Chairman of the Board

John Buck, the Chair of Medica’s Board of Directors and the Medica Foundation Board of Directors, joined the Board in 2001 and serves on Medica’s Audit, Community & Public Affairs, Finance, Governance, and Technology Committees. Mr. Buck is Chief Executive Officer of Whitefish Ventures, which provides financial services and general business expertise to other companies. Mr. Buck’s previous business experience includes serving as President and Chief Operating Officer at Fingerhut Companies; Vice President of Administration at Alliant Techsystems; and Vice President of Administration at Honeywell, Inc. Mr. Buck previously served as Chairman of the Board of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, and currently serves on the boards of ValueVision Media/Shop NBC and Patterson Companies, Inc.

Mr. Buck supports several charities in the Minneapolis and Naples areas, including the United Way Foundation and the American Diabetes Association. He is a member of the Halo Innovations Board of Directors, which develops products to prevent SIDS. Mr. Buck is also a member of the Naples Education Foundation.

Board Members

Dr. Rajesh Aggarwal was elected to the Medica Board in 2008 as a Consumer Director and serves as Chair of the Finance Committee and as a member of the Audit and Personnel & Compensation Committees. Dr. Aggarwal is currently an associate professor of finance at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. He previously served as associate professor at the University of Virginia, University of Michigan and Dartmouth College. His areas of expertise include corporate governance, corporate finance and corporate valuation. He has an extensive background in the economics of organizations and has conducted research on bankruptcy, executive compensation, boards of directors, performance evaluation, and fraud.

A frequent author and presenter, Dr. Aggarwal has co-authored articles on such subjects as performance incentives, the diversification of firms and investment financing. In 2002, he received the MBA Elective Lecturer of the Year award from the Said Business School at Oxford University, and in 2006 and 2007 was named Most Outstanding Full-time MBA Elective Faculty Member by the Carlson School. Dr. Aggarwal has been a Medica member since 2006.

Burton Cohen joined the Medica Board as a Consumer Director in 2003 and serves on the Personnel and Compensation Committee, the Community & Public Affairs Committee, and the Technology Committee. Mr. Cohen also serves on the Medica Foundation Board of Directors. A publisher and journalist, Mr. Cohen founded MSP Communications in 1978 and is the former owner and publisher of Mpls./St. Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Business Monthly, and several other publications. Earlier, he was president of Modern Medicine Publications, a group of international medical and dental journals. When Modern Medicine was sold, he continued to lead the publishing group, first for the New York Times and later for Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Mr. Cohen is active in numerous community activities. He is trustee of the University of St. Thomas, a life trustee of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and has served on several boards and advisory boards, including the University of Minnesota Foundation, the Minnesota Opera, the One Percent Club, the Minnesota Zoo Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation and Temple Israel.

Daryl Durum joined Medica’s Board in 2001 and serves as Chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Community & Public Affairs, Finance and Governance Committees. Mr. Durum also serves on the Medica Foundation Board of Directors. Prior to his retirement in 2007, Mr. Durum served as Chief Operating Officer of NAU Country Insurance Company, which specializes in agricultural insurance products. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of All Nation Insurance Company in St. Paul. Mr. Durum also has served on several other boards, including the Insurance Federation of Minnesota and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. He has served as a consultant to the Minnesota Department of Commerce for the rehabilitation and liquidation of insurance companies, and has served as a consultant to businesses and insurers on management and financial issues.

Mr. Durum previously spent twelve years as a board member of the Association of Metropolitan School Districts and served for fifteen years as an elected school board member for the South Washington County Schools in Cottage Grove. Mr. Durum is involved in numerous community and civic activities, including mentoring programs at the University of Minnesota and Metropolitan State University.

Dr. Peter Kelly joined the Medica Board in 2001 and serves as Chair of the Medical Committee and as a member of the Personnel & Compensation Committee and the Technology Committee. Dr. Kelly practices general, vascular and thoracic surgery as a member of St. Paul Surgeons. He has served as Chief of Surgery at St. Joseph’s Hospital and at HealthEast, served as Chair of the Surgery Department at Divine Redeemer Hospital and St. John’s Hospital, and served as Chief of Staff at St. Joseph’s Hospital and as President of HealthEast Medical Staff. He also served as President of the Ramsey County Medical Society and is active in numerous professional associations. Dr. Kelly also has served as Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota and has authored several articles for medical journals.

Dr. Kelly has been involved in numerous community activities, in addition to his service in medical organizations. He has served as a medical volunteer on missions to Guatemala and has volunteered for the Courage Center by teaching skiing to handicapped skiers.

Dr. Samuel Leon joined the Medica Board in 2001 and serves on the Finance, Medical, and Technology Committees. Dr. Leon is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. He also is affiliated with the Minnesota Clinical Research Center in St. Paul. Dr. Leon has served as President of Minnesota Gastroenterology, Chief of the Department of Medicine at Methodist Hospital and as Medical Director of the Endoscopy Department at Methodist Hospital. He also has served as Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and has authored several articles in medical journals.

Dr. Leon is a member of the Board of Directors of the Fairview Physicians Association and the Sub-Committee of Clinical Board of Governors for Park Nicollet Health Services.

Kris Sanda joined the Medica Board in 2001 and has served as a Consumer Director since June 2002. She serves as Chair of the Community & Public Affairs Committee and as a member of the Audit and Medical Committees. She also serves as Vice-chairman and Secretary of the Medica Foundation Board of Directors. Ms. Sanda previously served as the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Consumer Services from 1979 to 1983, and as Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Service from 1991 to 1999. Ms. Sanda served from 2000 to 2007 on the Board of Medical Practice, which investigates patient complaints about physicians. She also was appointed in 2003 to the governor’s Transportation Advisory Board, and was appointed by the governor in 2007 to serve on the Metropolitan Council.

In addition to her government service, Ms. Sanda has served in a variety of other community and board positions, including President of the Board of Directors of the Lutheran Social Service Foundation and Vice President of the St. Paul branch of the American Red Cross.

Earl Stratton joined the Medica Board in 2009 as a Consumer Director and serves as Chair of the Technology Committee and also as a member of the Finance Committee and the Personnel & Compensation Committee. Since 1995, Mr. Stratton has served as Chief Information Officer for TCF Financial Corporation which is headquartered in Wayzata, Minnesota. He also serves on the Board of Directors of TCF National Bank headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and C Financial Corporation, an Ohio Bank Holding Company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Stratton has been with TCF since 1985 and prior to that worked at Huntington National Bank in Columbus, Ohio for 15 years.

Mr. Stratton supports several charities in the Minneapolis area including Hope for the City, March of Dimes, Memorial Blood Centers, and Breast Cancer Research.

Austin Sullivan joined the Medica Board in 2001. He serves as Chair of the Personnel and Compensation Committee and as a member of the Governance and Medical Committees. Mr. Sullivan held several positions at General Mills before his retirement in 2004, including Senior Vice President of Corporate Relations from 1994 to 2004. Mr. Sullivan's responsibilities at General Mills included oversight of the General Mills Foundation. While at General Mills, Mr. Sullivan chaired the food industry's Task Force on Agricultural Biotechnology and was appointed to the Secretary of Agriculture's Advisory Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology. Before joining General Mills, Mr. Sullivan was legislative director of the Committee on Education and Labor of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served from 1967 to 1976. Mr. Sullivan also served in the United States Marine Corps for two years.

Mr. Sullivan has held leadership positions in numerous community, business and civic organizations. He is Chairman Emeritus and a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of Public Affairs Executives; Chairman Emeritus and a director of the Public Affairs Council; and a member of the Board of Trustees of Minnesota Public Radio. He also has served as a member of the National Commission for Employment Policy (Presidential appointment).

David Tilford is President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Medica. He also is a member of the Board of Directors of Medica Holding Company (MHC), which oversees Medica’s family of businesses including: Medica Health Plans, Medica Health Plans of Wisconsin, Medica Affiliated Services, Medica Insurance Company, Medica Self-Insured, and Medica Health Management, LLC. He joined the company in 2001.

Mr. Tilford has more than 25 years of industry experience, beginning in 1980 with Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Company. He moved on to management and executive positions at Blue Cross of California and was part of the team that guided the formation of WellPoint Health Networks, now the nation’s largest health benefits company. He later led a business/information technology consulting practice serving the insurance and health care industries.

Justice Esther Tomljanovich joined Medica's Board in 2001 and has served as a Consumer Director since June 2002. Justice Tomljanovich is Chair of Medica's Governance Committee and also serves on the Community & Public Affairs and Medical Committees. She also serves on the Medica Foundation Board of Directors. She previously served the State of Minnesota as a Supreme Court Justice from 1990 to 1998 and as a trial judge from 1977 to 1990. Before earning her law degree, Justice Tomljanovich spent seven years working for Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Company. In 2007, Academy of Trial Lawyers presented Justice Tomljanovich with its Distinguished Jurist Award.

Justice Tomljanovich has held leadership positions in numerous public, community and non-profit organizations, including serving on the Board of Trustees of the William Mitchell College of Law and chairing the Governor's Judicial Selection Committee. She was a founding member of Minnesota Women Lawyers.