Brent Teiken, general manager of the Salesforce practice at Perficient, was recognized for his contributions on the Board of Trustees at Sanford Health. Modern Healthcare Magazine named Brent as a 2022 honoree of their Excellence in Governance program for his achievements in promoting diversity and successfully navigating various challenges. We discussed his keys to success and how Sanford has prioritized DE&I in healthcare.
Brent, congratulations on this recognition and thank you for joining me today! Can you tell me more about your role on the Board of Trustees at Sanford Health? How did you get involved and what do your current responsibilities include?
I began serving on the Sanford Board of Trustees in 2011 and became Chair in 2020. I initially became involved when I was asked to serve on the Sanford Health Foundation Board. Then, I moved to the Board of Trustees. Board members are responsible for the overall governance of the health system. This includes providing oversight in key areas such as Finance, Quality and Safety, Compliance, and Executive Performance. It also includes providing insight and ideas into system-wide strategy development and implementation.
What does it mean to you to be recognized by Modern Healthcare in this way?
My two-year period as Chair was a unique time in healthcare brought on by a number of significant challenges regionally, nationally and globally – the least of which was a global pandemic. Sanford successfully navigated its way through the pandemic, its first CEO leadership transition in 24 years, and a governance reset.
The recognition by Modern Healthcare is certainly rewarding, but I see it as further evidence of a highly dedicated leadership team and an engaged Board of Trustees.
Regarding this honor, Sanford’s CEO and president had the following to say: “While Brent’s leadership credentials are certainly impressive, his character, commitment and dedication to Sanford Health and those we serve is exemplary,” said Bill Gassen, Sanford Health president and CEO. “Brent cares deeply about his profession and lives out his commitment to health every day — the impact he has had on his colleagues, peers, employees and communities is immeasurable. As a result of his leadership, we are well-positioned to continue advancing our strategic goal of being the premier rural health system in the United States.”
How did you utilize your technical expertise and leadership skills to effectively direct Sanford Health through these significant challenges? What were your keys to success for leading in times of uncertainty and change?
In many ways, many of the problems Sanford was trying to solve during the pandemic were digital transformation problems: interoperability, access to data, reporting, artificial intelligence needed for planning, patient engagement and the overall patient experience, employee engagement, and process improvements, to name of few.
Being part of a global team at Perficient that deals with these issues every day provided me with invaluable insight and experience that I could share with the leadership team and the Board of Trustees at Sanford Health.
Modern Healthcare’s article mentioned that you’ve helped Sanford Health steer through a variety of diversity and inclusion initiatives in support of equitable health for veterans and rural communities. Can you tell me more about these initiatives? How do you think diversity and inclusion should be prioritized in the healthcare space?
The Board of Directors, in conjunction with the Sanford leadership team, has taken a broad approach to DE&I to ensure initiatives are prioritized at all levels and across its vast regional footprint. Starting with the Nominating and Governance committee, we updated board governing norms and established goals for optimal board composition. This process now includes a focus on inclusion and diversity of skills, perspectives, and backgrounds among the Trustees.
Also, during my term as Chair, Sanford Health launched a signature initiative to ensure inclusion of, and appropriate service levels for, Sanford employees and patients who are service members or veterans. Sanford’s military and veterans’ initiatives also include a national partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The PHASER program advances precision medicine for veterans through no-cost genetic testing provided by Sanford Imagenetics.
Additional efforts included the following:
- Recruiting new leadership for Sanford’s DE&I department
- Forming an enterprise DE&I committee
- Creating an Equity in Education Scholarship Program for first-generation American citizens
- A focus on providing culturally competent care for our patients and residents
- Enhancing our translation and interpretation capabilities for employees and those we serve
Additionally, consistent with Sanford’s commitment to our Native American communities, the organization hired leadership for Native American community outreach, whose focus is to work with the tribes in our service areas to meet their community health needs.
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