Community Board

Nancy J. Auer, M.D., Chair
Nancy Auer, M.D., is an emergency medical physician who has served in many roles at Swedish. Dr. Auer has been at Swedish for more than 30 years, serving in various key positions, including chief medical officer, chief of staff, medical director of Emergency Services and vice president of medical affairs. Dr. Auer retired from active practice in 2010 and now serves as a consultant on medical staff and leadership issues.

Teresa Bigelow
Teresa Bigelow has served on the Swedish Board since May 2007. She worked as an attorney specializing in health-care law for 24 years. Bigelow co-founded Bennett, Bigelow & Leedom in 1983, and served as managing partner until 1995. She founded the Safe Crossings Foundation in 1989, and served as that organization's president of the board from 1989 to 2006.

Cheryl Gossman
Cheryl Gossman is chair of the Swedish Foundation Board of Governors. She has been on the Board since 2005. She serves on the Board Quality Committee, the Campaign Leadership Council and the Women and Children's Advisory Council. She has 15 years experience in physician practice management. Gossman has a master's degree in health-care management from George Washington University. She is also active in the Katy McKay Circle of Association for Catholic Childhood.

Michael Hart, M.D.
Michael J. Hart, M.D. joined the Swedish Board in December 2012. Dr. Hart is a gruaduate of Holy Cross College and Yale University School of Medicine. After surgical residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, he served at the United States Public Health Service Hospital in Seattle. He has practiced general surgery at Swedish with a special interest in hepato-biliary-pancreatic surgery. He was the director of the Swedish surgery residency program from 1983 to 2012. During that time the program increased in size and it is now recognized as one of the premiere private practice training programs in the nation. Dr. Hart has served as chief of surgery and chief of staff at Swedish/First Hill. He has been a governor of the American College of Surgeons, and has served as president of the Washington State Chapter of the American College of Surgeons. He recently served on the board of directors of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery and served on the American College of Surgeons Advisory Council for General Surgery. He was the president of the Pacific Coast Surgical Association in 2007 and president of the North Pacific Surgical Association in 2008. He holds the rank of clinical professor of surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Hart is a 2010 recipient of the ACGME Parker Palmer Courage to Teach award. Dr. Hart retired from surgical practice in June, 2012 after serving twenty-nine years as surgery residency program director.

William W. Krippaehne Jr.
Bill Krippaehne has been on the Swedish Board since 2002. He is the former president and chief executive officer of Fisher Communications, Inc., in Seattle. Prior to that he had held other management positions at Fisher, was a stockholder partner and senior vice president at Cushman & Wakefield, and was vice president and general manager of The Gilley Company.

Chuck Lytle
Charles Lytle has been on the Swedish Board since 2007. He is past chairman of the Swedish Foundation Board of Governors, where he has been a member since 1990. He is also on the Swedish Medical Center Campaign Leadership Council.  Lytle is president of Lytle Enterprises, LLC. His background is in senior housing. He established Lytle Enterprises and Leisure Care in 1976. He is chair of the Allocations Committee for the Swedish Board of Governors and the Human Resources and Compensation Committee, as well as chairman of the Cancer Advisory Council, and he sits on the board of the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research. Lytle has served on the boards of senior housing organizations, community hospitals, health maintenance organizations, and Payless Drugs. He is also past president of the Washington State Special Olympics, past vice chairman of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society for United Way, and past vice president of PONCHO. Currently, he serves as a director on the board of Performing Arts Center Eastside (PACE), which is the parent organization of Tateuchi Center, is a member of the Tateuchi Center Executive Committee, and is co-chair of the Tateuchi Center capital and endowment campaign.

Stanley D. Savage
Stanley D. Savage joined the Swedish board in December 2012. He is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of The Commerce Bank of Washington, N.A., and chairman of The Commerce Bank of Oregon. Both banks are subsidiaries of Zions Bancorporation, where Savage serves on the Executive Management Committee as an executive vice president. Savage has more than 35 years of banking and management experience. Savage received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Washington, a master’s in business administration from University of Southern California, and is a graduate of the London Business School Graduate School of Credit and Financial Management. His present civic activities include serving on a number of not-for-profit and business related boards including the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle, ArtsFund, Seattle Repertory Theatre Foundation and the Seattle Art Museum.

Martin Siegel, M.D.
Martin Siegel, M.D., has been a member of the Swedish Board since 2000. He is an infectious-disease physician who has been on the Swedish staff since 1980. Dr. Siegel was medical director of epidemiology at Swedish from 1993-2005, and served as president of The Polyclinic from 2000-2004. He is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Washington. Prior to joining Swedish, he was an investigator at the Fred Hutchinson Research Center. Prior to moving to Seattle, Dr. Siegel was a clinical research investigator at the Centers for Disease Control.

Janet True
Janet True has been a member of the Swedish Board since 2005. She is also a member of the Swedish Foundation Board of Governors. True's background includes working in the U.S. Senate, the U. S. House of Representatives, and the American Enterprise Institute. On a local level, she worked in the Washington State House of Representatives as well as various political campaigns across Washington state. She is currently chair of the Seattle Repertory Theatre Board and will become president of Patrons of Northwest Civic, Cultural and Charitable Organizations (PONCHO) during 2008. She is on the advisory board of Treehouse and the Pacific Northwest Ballet. True is a founding member of the Washington Policy Center, ChangePac, and Wild Entrust International of Botswana; she continues to hold trustee positions in those organizations. She is a former trustee of Woodland Park Zoo, The Bush School, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and has chaired the major fundraisers for the Moyer Foundation, Seniors Making Art and the 10-99 Foundation.