The Iowa Donor Network (IDN) has announced the appointment of four new members to its board of directors, including a former HON Company president, and two new members to its Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) members.
The Iowa network, with operations in North Liberty and Altoona, said the new leaders boast a diverse range of experience in health care, business, communications, and nonprofit leadership as well as a shared commitment to advancing organ and tissue donation.
“We are grateful to welcome these outstanding individuals to our board and Medical Advisory Committee,” IDN Chief Executive Officer Phil Blumberg said in a Tuesday, Feb. 10 news release. “Their professional expertise and personal connections to donation will help strengthen our mission of working together to transform lives through the gift of organ and tissue donation.”
IDN board members
The new board members are:
- Dave Burdakin, a retired manufacturing executive and former division president with JBT Corporation, Dover Corporation, and HNI Corporation. He has been a longtime supporter of organ donation following his wife Kim’s life-saving liver transplant at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. His 45-year distinguished career includes 14 years with HNI Corporation and seven years as the president of the Muscatine-based corporation’s HON Company. There, he helped lead a Lean Transformation beginning in 1993 that drove HON from the industry’s 4th largest manufacturer to its second largest, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also was appointed in January to the CBI Bank & Trust Board of Directors in Muscatine.
- Eileen Wixted is a nationally recognized strategic communications and crisis management expert and principal of Wixted & Company, which she founded in West Des Moines. A former television news anchor and health care reporter, Ms. Wixted brings deep experience in executive communications and a personal connection to transplantation through her husband’s liver transplant.
- Matthew Garcia is a health care leader with 30 years of experience in senior living, hospital operations, and process improvement. He has served as an executive, leadership coach, and adjunct faculty member at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls. In January, he began his latest health care role as regional director of operations for the Minneapolis-based Health Dimensions Group, according to his LinkedIn profile.
- Jill Heilskov, MSN, RN, NE-BC, is an accomplished health care executive with UnityPoint Health Des Moines, where she leads multiple clinical service lines. She brings nearly two decades of leadership experience and a strong commitment to patient-centered care and quality outcomes.
Medical Advisory Committee
Also among the appointments were two new members of IDN’s Medical Advisory Committee:
- Paige Moore is CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Iowa and a former health care executive. She is a community-focused nonprofit leader with extensive experience in philanthropic donor engagement, strategic planning, and mission-driven programming.
- April Wilson is a passionate advocate for organ and living donation. A living kidney donor and living liver donor for her mother, Ms. Wilson brings a powerful personal perspective shaped by her family’s transplant journey.
IDN said it looks forward to their contributions as the organization continues to serve donor families, recipients, and communities across Iowa.
