The Foundation Welcomes New Board Members
Friday, April 02, 2021
The Foundation is very pleased to welcome six new board members in 2021. Below you can read more about three of them.
Judy Rubin
When Judy Rubin first joined the board of The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital in 2010, she thought it would be a way to help the community and be a good learning experience for herself.
“But I never would have imagined what a great experience it would turn out to be,” says Judy, who left the board’s stewardship committee in 2016 when her term expired.
“I learned so much about medicine, about research and about the community, from the phenomenal researchers and doctors who are doing really groundbreaking work, to the staff inside the hospital who are going far out of their way to help with patient care and quality of life, and then all the supportive initiatives that Barnes-Jewish Hospital does for the community.” she says.
It was because of that rewarding chapter of her life that Judy was so excited to be invited to rejoin the board in January 2021.
A 40-year veteran of the financial services industry and a partner and managing director of Plaza Advisory Group, Judy immediately volunteered to serve on the board’s finance committee. In her position at Plaza Advisory Group, she oversees a team of financial professionals who provide wealth management and financial planning to a select group of families in several states.
In addition to her service on the Foundation’s board, Judy is an active volunteer in the community. She and her husband Bruce support the Centene Community Ice Center, Blues for Kids, the charitable arm of the St. Louis Blues hockey team, Harvey Kornblum Food Pantry, and Kids in the Middle, which offers therapeutic services to children and parents dealing with divorce.
Tom Siegel
Although Tom Siegel, managing partner and chief investment officer of Cure8 Ventures, has served on the boards of dozens of privately-held companies, he began to look for a volunteer position with a charitable organization involved in the areas most important to him: health care and wellness.
He got his wish when he was asked to join the board of The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
“When this opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it because I felt it was a good fit for me,” says Tom, whose Cure8 venture capital fund focuses on food, health and wellness. “I thought it would give me the chance to learn more about the BJC HealthCare system and also to give back.”
Serving on the Foundation’s board was also important to Tom because his wife is a retired nurse who trained at the Jewish Hospital School of Nursing, a legacy institution of Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College. Thanks to generous donors, the Foundation supports Goldfarb.
As a new board member, Tom is serving on the philanthropy committee.
“I’m looking forward to learning a lot and to spreading the board’s mission,” he says. “I want to be able to talk to people who I run into in the community about the wonderful things the Foundation and BJC are doing.”
A certified public accountant and chartered financial analyst, Tom has more than 30 years of experience as a venture capitalist, entrepreneur and management consultant. He is a founding partner and member of the investment committee of Toberman Wealth, a wealth management firm, and a founding partner of Off The Chain Capital, a digital asset investment firm. He also serves on the board or is an advisor to a number of private companies including Deli Star Corporation and Zobrio.
Bob Guller
Bob Guller wears many professional, civic and charitable hats in the St. Louis community. For example, he’s both the managing owner of the BEB Management real estate company and board president and a founder of Arch Grants, a nonprofit dedicated to growing the entrepreneurial climate of St. Louis by awarding grants to attract and retain innovative start-up companies.
His involvement in the latter is what primarily led him to join the board of The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He currently serves on the philanthropy committee.
“One of my passions and one of the things I work on in a number of different areas is helping St. Louis move forward by encouraging it to be a place that celebrates innovation,” he says. “Barnes-Jewish is a huge generator of innovation and brings innovative people to our area. Anything I can do to help advance this is something I’m very vested in.”
In addition, he says Barnes-Jewish Hospital has been a great asset to him and his family.
“We’re multigenerational St. Louisans. Many people who I love and care about have been kept healthy and living their best lives because of the hospital. I’m forever grateful for this,” he says.
Bob specifically mentions the care his late father received from cardiologist Douglas Mann, MD, who previously led the cardiovascular division at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.
“Dr. Mann helped my dad live a longer and fuller life, so that feeds into it too,” Bob says. “I was born in Jewish Hospital, so it goes back to the very beginning.”
A lawyer and a commissioner of the Riverport Levee Commission, Bob was previously one of the founding sponsors of the Technology Entrepreneur Center, a nonprofit business incubator. He has also served on the boards of the St. Louis City Library Foundation, New City School, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, and Central Reform Congregation.