Governing Board Meetings
The Governing Board of Health Leadership High School meets the fourth Thursday of every month at 7:30am.
Click here to go to Governing Council Agendas & Minutes
Health Leadership Governing Council
Health Leadership benefits from a very high functioning board with executive level experience in their own organizations. They represent a cross-section of highly valuable professional knowledge (legal, financial, strategic planning, education, and industry relations) that will ensure the school is well governed. All members have completed board training through the New Mexico Public Education Department. Below are the current board members:
Dr. Javier Aceves is the Medical Director of UNM Young Children’s Health Center. He has been providing primary health care services for children with chronic conditions and disabilities since 1985, and has been medical director of Young Children’s Health Center since 1999. He obtained his medical degree in 1979 at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara and his pediatric residency at the University of Texas HSC in Houston in 1985. He is the chief of the Division of General & Community Pediatrics and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of New Mexico. He teaches about community-based practice and the medical home for children and youth with special health care needs.
Dr. Arthur Kaufman, MD ?is Vice Chancellor for Community Health and Distinguished Professor, Family & Community Medicine. He received his medical degree from the State University of New York, Brooklyn in 1969 and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Family Practice. He served in the U.S. Indian Health Service, caring for Sioux Indians in South Dakota and Pueblo and Navajo Indians in New Mexico, before joining the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico in 1974, where he has remained throughout his career, providing leadership in teaching, research and clinical service. He was promoted to full Professor in 1984 and Department Chair in 1993. In 2007, he was appointed as the first Vice Chancellor for Community Health, and was promoted to Distinguished Professor in 2011.
Dr. Kaufman has a passion for creating innovative education and service models to better address community, indigent, rural and population health needs. He helped initiate the Primary Care Curriculum in New Mexico which became an international model for change by innovative track in traditional medical schools. He began to integrate Public Health and Family Medicine as Director of the Rockefeller funded Health of the Public Program in New Mexico. He is Director of New Mexico’s World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Innovative Health Workers Education Service and Research Models. In 1999 he was elected Secretary General for the Network: Towards Unity for Better Health– a WHO-affiliated, non-government organization comprised mostly of academic health centers in developing countries interested in improving their relevance in education and service in addressing health needs of their local populations.
Melissa Steffan – Vice President of Operations Melissa Steffan is Vice President of Operations, focusing on strategic and administrative services (strategy, business development, marketing & communications, people services, and patient experience). Steffan plays a key role in the development and execution of the organization’s overall business strategy, while focusing on enhancing the patient experience.
Steffan is a native New Mexican, and brings to ABQ Health Partners a wealth of executive leadership knowledge deeply rooted within the healthcare field. Her experience stems from the state’s largest integrated healthcare delivery system, and includes running operating rooms, strategic planning, clinical operations, and implementing healthcare technology programs.
Steffan earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business and Communications from the University of New Mexico, and Master’s degrees in Health Care Administration and Business Administration from Grand Canyon
Chris Rivera
Mr. Chris Rivera started his career as the Marketing Manager for a real estate company in Albuquerque, NM. Over his 5 years with the company, his position transitioned to a sales manager and senior staff member of the company. He also started a consulting firm to help other real estate agents with the development and distribution for their print ad copy.
After a successful career in real estate sales, Mr. Rivera made the leap to Information Technology Sales. In IT Sales he managed and maintained complex selling cycles covering; million-dollar contracts, contract negotiation, and consultative selling to K-12, government, and private entities. He sold to CEOs, CIOs, and Superintendents; includes selling to commercial, K12, and Government clients throughout the nation. Mr. Rivera achieved high-sales performance by developing short and long-term finance, sales and marketing objectives for the company. As a result, sales increased from $4 Million to $9.3 Million; generated individual sales in excess of $4+ millions per year, while supervising, recruiting, and mentoring new account executives and sales representatives. Chris also managed the largest portfolio of clients generating the largest amount of revenue for the corporation, and managed client/customer issues while maintaining FCC funding rules and regulations. This effort brought over $18 million in funding to the State of New Mexico.
Mr. Chris Rivera is now working as the Director of Finance at Albuquerque Urology. Current projects are ongoing, and he knows that he will make a positive impact on the company as it continues to become the Health Leader in Urology Healthcare services here in New Mexico.