BMC Health System President and CEO Kate Walsh to join Boston Foundation Board of Directors

Boston – The Boston Foundation today announced the appointment of Kate Walsh, President and CEO of the BMC Health System, to the Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2021. Walsh will replace Charlesbank Capital Partners Managing Partner and Co-Founder Michael Eisenson, who rotates off the Board after 10 years as a Director.

“Let me start with tremendous thanks to Michael Eisenson for a decade of devoted service to the Boston Foundation. I particularly appreciated his leadership of the Program Committee, and his wisdom and experience will be missed by the Board and the Foundation as a whole,” said Linda Mason, Chair of the Board of Directors.

“I also want to welcome Kate Walsh to the Board,” said Mason. “Kate is a nationally-respected leader with a keen understanding of Boston and its unique assets and challenges. Under Kate’s leadership, the BMC Health System has grown and embraced not just the health needs of the community, but how those health needs intersect with areas such as housing, education, race and social justice. The Board looks forward to working with her as we shape the next decade of our work under President and CEO Lee Pelton.”

The appointment of Walsh to the Board also marks an important milestone for the Boston Foundation - the first time the Foundation’s Board of Directors has reached gender parity. Ten of the twenty directors are women, including six women of color. Overall, nine of the twenty Board seats are occupied by directors of Black, Latino or Asian backgrounds.

About Kate Walsh

Kate Walsh is president and CEO of the Boston Medical Center (BMC) Health System, with annual operating revenue of $4.9 billion. BMC is a private, not-for-profit, 514-bed, academic medical center dedicated to meeting all the needs of its patients, needs that often transcend the scope of traditional medicine like food and housing insecurity, and advancing health equity within the communities it serves. The primary teaching affiliate of Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center has nearly 6000 employees and 755 physicians who are affiliated with Boston University Medical Group. BMC Health System also includes the BMC HealthNet Plan, a Medicaid Managed Care Organization with more than 400,000 members in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and Boston HealthNet, a network affiliation of 14 community health centers throughout Boston.

Prior to her appointment at Boston Medical Center, Ms. Walsh served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She served previously as the chief operating officer for Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research and at Massachusetts General Hospital in positions including senior vice president of medical services and the MGH Cancer Center. Prior to her tenure at Mass General, she held positions in a number of New York City hospitals including Montefiore, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Saint Luke’s – Roosevelt Hospital Center, and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

Ms. Walsh received her Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Yale University. She has served as a member of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and currently serves on the Boards of the Boston Public Health Commission, the Massachusetts Hospital Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, Pine Street Inn, and Yale University.   

The Boston Foundation Board of Directors, as of July 1, 2021, includes:

Biographies of the Board of Directors can be found through the Foundation's Board of Directors page.