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News Release
For Immediate Release
For more information, contact:
Louise B. Edwards
Director, Marketing and Planning
(757) 889-5549

Suffolk, Va. (March 27, 2006) – Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System (BSHR) is pleased to announce its 2006 Board of Directors.  Bon Secours has named Wayne K. Sawyer as chair of the Board of Directors as well as three new members at-large.

Sawyer is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Bennett’s Creek Wholesale Nursery, Inc., located in Suffolk, VA, with distribution centers in Williamsburg and soon in Virginia Beach and Powells Point, NC.

“Health care has always been a passion of mine – I trained as a Emergency Medical Technician and a Cardiac Technician, so serving on the board of directors of a health care organization seemed a natural fit,” added Sawyer.  After serving on the BSHR Board of Directors for a maximum term of nine years, Sawyer rotated off in 2005.  “I am delighted that Wayne has chosen to come back – he has done so much for Bon Secours as chair of our Strategic AdHoc committee,” said Sister Rita Thomas, president of the BSHR Board of Directors.

Sawyer also serves on a number of community boards of directors, including the South Hampton Roads YMCA, the North Suffolk Family YMCA where he serves as Chair, Richard Bennett Trust, TowneBank Portsmouth Division, and Bennett’s Creek Ruritan Club.  He is also very active in professional organizations including the Southern Nursery Association where he serves as President.  Finally, the Suffolk Jaycees named Sawyer Suffolk’s Outstanding Young Man of the Year in 1993. 

Among the three new board members is Sister Rosemary Smith, SC, who currently serves as Senior Vice President of Sponsorship for the Bon Secours Health System and BSHR.  

As a Sister of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Sister Rosemary brings forty years of experience in a variety of ministries – as educator from the secondary through graduate levels; as judge in diocesan and inter-diocesan marriage tribunals and director of the diocesan tribunal; as Vicar for Religious; as canonical consultant to religious institutes and in leadership in her own religious congregation.  She holds a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Catholic University of America as well as a Master of Arts in English literature and a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics.

Mary Jane Nero serves on the BSHR Board of Directors as a community representative from the Virginia Beach area.  She also serves on a number of community organizations including the Virginia Beach Community Services Board, the Neptune Festival, and the King’s Daughters of Children’s Hospital Circle of Hearts.  She is a Certified Public Accountant and earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown University.  She most recently was Executive Director of Finance for the New York Times Company Shared Services Center, in Norfolk.

Edward Boyer is the Bon Secours Health System representative on the BSHR Board of Directors.  He currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Corporate Services for BSHSI in Marriottsville, Maryland.  He received his MBA from George Washington University and his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland.  He serves on the board of the Preferred Professional Insurance Company, and is a member of the American College of Health Care Executives and the Beth Shalom congregation.

Other board members include: Alfred E. Abiouness, business leader in Norfolk; Sister Anna Mae Crane, a Sister of Bon Secours; Rise Faith E. Dajao, M.D., a primary care physician with First Care P.C. in Chesapeake; Richard A. Hanson, CEO of Bon Secours Hampton Roads; Linwood E. Howard, financial industry executive in Norfolk; William H. Kline, real estate executive in Portsmouth; Robert W. Knapp, M.D., retired surgeon and former member of the Bon Secours Health System Board of Directors; Margaret U. Moser, financial executive in Portsmouth; R. B. Seal, M.D., retired pathologist; Deborah K. Stearns, real estate executive in Norfolk and Virginia Beach; James A. Stewart, M.D., internist with Internists of Churchland, Ltd.; and Sister Rita D. Thomas, CBS, president of the Board of Directors.

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Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System is a leading health care organization known for providing care for the whole person with grace and clinical distinction. Bon Secours brings together a network of hospitals, primary care practices, ambulatory care sites and continuing care facilities to provide quality health care services to the residents of Hampton Roads. Bon Secours, which employs more than 4,500, includes: Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center, Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, Mary Immaculate Hospital, Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View, Bon Secours Maryview Nursing Care Center and St. Francis Nursing Center.

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