Hennepin Healthcare System Board of Directors

This is a consequential opportunity to serve on the Board of one of Minnesota's premier public safety net and teaching health systems. Hennepin Healthcare plays a vital role in providing access to exceptional care, serving complex patient populations, educating health professionals, and advancing the health of communities across Hennepin County and beyond.

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners is currently serving as the governing body of Hennepin Healthcare, and will appoint a new Hennepin Healthcare Board by January 15, 2027. The new Board will help guide Hennepin Healthcare from a period of financial stabilization into its next chapter of long-term strategy, while maintaining rigorous attention to quality, safety, workforce, community trust, and public accountability.

The County’s consultant kpCompanies is recruiting a minimum of 11 non-commissioner directors, bringing together accomplished leaders and essential community voices to build a complementary Board equipped to govern this important public institution.

Appointments targeted: mid-December 2026

Governance transition: By January 15, 2027

Mission

Hennepin Healthcare's mission is to partner with its community, patients, and families to ensure access to outstanding care for everyone while improving health and wellness through teaching, patient and community education, and research.

Structure

Minnesota Statutes, section 383B.903, establishes a Board of 11 to 15 directors, including two Hennepin County commissioners. At least 75 percent of the remaining directors must bring expertise in areas such as hospital administration, business management, law, health equity, or other relevant experience.

Eligibility

We are seeking a complementary group of leaders whose collective expertise, judgment, lived experience, and community connections reflect the complexity of Hennepin Healthcare and the people it serves.

No one candidate is expected to bring every qualification. Professional expertise and essential community perspectives are vitally important to building the complete Board.

Professional expertise

• Hospital and health system leadership
• Finance, audit, and payer strategy
• Business management, government, and executive leadership
• Law, regulation, compliance, and enterprise risk
• Health equity, public health, and policy
• Labor and union relations, including the communications and people side
• Health technology, data, and innovation
• Academic medicine and national-level expertise
• Facilities, operations, and social services

Essential perspectives

• Community and cultural connections
• Patient or consumer perspective
• Community health and nonprofit leadership
• Geographic reach across Minnesota

Personal and leadership qualities

• Political savvy, backbone and ability to build trusted relationships
• Strategic thinking
• Public credibility and composure
• Communication, mediation and conflict management skills
• Governance discipline

Term

• Initial terms are expected to be staggered to support continuity
• This is a public appointment; information may be subject to the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act

Responsibilities

• Advance HHS's public, safety-net and teaching mission
• Guide strategy, stabilization and long-term sustainability
• Oversee financial stewardship, risk, quality and patient safety
• Select, support, and evaluate the CEO to ensure high performance and accountability for results
• Approve major strategies, budgets and policies reserved to the HHS board
• Communicate with and make recommendations to the County Board, including on budget matters
• Ensure community, patient and workforce perspectives inform decisions
• Strengthen public trust through transparency, ethical governance and accountability
• Participate actively in board and committee meetings, onboarding and education

Meetings

• The Board has historically met at least six times per year, plus an annual public meeting typically held near the end of the calendar year

Compensation

• Board service has historically been unpaid
• Approved expenses may be reimbursed

Application

To apply, submit your application with kpCompanies.

Timeline

• kpCompanies will conduct initial candidate screening
• First-round interviews are expected in October 2026 with a team of county and hospital senior leaders
• Finalists will participate in second-round interviews with county and HHS leaders, including commissioners
• The final selection and appointment decision rests with the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners