Missouri Baptist Medical Center

At a recent meeting, the board of trustees for Missouri Baptist Medical Center elected five of the region’s business and education leaders to its board.  The 25-member board supports the mission of the medical center to ensure that the highest quality care is delivered to patients in the communities Missouri Baptist serves.

Recognized as one of St. Louis’ most influential leaders, Benjamin Ola Akande, Ph.D., is professor of economics and dean of the George Herbert Walker School of Business and Technology at Webster University, which offers 26 graduate and undergraduate programs to its 13,000 students.  He not only leads a faculty of 1,500 spanning multi-campuses in the U.S., Europe and Asia, but Dr. Akande serves also as chief of Webster University’s Office of Corporate Partnerships. 

Dr. Akande holds a master’s degree in public administration, master’s degree in economics and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Oklahoma.  He completed post-doctoral studies at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and executive programs in leadership at Harvard University. 

D. Beatty D’Alessandro is senior vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) of Graybar, a St. Louis-based $4.5 billion company and industry leading distributor of electrical and networking products.  With operations throughout North America, it serves contractors and industrial enterprises. 

As CFO, he has responsibility for the accounting, information technology, treasury, internal audit and tax groups.  Prior to this position, D’Alessandro was Graybar’s vice president and chief information officer and led the company’s nationally recognized, award-winning Information Technology Department. 

D’Alessandro holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Florida in Tampa.

John P. Hess III, MD, interventional cardiologist, on-staff at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology.  Dr. Hess was appointed as medical director of the Outpatient Cardiac Catheterization lab at Missouri Baptist in 2009.  He served for five years on the Medical Executive Committee and was also president of the medical staff.

Dr. Hess received his medical degree and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine, and completed his fellowship in cardiovascular disease at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Kory G. Matthews is vice president and program manager within The Phantom Works group of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space and Security is a $32 billion business with 63,000 employees worldwide. 

Prior to this position, Matthews served also as vice president of F/A-18 and EA-18 programs where he was responsible for all activities associated with program development, production and support for the F/A-18 family of strike fighters, including the F/A-18A/B/C/D/E/F and the EA-18G, valued at more than $2.5 billion annually. 

Matthews holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and an executive MBA from Washington University’s Olin Business School. 

Katie Rhodes, certified public accountant (CPA), is a partner of Thurman, Shinn and Company, a Farmington, Mo. based full-service tax, accounting and business consulting firm, which focuses on small business, accounting, auditing and taxation. Rhodes is responsible for quality control function and continuing education.  She performs Peer Reviews also for other CPA firms. Peer reviews, an independent CPA review of financial statements prepared by another CPA firm, determines if financial statements comply with professional standards.  

Formerly, Rhodes was a manager with Grant Thornton, one of the world's leading tax firms comprised of independently owned and managed accounting and consulting firms. With more than 2,500 partners in 100 countries, these firms provide assurance, tax and specialist business advice to privately held businesses and public interest entities. While there, Rhodes served also as an instructor in their national continuing education program.

She holds a master’s degree in accountancy and CPA from the University of Oklahoma. 

Four current board members are rolling off Missouri Baptist Medical Center’s board, two of which will now serve on the board of directors for BJC HealthCare.  They are Michael Holmes, president Rx Outreach Inc. and Joyce Wood, certified public accountant and owner, J. Woods & Associates.

Rolling off the Missouri Baptist board are Richard McClure, chief operating officer, United Van Lines and president and chief operating officer, UniGroup, Inc. and Robert Kopitsky, MD, chief of cardiology and medical director, cardiac catheterization lab, Missouri Baptist Medical Center.

About Missouri Baptist Medical Center:

Missouri Baptist is a 489-bed acute-care hospital located at Highway 40 and I-270 in west St. Louis County.  Recognized as a “Top 100 U.S. Hospital” three consecutive years by Thomson Reuters, “5-Star Rated for Treatment of Heart Attacks” for the eighth consecutive year in Missouri by HealthGrades and “One of America’s Safest Hospitals” by Forbes, Missouri Baptist offers a full continuum of medical and surgical services, and specializes in heart, cancer, gastrointestinal, orthopedic, neurological/spine and women’s health services. Missouri Baptist provided care for 27,012 inpatients and 40,668 emergency patients in 2011. Missouri Baptist Medical Center is a member of HealthCare, one of the largest nonprofit healthcare organizations in the United States and the largest employer in St. Louis. Based in St. Louis, serves residents in Missouri and southern Illinois through its 13 hospitals and multiple health service organizations.