From staff reports
Beaufort Memorial Hospital’s Board of Trustees has welcomed Tommy Harmon, Jr., to the nonprofit hospital’s governing body.
Former vice-chair William “Bill” Himmelsbach, has been named chairman, succeeding David House, who served two terms as chairman and one term finance chair.
Harmon spent nearly 15 years serving on the board of Southwestern Vermont Healthcare in Bennington, where he was finance committee chair before a five-year role as chairman of the board.
He was designated Trustee Emeritus in 2022 and since that time has served as the director of Broad River Healthcare and on Beaufort Memorial’s finance committee.
Harmon holds a B.S. in accounting from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and is the former owner, CEO and Chairman of the Board for Sonnax Industries, Inc., a leading supplier of transmission components for vehicles worldwide.
He spent nearly 30 years in Vermont before retiring to Spring Island with his wife in 2023.
Himmelsbach most recently served as vice chairman, but prior to joining the board, he spent 42 years in leadership positions in the healthcare field, with not-for-profit and multi-hospital systems, including academic medical centers, around the country.
He was most recently the President and CEO of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation in New York City, where he continues to serve on its governing board.
Himmelsbach is a member of the Board of Directors of the Zucker Institute for Innovation Commercialization, the technology transfer office of the Medical University of South Carolina.
He also serves on the advisory board of Eastside Partners, a private equity fund in Huntsville, Ala. He holds a B.A. in labor-management relations from Penn State University and an MPH in health care administration from the University of Pittsburg.
He is a life fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
He and his wife live on Spring Island.
Douglas Folzenlogen, M.D., a board-certified internal medicine physician and full-time hospitalist, was elected chief of staff in October 2023 and will represent the hospital’s medical staff as an ex-officio board member.
He replaces Kurt Ellenberger, M.D., who held the role for four years.
Folzenlogen graduated from University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio and spent 18 years with the Adena Health System in Chillicothe, Ohio. During that time, he was a physician representative on the system’s board of directors and its finance committee. He also served as director of the hospitalist group.
Folzenlogen joined Beaufort Memorial’s medical staff in 2016 and in 2022 he was named Provider of the Year at the hospital’s Bemmy Awards.
Other board members include Vice Chair of the Board Stephen Larson, M.D., a board-certified emergency medicine physician and medical director of the Beaufort Memorial Hospital Pratt Emergency Center; Secretary of the Board Vernita Dore; Carolyn Banner, Ph.D.; William Jessee, M.D., FACMPE; board-certified interventional radiologist Eric Billig, M.D.; board-certified ophthalmologist Jane Kokinakis, D.O.; and Richardson LaBruce.
The nine members of the Board of Trustees are appointed by Beaufort County Council and serve rotating terms.
