Iowa Ag Connection - Rural Health Association Selects Menner to Manage Group

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Rural Health Association Selects Menner to Manage Group
Iowa Ag Connection - 11/14/2019

The Iowa Rural Health Association board of trustees voted this week to select Grinnell-based The Bill Menner Group (TBMG) to manage the organization. TBMG President Bill Menner will serve as executive director.

"We are pleased to have Bill leading IRHA in this capacity," said IRHA Board Chair Debra Hoyle. "We know him well and believe the synergies his company brings will support our goal of ensuring optimal health for all Iowans."

Menner had served on the IRHA board for six years. He also serves as a trustee for UnityPoint Health-Grinnell and UnityPoint Health-Des Moines. His company also manages the Iowa Rural Development Council, which Hoyle said aligns well with the direction IRHA is headed.

"The Rural Council has done amazing things with Bill as its executive director," she said. "We think adding IRHA to his company's portfolio will help to elevate rural health care among the other issues confronting small towns and unincorporated areas across Iowa."

Menner founded TBMG in 2017 after serving almost eight years as USDA Rural Development's state director under the Obama Administration. During that time, the agency invested more than $500 million in Iowa rural health care facilities. He has also worked as a county economic development director, a downtown development director and a public radio reporter.

Menner is also a former employee of Des Moines-based State Public Policy Group, a Des Moines-based consulting firm that played a role in the creation of IRHA and managed its operations during the 1990s and early 2000s.

"SPPG founder Tom Slater was my mentor, and it's nice to think about him as I take on this new role running an organization he helped launch," Menner said. "It's like we've come full circle!"

IHRA is a non-profit organization established in 1993 to ensure optimal health for all Iowans, particularly those in rural areas. As the voice for rural health in the state, IRHA brings attention to the issues that affect rural health providers and helps address those issues by providing educational opportunities, facilitating information sharing, and engaging in advocacy activities.

For more information, call 641-990-4757 or email iaruralhealth@gmail.com.

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