Wade Norwood to become CEO of Common Ground Health

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Common Ground Health’s Chief Strategy Officer Wade Norwood is slated to succeed Trilby de Jung as CEO.

Norwood has served on the leadership team of Common Ground since 2006, and has served in positions of public office for over 30 years. Specifically, Norwood currently serves as a member-at-large for the New York State Education Department’s Board of Regents, as well as previously serving a 15-year stint on the Rochester City Council, which came to a close in December 2005.

De Jung has led Common Ground since 2014, following a career with Empire Justice Center. As her youngest son finished high school this summer, de Jung has set plans to move back to her hometown of Portland, Oregon.

“We will be saddened to say goodbye to Trilby; she has been an absolutely wonderful CEO,” said Marilyn Dollinger, board chair of Common Ground Health, in a statement. “She is an incredibly articulate communicator and gifted leader, skilled at bringing together diverse partners and helping them find common ground. Never one to seek the spotlight, Trilby always gives credit where credit is due, letting our collaborators know how deeply their community efforts are appreciated.”

Known as the Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency prior to March 2017, Common Ground is a not-for-profit community health planning organization with an annual budget of about $5 million. By leveraging data and collaborations with medical systems, Common Ground seeks lower costs of care, better patient care and improved experiences across the nine-county region. In de Jung’s time at Common Ground, the organization has leveraged $33 million in federal and state funding for clinical training, launched several medical collaboration initiatives and introduced the Healthi Kids program, among others.

For Dollinger, if there’s anyone she sees continuing that legacy, it’s Norwood.

“We are also exceedingly fortunate to have among the ranks such a trusted and inspirational leader as Wade Norwood,” Dollinger said. “He’s a community organizing expert. As we seek to more effectively address the social determinants of health, such as poverty, poor housing and lack of education, we need a person with exactly Wade’s strengths—someone who can mobilize the community and bring us together to solve important health challenges.”

Alongside his membership with the Board of Regents, Norwood holds a seat on the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Commission, works in Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle’s initiative to integrate data to understand and act on issues of poverty and serves on the leadership team of All Kids Thrive, a childhood poverty intervention initiative made of a collaboration between Medicaid and educational funding.

Norwood is slated to take up his new position of CEO on July 13.

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