Sutter Health Board of Directors

Warner L. Thomas

President and Chief Executive Officer

Warner Thomas is president and CEO of Sutter Health. Thomas, who has over 30 years’ experience in healthcare, became president and CEO of Sutter Health in November 2022 after serving for 10 years as president and CEO of Ochsner Health, Louisiana’s largest healthcare provider, employer, and educator of medical professionals.

At Ochsner, Thomas led a partnership strategy with physicians, health plans, technology companies and others to expand the system’s physician network and care services, enhance digital health capabilities and technology integration, and improve health outcomes with a focus on equitable care. Prior to becoming CEO, Thomas was Ochsner Health’s president and chief operating officer from 1998-2012.

In 2014, he was appointed to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission where he continues to advise Congress on issues affecting Medicare. He is a current member of the American Hospital Association (AHA) Board of Trustees and has served as Chairman of AHA’s Health Systems Governing Council. He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. 

Herbert (Gubby) Brereton Barlow

Herbert (Gubby) Brereton Barlow joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in May 2017 and became Board Chair in 2021. Barlow served as CEO, chief operating officer and executive vice president at Premera Blue Cross for almost two decades. Other leadership roles have included chief financial officer at Health Net, and partner with Deloitte & Touche.

Barlow serves on the boards of First Sound Bank and Implantable Provider Group. His past board experience includes Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Emeritus, First Sound Bank, National Institute of Health Care Management, University of Washington Business School and School of Nursing, and the Center for Corporate Innovation.

Patrick Blake

Pat Blake joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in January 2020. Blake’s career spans more than 30 years in healthcare services and health information technology, having held leadership roles at both Baxter Healthcare Corporation and McKesson Corporation. Most recently with McKesson, he served as executive vice president and group president, with responsibility for the company’s Technology Solutions Segment. Additionally, he held senior operating roles in the company’s pharmaceutical distribution and specialty businesses.

Blake serves on the boards of Mayne Pharma and The Seven Hills School.

Gary Caine

Gary Caine joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in August 2018. His work experience includes 39 years with Deloitte & Touche in the San Francisco Bay Area, where most recently he was senior audit partner, serving a variety of clients from early-stage venture-backed and private equity-owned companies to large, international public companies in the consumer business and technology industries. Caine was Deloitte's lead member in the Big Four Accounting Firms California Public Policy Group from 2009-2018. He also served as Deloitte's business representative with California government, meeting frequently with the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, as well as leadership and key members of the State Senate and Assembly.

Caine's board experience includes the California State Board of Accountancy Enforcement Advisory Committee (appointed by the governor) and the CalCPA Society Government Relations Committee.

Barry Dennis

Barry Dennis joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in November 2020. Dennis retired from Verus Investments in 2020 after more than 40 years of institutional investment consulting. At Verus, he advised many of the firm’s largest clients, including corporate and public pension funds, endowments and foundations.

He co-founded Strategic Investment Solutions in 1994, serving as its chairman and chief executive officer prior to its merger with Verus in 2015. Previously he managed Callan Associates’ West Coast office and served as an investment officer for Continental Illinois Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago.

From 1996 to 2019, Dennis was a member of the board of directors and investment committee of the Stern Grove Festival Association, America’s longest-running free concert series.

Andrew Dickinson

Andrew Dickinson joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in August 2021. Andy serves as Gilead's chief financial officer, responsible for the oversight of the company’s global finance, corporate development, information technology, operations and strategy organizations. He joined Gilead in 2016, and prior to his current role served as head of the company’s corporate development and strategy group. In that role, Andy drove all of Gilead’s licensing, partnership and acquisition transactions and guided investments into new areas.

Prior to his tenure at Gilead, Andy was the global co-head of Healthcare Investment Banking at Lazard. Earlier in his career, he served as General Counsel and Vice President of Corporate Development at Myogen Inc., which was acquired by Gilead in 2006.

I-Mei Hsiu, M.D.

I-Mei Hsiu, M.D., joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in November 2020. For 20 years, Dr. Hsiu has cared for patients as a family medicine physician in the Sacramento area including work in Sutter, UC Davis and the Sacramento County Health Department.   She worked in the public and private health sectors to develop programs in patient services, clinician training, laboratory research and community outreach.  She held administrative leadership roles at the Lehigh Regional Medical Center in Pennsylvania, the University of California San Francisco, and San Francisco General Hospital. 

Dr. Hsiu served as chair of the Sutter Medical Group Board, and chair of its finance, shareholder transition and philanthropy committees. She currently is a director on the Sutter Valley Board and its finance and planning committee. 

Kenneth McNeely

Board Chair

Kenneth McNeely joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in October 2017. A longtime executive with AT&T, McNeely was appointed to his current role of president, AT&T Western Region in 2018. His previous roles within AT&T include president, AT&T Communications, California; vice president, Law & Government Affairs, Pacific Region; vice president, Law & Government Affairs, Florida; and corporate attorney, Atlanta.

McNeely serves on the board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His past board experience includes the California Chamber, California Business Roundtable, Bay Area Council, San Francisco Symphony and Southern California Leadership Council.

Becky Saeger

Becky Saeger joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in March 2021. Saeger is a respected executive and board director with extensive experience leading and advising financial services and technology companies. She served as executive vice president, chief marketing officer for Charles Schwab, and as executive vice president, marketing for Visa, leading key initiatives through pivotal years at those companies. Her previous leadership roles include senior vice president, director of account management for FCB Global in San Francisco, and senior vice president, group director for Ogilvy & Mather New York working with American Express and Unilever.

Saeger also serves on the board of Okta, a leading identity management software company, and chairs the board of ODC Dance. She previously served on the boards of E*TRADE Financial and E*TRADE Bank, Turn, E-Stamp Corporation, and Total Woman Gym and Spa. She was Chairman of the Association of National Advertisers and served on the board of the Bay Area Super Bowl 50 Host Committee.

Cheryl Scott

Board Secretary

Cheryl Scott joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in November 2016. Scott currently serves as main principal at the McClintock Scott Group. Her previous leadership roles include senior advisor and chief operating officer at the Gates Foundation, and eight years as president and chief executive officer of Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative, where she also served as executive vice president and chief operating officer during her 25-year career there.

In 2005, the University of Washington and Group Health created the Cheryl M. Scott/Group Health Cooperative Professorship in Health Care Leadership in the School of Public Health.

Willa Seldon

Willa Seldon joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in February 2021. Seldon is a partner at The Bridgespan Group, a global social impact consulting firm and advisor that works with leaders, philanthropists and impact investors to address society’s most important challenges and opportunities, particularly those that contribute to a more equitable and just world. She has helped launch initiatives, including Black Ambition and OneTen and has supported mobilization efforts such as the White House Council for Community Solutions. Her clients include Low Income Investment Fund, Mercy Housing, The Rockefeller Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and StriveTogether.

In addition to Sutter Health, Seldon is on the Board of Directors of College Futures Foundation and JFF. She is the former vice-chair of the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr College and former chair of KQED.

Helen MacLeod Thomson

Helen MacLeod Thomson joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in November 2019. She is past chair of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors and a former Democratic Assemblywoman from California’s 8th Assembly District. As a state legislator, Thomson chaired the Assembly Health Committee and the Select Committee on Mental Health. She authored mental health parity legislation ending discrimination in insurance benefits for adults and children with serious mental illness. She was a member of the steering committee of the California Coalition for Compassionate Care and chaired their POLST task force. She also served on the advisory committee of the California Health Care forum. In 2018 the district offices of Yolo County’s Health and Human Services Davis Center were named in her honor.

In addition to the Sutter Health Board of Directors, Thomson, a registered nurse, served as board chair of the Sutter Valley Hospitals and Sutter Valley Medical Foundation boards of directors, and served on its governance and compliance, and safety and quality committees.

Anthony Wagner

Tony Wagner joined the Sutter Health Board of Directors in November 2019. A retired healthcare executive, Wagner served as the deputy associate director of the medical center at the University of California, San Francisco; CEO of Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center; executive administrator of the San Francisco Community Health Network; and vice president for Kaiser Permanente in the office of labor management partnership.

In addition to the Sutter Health Board of Directors, he serves as chairman of the board for Sutter Bay Hospitals and Sutter Bay Medical Foundation.  Wagner has been active in the California Hospital Association, the American Hospital Association, and the California Association of Public Hospitals. He served on the national board of the American Heart Association, as chair for that association’s San Francisco chapter and Western States affiliate.  Wagner also served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.