Krieg To Retire as Horizon Foundation President

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Richard M. Krieg, President and CEO of the Horizon Foundation, has announced that he will retire no later than December, 2012, or at the point that a new president is hired. He has led the organization since its founding in 1998, and also serves as a Foundation Trustee.

"We will be conducting a search for the best CEO candidates across the nation," Krieg said.

"The person hired will be an accomplished leader in the areas of community health and health philanthropy."

"Rich Krieg’s contributions to the Horizon Foundation and to the community have been immeasurable," said Board of Trustees Chair Shirley D. Collier. "He has set a standard of excellence that will guide the Foundation far into the future."

The Foundation is Howard County’s largest philanthropy. It addresses community health through strategic programs and grants, responsive grants and partnerships with private and public organizations. Its current initiatives include implementing strategies to improve healthful eating, physical activity and other positive lifestyle changes, and responding to the language translation needs of local healthcare consumers.

"Beyond our programs, I’m proud to say that our organization started with some $70 million in assets, and we now have a corpus of over $80 million," Krieg said. "Without any community fund-raising, we’ve provided over $35 million for grants, strategic initiatives and Foundation operations."

"The search for Rich took over a year," Collier noted, "and the effort to find his successor will be a thorough one. We appreciate his giving the Board advanced notice in order to conduct a nationwide search. We’re grateful that Rich will be leading the Foundation during this period and that he’ll be directly involved in the search process."

An Ellicott City resident, Krieg is credited with launching a series of community-wide initiatives to address local health issues, including:

The Foundation’s Aging-in-Place Initiative transformed case management for county seniors, and launched a chronic disease management program developed at Stanford University. With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, an Aging-in-Place Summit was held in the county involving over 250 community leaders. The Horizon Foundation entered into a unique partnership with the federal Administration on Aging to finance the program, and pooled Foundation and county CDBG funds for home modification and repair. In addition, an automated information and referral system for senior services was created in the county’s Office on Aging. Among other program outcomes, over 200 ramps were built for homebound seniors in the county. The ongoing Chronic Disease Management Program remains one of the largest in the nation.
Under Krieg's leadership, the county’s capacity to provide indigent healthcare was dramatically increased. A free clinic providing episodic care to several hundred patients was phased out in favor of a new Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). Krieg approached Baltimore-based Chase Brexton Health Systems to expand its operations into the county. Consultants working in the Horizon office developed an FQHC expansion plan to the Federal government. At the time, Howard County’s affluence was seen as a barrier in getting approval for an FQHC to operate here. After the plan was approved by the US Public Health Service, Foundation funds were used to build out and equip the new facility. The Chase Brexton clinic is currently the county’s largest provider of ambulatory care for indigents. It also serves as the medical home for Healthy Howard patients.
Following the 9/11 attacks, the Foundation convened the county's first responders and community leaders to address local readiness. This led to formation of the Community Emergency Response Network (CERN), which Krieg chaired for 5 years. Made up of the chiefs of first responder agencies and approximately 60 other community leaders, CERN conducts emergency exercises, provides continuity of operations planning, mobilizes health professionals and educates the public on emergency response measures. Incubated in the Foundation office, CERN has received awards from the US Department of Homeland Security and the National Association of Counties (NACO).
The Horizon Foundation was the architect and manager of Connections, a multi-year program to improve the resilience of youth at risk. A partnership was struck between the Foundation and the Minneapolis-based Search Institute, originator of the nationally acclaimed “developmental assets” model. Following an evaluation of Connections in a Howard County elementary school, middle school and high school, the program was eventually expanded to 61 public schools. The Foundation also provided seed funding to a variety of organizations to accelerate the adoption of Developmental Assets across the county.

Krieg joined the Foundation after serving as Health Commissioner for the City of Chicago. Among other positions, he is the former Executive Director of the Institute for Metropolitan Affairs in Chicago and Director of Policy Analysis and Planning for the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, an association of 164 Chicago area hospitals and healthcare systems. He was a Peace Corps volunteer, working in community health in central Brazil and currently serves on the Advisory Board of the National Peace Corps Association.

After his retirement, Krieg will continue living in Howard County. "I intend to continue contributing to this remarkable community, and to increase my involvement in international health issues," he said.