Fort Worth appoints three new members to MedStar board of directors

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The City of Fort Worth has appointed three new members to the board of directors of the Metropolitan Area EMS Authority, the governing body for MedStar and the EMS System.

Susan Alanis is the chief operating officer for Tarrant County College District, responsible for the operations that support the academic goals of the College including Finance, Technology, Real Estate and Facilities, Police, Safety and Emergency Management, and Business Services.

Alanis replaces Paul K. Harral as mayoral appointee to the board. Harral is associate editor of the Fort Worth Business Press.

Alanis previously served as a Fort Worth assistant city manager until 2019. Her significant policy areas included gas drilling, transportation planning and funding, labor negotiations, health care strategy, pension reform, tourism, convention facility financing, park system development and economic development.

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She holds a master of public administration degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and a bachelor of arts in political science from Texas State University. She completed the Harvard Kennedy School Program for State and Local Executives.

Carlos Flores serves as Fort Worth Councilmember for District 2. He is a third generation Fort Worth native with deep roots in the community. He is a member of the All Saints Catholic Church parish and Home & School Organization.

Flores replaces Dr. Brian Byrd as the city council appointee to the board.

Flores is a graduate of Nolan Catholic High School and attended The University of Texas at Austin to majoring in aerospace engineering and minoring in fine arts and completed his degree studies at the University of Texas at Arlington.

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He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Society of Flight Test Engineers (SFTE).

Professionally, Carlos worked for two international product identification and handling companies as project engineer, as a design engineer for Raytheon on the C-130 and P-3 programs, and at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company in Fort Worth as a senior engineer performing stress analysis, flight and ground test support for the F-16 and F-35 fighter programs. Flores recently worked at Parker-Hannifin Aerospace in prototype design and testing. He is also a former corporate recruiter at Texas colleges and universities.

Teneisha Kennard is the Executive Director of Behavioral Health-Ambulatory Services as JPS Health Network. She has more than a decade of experience in mental and behavioral health and is responsible for the operation and development of a full continuum of accessible outpatient behavioral health services.

She replaces Dr. Raj Gandhi, Medical Director of Trauma at JPS.

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Kennard was born and raised in Fort Worth and completed her undergraduate degree at Texas Christian University and graduate studies at The University of Texas at Arlington.

She is a licensed Social Worker with a wealth of knowledge as a practitioner, educator, and administrator, MedStar said in a news release.

Her heart for service has led her to work with some of the city’s most vulnerable populations including people experiencing homelessness, justice system involved individuals and those facing socio-economic challenges, the release said.

“MedStar continues to serve a vital piece of our community’s health care infrastructure and an excellent partner to the City of Fort Worth as we work to build safer, healthier communities,” Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said in the announcement.  “I congratulate Ms. Alanis, Ms. Kennard and Councilmember Flores on their appointments and appreciate their willingness to share their time and expertise in serving on EMS Authority’s Board of Directors.”

MedStar’s 11-member board of directors includes nine voting members – four members representing the City of Fort Worth, one member representing the suburban member cities, two physician representatives of the Emergency Physicians Advisory Board (EPAB) and two members of the First Responder Advisory Board (FRAB).

MedStar’s Chief Medical Officer and EMS System Medical Director and the EMS Authority’s CEO serve as ex-officio (non-voting) members of the board and are direct reports to the board.