People in business
o Mary Elizabeth “Beth” O’Brien has been named chief operating officer for PeaceHealth, a not-for-profit health system serving patients in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. O’Brien will be responsible for all operations in the $2 billion system, including 10 hospitals, an 800-member multispecialty group practice and a comprehensive laboratory. O’Brien is currently senior vice president and group executive officer for Catholic Health Initiatives, with direct oversight for CHI hospitals in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Maryland. She also serves as Integration Leader for CHI, where she has worked since 2007. In 2004, O’Brien was one of only 28 women in the country named to Modern Healthcare magazine’s “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare.”
o iQ Credit Union has hired Martina Valentine as senior vice president/chief lending officer. She will oversee business services, consumer and residential lending and credit risk management. Valentine, who has 23 years of financial experience, was senior vice president at Redwood Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in northern California, for the past eight years.
o Second Step Housing, a local nonprofit agency working to provide affordable housing for at-risk individuals and families, has added Randall Tangen and Jared Sanford to its board of directors. Tangen is a sergeant with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. Sanford works in the behavioral health field as a substance abuse counselor.
o Washington State University College of Nursing has appointed registered nurse Lida Dekker as program director. In her role, she will be responsible for the program, which is tailored for associate-prepared nurses who want to earn their bachelor’s degrees in nursing. Dekker has been a faculty member at WSU’s Vancouver campus since 2007.
