Sister Marybeth Culnan appointed president, Board of Directors chairperson

Sister Marybeth Culnan, OSF, has been appointed president and chairperson of the Board of Directors at St. Joseph's Hospital in Breese.

The appointment was announced by Stephanie S. McCutcheon, president and CEO of Hospital Sisters Health System. HSHS and St. Joseph's in Breese are sponsored by the American Province of the Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Springfield.

A member of the Order, Sister Marybeth serves as the HSHS senior vice-president for sponsorship and governance, assisting all 13 system hospitals with management and administration questions.

HSHS hospitals are located in Illinois and Wisconsin; in addition to St. Joseph's in Breese, other HSHS facilities include St. Elizabeth's in Belleville and St. Joseph's in Highland. The congregation also provides missionary work in Haiti and Tanzania and sponsors Mission Outreach and the Chiara Center in Springfield.

Sister Marybeth will serve as the board chair at St. Joseph's in Breese until the new board term begins this fall. The hospital board includes representation from the local communities, Sisters and HSHS.

She replaces HSHS Regional Vice-President Michael Stenger who assumed a hospital administrator's position in Pueblo, Colo.

A native of Central Illinois, Sister Marybeth had served as chairperson of the board of directors and president of the HSHS-affiliated hospitals in Wisconsin since 1983. Previously, she was the first vice-president of the boards of directors of the HSHS hospitals in both states.

Professing final vows in 1968, Sister Marybeth focused on nursing, receiving her diploma from St. John's Hospital School of Nursing in Springfield, a bachelor's degree from Marillac College in Normandy, Mo., and a master's degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

She worked as a hospital nurse at St. Vincent in Green Bay, Wis., and at St. John's in Springfield, then, following service as one of four provincial assistants for the American Province in Springfield, returned to St. John's as a neurosurgical clinical specialist.

For more information, contact 217-522-3386 or visit www.franciscansatspfld.org.