City Council member Leonard Firestone will join the JPS Board of Directors.

Entrepreneur and outgoing Fort Worth City Council member Leonard Firestone has become the newest member of the JPS Health Network Board of Directors.

He is the fourth member to join in recent months, the Changing of the Guard taking place primarily in response to the election of the Tarrant County Court of Commissioners in November.

“Leonard Firestone has an incredible reputation in Fort Worth and Tarrant County as a problem solver, someone who really cares about the community and can get things done,” Ramirez told the Fort Worth Report ahead of the meeting.

What does the JPS board do?

An 11-member board operates the publicly funded Tarrant County Hospital. Among other duties, the members hire and, if necessary, fire the CEO and approve the budget for the hospital. They serve without charge and are appointed by county commissioners.

District 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez named Firestone as a general member Tuesday at a courtroom meeting of the commissioners. The court approved by a unanimous vote.

Firestone, who represents District 7 on the Fort Worth City Council, will replace Dr. Stephen Simmons, one of the council’s two physicians. Another, Dr. Margaret Holland, began her term in October.

Ramirez is not worried about losing his position as a doctor on the board of directors, he said.

“The President is a doctor,” he said, referring to JPS President and CEO Dr. Karen Duncan. “The board of directors, the CEO and the president should complement each other. The board must provide a point of view that the CEO and president do not have.

Ramirez met Firestone through the latter’s business, Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co., creators of TX whisky. According to Ramirez, Firestone has a “strong entrepreneurial mindset.”

“The board of directors needs more business people and people who can focus their efforts on the effective management of the billion-dollar company that JPS is,” he said.

Other board members bring their expertise to a variety of fields, including nursing and engineering. Several members have business experience. The hospital charter does not require certain professions to be represented on the board of directors.

Dorothy DeBose, chairman of the JPS board, said she would miss the second doctor’s point of view. However, board members need experience in both healthcare and business, she said.

“Physicians will have to look into the tax side,” he said. “The commercial side will have to understand the healthcare system.”

The learning curve will be steep, Firestone said. However, he believes the lessons he has learned from growing his company will stand him in good stead as he helps run a growing hospital in a growing district.

“When you start looking at the decisions that will be made based on budget management, from real estate to capital expenditures, related infrastructure, staff levels… marketing, their communications and PR, all of these things apply in healthcare just as they do in any other industry.” , – he said.

Alexis Ellison is a health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Her position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact her at [email protected] or through tweet.

At Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of board members and financial backers. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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