March 10, 2005

Sona Iyengar

Fletcher Allen Public Relations          

(802) 847-2886

Guerard Named Executive Director of Faculty Practice at Fletcher Allen

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Barbara Guerard has been named executive director of the faculty practice at Fletcher Allen Health Care following a national search. Guerard, 52 , comes to Fletcher Allen from the Louisiana State University (LSU) Healthcare Network in New Orleans, La., and brings more than 25 years of health care administration experience to the position.  She will begin her new role at Fletcher Allen on April 6.

"We are fortunate to have Barbara as part of our senior leadership group," said President and Chief Executive Officer Melinda L. Estes, M.D. "She is an experienced medical group administrator who understands our academic health center's mission of integrating patient care, education and research to improve the health of the patients and communities we serve."

"Barbara brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the faculty practice and will help move our physician group and Fletcher Allen forward," said Chief Medical Officer John R. Brumsted, M.D. "We are thrilled to have her as part of our team."

Said Guerard: "I am extremely excited to be joining this faculty practice with its outstanding reputation for clinical quality, research and education of our future physicians."

In her new position, she will serve as a member of Fletcher Allen's senior management team and will be responsible for providing overall operational and financial leadership for the faculty practice. Fletcher Allen's faculty practice consists of approximately 400 physicians who are faculty members of the University of Vermont College of Medicine.

Guerard currently serves as chief executive officer of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Healthcare Network in New Orleans, La. - a 501C-3 corporation consisting of approximately 600 physicians that serves as the faculty practice for the LSU School of Medicine.

In her role at the LSU Healthcare Network, Guerard is the senior leader of the management team, responsible for the overall strategic development of the health care network, financial and operational improvements, clinical process improvement, advancement of the medical direction of the group and compliance and regulatory issues.

Prior to serving at LSU, Guerard was the chief operating officer at the University of Miami Medical Group in Miami, Fla. She also has served as an administrator at Harvard Community Health Plan Braintree and Quincy Health Centers. She began her career as a nurse in Boston, Mass., moving from direct patient care into health care and medical group management.

After receiving her associate's degree in Nursing from Northeastern University, Guerard completed her adult nurse practitioner program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1976. She received her bachelor's degree in health science from Northeastern University in 1982, and a master's degree in business administration from Suffolk University in Boston, Mass., in 1988.

About Fletcher Allen's Faculty Practice

Physicians in Fletcher Allen's faculty practice care for patients across a broad range of specialties and subspecialties, conduct research and teach medical students and residents at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. They practice and teach at more than 40 patient care sites and 100 outreach clinics throughout the region.

About Fletcher Allen

Fletcher Allen Health Care, in alliance with the University of Vermont College of Medicine, is Vermont's only academic health center and one of 125 in the country.  Founded in 1995, through the merger of Fanny Allen Hospital, Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, and University Health Center, Fletcher Allen Health Care serves one million people in Vermont and northern New York.