by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Veteran City administration executive and former mayoral candidate Audrey Moran will join Baptist Health as senior vice president of social responsibility and community advocacy starting Oct. 3.
Baptist Health Chair Hugh Greene and Moran announced the appointment this morning.
Moran, who said in May she would resign as president and CEO of the Sulzbacher Center by the end of the year, has co-chaired the transition team for Mayor Alvin Brown. Sulzbacher provides services for the homeless.
Moran has worked with four mayors in varying capacities, including serving on Brown’s transition team.
“We are thrilled she is joining us,” Greene said.
“This is something that has developed over the last number of weeks,” Greene said. “I really wanted to have someone with that sort of community visibility and connections to work alongside myself.”
Moran will report to Greene.
Greene said Baptist has been vitally involved in the community.
“This is not new work,” he said. “This is taking our existing work that is connected to our core mission and values to another level.”
Moran served on the Baptist Medical Center board in 2004-05.
“I first got to know the senior leadership team when I was on the board,” Moran said. “I am very, very excited. It is a wonderful opportunity.”
Greene said Moran’s position will enhance the health system’s community outreach in several areas. He said more announcements will be made in the next three to five weeks involving advocacy for children and the elderly and partnerships regarding serving people who are uninsured or underinsured.
Moran will set direction as part of the executive team, he said. She will focus on the health status of the community and initiatives, foster partnerships with community organizations, seek grants, work with elected officials and government entities and advocate for the health system, including through Wolfson Children’s Hospital for the well-being of children.
“No one is more uniquely qualified for this role,” Greene said. “She has been the great champion of collaboration.”
He said Moran would work throughout the Baptist Health system, including its expansion into Clay County.
Greene, who chairs the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, is the incoming chair of the Florida Hospital Association.
Moran is a graduate of Duke University’s School of Law.
She served as chief of staff for former Mayor John Delaney and as director of legislative affairs for former Mayor Ed Austin. She has also served as managing director and Special Counsel for the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
She chaired the Positive Youth Development Committee for Mayor John Peyton’s Jacksonville Journey, and most recently was co-chair of Brown’s transition committee.
Moran also chaired the Downtown Development Authority and was an inaugural member of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
Moran was president of Moran Mediation Group from 2004-07.
In 2005, she was chosen as a trustee of the Jessie Ball du Pont Fund, a $325 million charitable grant-making organization.
Moran, a Republican, ran for mayor in the spring elections, coming in third behind Republican Mike Hogan and Brown, a Democrat.
Baptist Health said in a news release that Moran will work alongside the leadership and governance of Baptist Health, the area’s only community-owned and governed health care system, to develop and refine strategies for enhancing the community’s health status and quality of life, with an emphasis on partnerships that leverage resources and increase the measurable impact of efforts and initiatives.
Jacksonville-based Baptist Health is a faith-based system consisting of Baptist Medical Center Downtown and Baptist Heart Hospital; Baptist Medical Center Beaches; Baptist Medical Center Nassau; Baptist Medical Center South; and Wolfson Children’s Hospital.
It also operates urgent care services and a network of primary care physicians’ offices throughout Northeast Florida.
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