned is retired chairman and CEO of Hershey Entertainment and Resort Company and former president and chair of the Travel Industry Association of America, a non-profit trade organization that represents and speaks for the common interests of the $740 billion U.S. travel industry.

Ned serves our community in many capacities, including as a SCORE volunteer, providing free and confidential advice to small businesses. He is a member of The Foundation for Mount Nittany Medical Center's Steering Committee.

Ned has been named a Distinguished Alumnus by Penn State, which is the highest honor bestowed upon Penn State graduates by the University. He continues to be active with many University programs, including serving as a visiting professor for the School of Hospitality Management.

Steven E. Brown, FACHE

President and Chief Executive Officer
Mount Nittany Medical Center

After graduating from Thiel College in 1973, Brown worked as a physical therapy assistant before a mentor advised him to pursue a career in hospital administration. Following that advice, Brown received a Master of Public Administration in Health Services Administration from Penn State University in 1977. Brown is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, since 1990.

Over the next 33 years, Brown's career included positions in hospitals in Ohio, Virginia and Washington. Specific positions include Penn State Hershey Medical Center(Hershey, Pa., 1976-1979) where he served as director of ambulatory services; Akron General Medical Center (Akron, Ohio, 1979-1984) as the hospital's vice president of professional and medical services; and Inova Health System (Northern Virginia, Va., 1984-2001) where he held multiple positions, including vice president of the system and administrator of two hospital complexes, Inova Fair Oaks Hospital and subsequently, Inova Fairfax Hospital/Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children. From 2002 to the present, Brown has served as chief executive officer of Evergreen Healthcare, a 275-bed medical center in Kirkland, Wash., with more than 3,300 employees and 780 physicians.

Brown "grew up" in the ambulatory and physician sides of hospitals, and is knowledgeable about academic medicine. Over the course of his career, Brown has developed a full range of progressive managerial and administrative skills in healthcare delivery, including experience in healthcare systems, both large and small hospitals, and academic teaching facilities.

Under his CEO supervision, Evergreen Healthcare was named the first Baby Friendly Hospital in the nation and awarded the highest national honor by HealthGrades for clinical care two years in a row. While at Inova Health System in Fairfax, Virginia, Brown helped oversee the design, construction and transition to a new replacement facility, Inova Fair Oaks Hospital, and the development of the first medical school in Northern Virginia in conjunction with Virginia Commonwealth University on the Fairfax campus.

Brown is a Civil War buff from Mechanicsburg, Pa. He has been married for 35 years to wife, Mary. They have two sons.

Tom Brown

Secretary

Tom Brown is President and CEO of Microdata Systems, Inc., a company offering benefit tracking, W2 & Magnetic Media Preparation & Filing, Tip Accounting, Quarterly Returns, Payroll Processing, Individual & Business Tax Returns, General Ledger/Job Cost Accounting services.

Brown currently serves as chairman of the Financial Development Committee of the State College Area Family YMCA, has been the annual convention chairman of the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association for over 10 years and is a member of the regional board of Kish Bank. Brown holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Denison University in Grantville, Ohio, and a professional degree in mortuary science from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. He also holds an active Pennsylvania insurance license for life and annuities, and health and accident.

Mimi Barash Coppersmith

Director

Mimi Barash Coppersmith, of State College, is chairperson and founder, along with her late husband, Sy, of the State College-based advertising and publishing firm, The Barash Group. The Barash Group includes four divisions and has offices in three cities.

Ms. Coppersmith has served our community in many capacities, including stints as president of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts; campaign coordinator for Centre Lifelink's capital campaign; Palmer Museum of Art Advisory Board member; and chair of the capital campaigns for the Women's Resource Center and Hemlock Girl Scout Council.

She has been named a Distinguished Alumna by Penn State, which is the highest honor bestowed upon Penn State graduates by the University. She served seven terms as a Penn State Trustee, including two years as the first woman board chair. She continues to be active with many University programs, including serving on the board of the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and has been honored as a Renaissance Person of the Year by the University. She serves on the Steering Committee for Mount Nittany Medical Center's Commitment to Distinction campaign.

Richard H. Dixon, MD

Director

Richard H. "Dick" Dixon, of Bellefonte, is an internal medicine specialist, with a focus on hematology and oncology. Although he no longer maintains a private patient practice, he continues to be active at Mount Nittany Medical Center as the Medical Director of the Penn State Cancer Institute at Mount Nittany Medical Center.

Dr. Dixon completed his medical education, residency program and hematology/oncology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Hematology.

In 1997 Dr. Dixon received the first clinical practice award from the American College of Physicians, recognizing over two decades of outstanding service and dedication to his patients, community and colleagues. Several years later, he and Barbara Gutch, RN, CNO, a certified oncology nurse, were nominated as Heroes in Health Care, a recognition program sponsored by the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania (HAP). Further, Dr. Dixon has led our cancer program to national prominence by helping us to achieve accreditation, and subsequent distinction, by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC).

Dr. Dixon serves as principal investigator on many of the clinical trials available at Mount Nittany Medical Center focused on the prevention and treatment of cancer. He is a member of the executive committee of the Penn State Cancer Institute and is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at The Penn State College of Medicine. Dr. Dixon is recognized as a diagnostician and is networked with many cancer treatment and research centers. He is an advocate for rural health initiatives.

Jonathan Dranov, MD

Chair

Jonathan "Jon" Dranov is an internal medicine specialist, with a focus in nephrology. Dr. Dranov completed his undergraduate degree in chemistry and physics at Penn State. After Medical School at the University of Pennsylvania, he went on to complete his residency and nephrology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Nephrology.

In 1974, Dranov founded Centre Medical and Surgical Associates, which would become the largest multi-specialty physician practice in the State College region. He also developed the region's first kidney dialysis unit at Mount Nittany Medical Center, and served as President of the Medical Advisory Board of the Kidney Foundation of Central Pennsylvania. Dr. Dranov is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center.

Dr. Dranov has served as Chair of the Board for The Foundation for Mount Nittany Medical Center since its creation in 2001, and is the campaign chair for Commitment to Distinction.

In 2007, Penn State named Jon Dranov Renaissance Person of the Year. He has also served Penn State as a member of the Alumni Council for six years and spent 10 years on Penn State's Eberly College of Science Alumni Board.

John Dutton, PhD

Vice Chair

Dr. Dutton is professor emeritus of meteorology and dean emeritus of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Dutton holds B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and served for three years as an officer in the Air Weather Service of the U.S. Air Force. He is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is Chief Scientist of Storm Exchange, Inc., a financial services firm that helps businesses improve performance through management of weather and climate risk.

Dr. Dutton has been active in the AMS, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and in National Academy of Science studies related to atmospheric science, space science, and aviation. He chaired the National Research Council Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate while it produced the report, The Atmospheric Sciences Entering the Twenty-First Century, and most recently chaired an academy committee that produced a report, For Greener Skies – Reducing the Environmental Impacts of Aviation.

Dr. Dutton has served as a Trustee of Mount Nittany Medical Center for 12 years, and recently served as Vice Chair of the Board. He serves on the Steering Committee for Commitment to Distinction.

R. Riggs Griffith

Director

Riggs is the newest member of The Foundation Board and is our delegate to the Medical Center's investment committee.

Riggs is a former Managing Director, national benefits administration and planning, Pricewaterhouse/PricewaterhouseCoopers, the position from which he retired. Prior to that, he worked as Treasurer and Chief Investment Officer, The Johns Hopkins University. At Johns Hopkins his responsibilities included, managing endowment and similar funds, cash management and normal treasury functions, public and private borrowings, pension oversight, risk management, real estate management.

Riggs is affiliated with local non-profit boards, including the Centre County Community Foundation Board of Directors.

Donald W. Hamer

Director

Don Hamer, of Bellefonte, is the Founder and Chairman of State of the Art, Inc., in State College.

Don received his degree in ceramic engineering from the University of Illinois in 1945 and his MBA from the University of Chicago in 1958. He also received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Penn State in 1968.

From 1963 through 1969, Don was employed at Erie Technological Products, State College, first as Chief Engineer of the Materials Division, then as Corporate Research Director. In 1969 he founded State of the Art, Inc. State of the Art, Inc. was founded as a consulting business specializing in thick film technology seminars as well as other consulting services. Manufacturing began in 1972 and quickly displaced the consulting business. State of the Art, Inc. is the leading American supplier of high reliability thick and thin film resistive components to the Biomedical, Communications, Aerospace, and Defense industries, and is recognized as building a product line that has qualified for the highest domestic and international levels of reliability. State of the Art, Inc. is a privately held small business with 100+ employees.

Don has long been involved locally and nationally as a volunteer and philanthropist. He has served on the boards of ClearWater Conservancy, the Centre County Historical Society, and the Palmer Museum of Art, among others. Nationally, he is recognized as a conservationist. He was the awarded the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Award in a White House ceremony in 1992. He has been honored by the Pennsylvania State University as a Distinguished Alumnus (2000), and was the 1995 recipient of the Renaissance Man of the Year award.

J. Lloyd & Dorothy B. Huck

Directors

Lloyd is retired chairman of the board of Merck & Co. and former president of the Penn State Board of Trustees. He is a 1946 Penn State graduate in chemistry. Dottie is a 1943 graduate in home economics. After retiring in 1986 from Merck & Co. following nearly 30 years as a research chemist and executive, Lloyd was chairman of the board and CEO of Nova Pharmaceutical Corp. until 1991. He has served as a trustee on numerous corporate and foundation boards.

Lloyd has chaired medical center campaigns, including the Campaign for Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and a capital campaign for Morristown Hospital. Lloyd and Dottie have endowed The Huck Institute for Life Sciences (formerly the Biotechnology Institute) at Penn State.

Lloyd and Dottie served as volunteers for Morristown Hospital, in Morristown, NJ, for many years, before moving permanently to State College. Lloyd served as a trustee, and Dottie as a volunteer. Dottie is a volunteer for Mount Nittany Medical Center, working mostly on the 4th Floor in a patient care capacity.

Barbara R. Palmer

Director

Barbara Raeder Palmer, of State College, is a 1946 graduate of Iowa State University. After moving to State College in 1953, Barbara served on the Board of Directors of C-COR Electronics, where her husband was CEO, for 25 years. She was active in the community as the first woman president of the Centre County United Way, Vice President of Hemlock Gift Scout Council, volunteer at the Park Forest Day Nursery, and numerous other service agencies.

Barbara served on the Steering Committee for Penn State's Grand Destiny Campaign, and is on the Advisory Board of the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State. The Palmers have created funds for faculty and students at both Iowa State and Penn State, and as avid art collectors, provided the lead gift to renovate and expand Penn State's art museum, reborn as the Palmer Museum of Art.

Barbara has also supported Centre Volunteers in Medicine, as well as national organizations devoted to health and well being, funding a genetic research project for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Barbara has given several keynote presentations nationally on the role of women in philanthropy. She is an Honorary Alumna of Penn State and was named the Renaissance Woman of the Year in 1982.

Karen P. Shute, CLU, ChFC, CFP

Director

Karen graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a degree in finance. Her professional designations include, Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant, and Certified Financial Planner®. She is licensed for life, health, disability and long-term care insurance.

Karen is chairman of the advisory board for the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State, and a board member of the Centre County Community Foundation. She is a Mount Nittany Medical Center Trustee and member of the finance committee and investment sub-committee.

Philip H. Sieg

Director

Phil Sieg is a Bellefonte native and 1957 Penn State graduate in business administration. Before starting the real estate-oriented Sieg Financial Group, he and partner, Alexander Gregory, formed the Federated Home & Mortgage Co. in 1959 to build single-family homes and apartment complexes in State College. Their partnership proved so dynamic that they soon began to develop and manage a chain of twenty Holiday Inns in Pennsylvania and three other states, and Toftrees -- Pennsylvania's first planned community.

Sieg and his wife, Judy, have long been involved locally as volunteers and philanthropists. They have supported Penn State through the formation of endowments for programs, like the University Libraries and Athletics, and faculty fellowships. Penn State named Phil Sieg an Alumni Fellow in 1988 and a Distinguished Alumnus (its highest honor) in 1993.

Richard Wisniewski, CPA

Treasurer

This biography will be coming shortly. Please check back at a later time.