2012 Community Leadership Award N

1. Nomination letter for Mary Brained, president and CEO, HealthPartners
Modern Healthcare Community Leadership Award
As president and chief executive officer for Minnesota-based HealthPartners, the largest,
consumer-governed, nonprofit health care organization in the nation, Mary Brainerd’s leadership
has touched the lives of 1.36 million members. An integrated system, HealthPartners has more
than 12,000 employees and includes a care delivery system with more than 800 physicians at
more than 70 primary, specialty and urgent care clinics, three hospitals, a large dental practice,
top-rated medical and dental health plans, a large research foundation and an Institute for Medical
Education.
But for all of Mary’s accomplishments, including establishing HealthPartners as a
national leader in the health care industry, her biggest impact on people and their health
just might come from her work outside the organization.
Mary has a passion for helping people and that passion is evident by her charitable work
and community service, all with the goal of improving lifestyles and lives. This passion,
and what she does because of it, make Mary an ideal recipient of Modern Healthcare’s
first Community Leadership Award.
It would take pages upon pages to cover Mary’s charity and community work, so the best
approach is to highlight two of her lasting endeavors.
The first is the Itasca Project, an employer-led civic alliance focused on building a
thriving economy and quality of life in the Twin Cities metro area and reducing and
eliminating socioeconomic disparities.
Mary is the longtime chair of the Itasca Project, which is comprised of more than 50
cross-sector community leaders from Minneapolis–Saint Paul, including private sector
CEOs, public sector leaders including the governor of Minnesota and the mayors of
Minneapolis and St. Paul, and leaders of major foundations.
The Project’s goals are straightforward: build a more competitive workforce, fuel the
economy and benefit the entire region, not just certain communities.
Recently, the Itasca Project launched two new task forces, one to identify strategies for
higher education in Minnesota to drive long-term, sustainable economic growth and
prosperity; and the other to assess the region’s job growth position and develop strategies
and policies to promote the retention, creation, and attraction of quality jobs.
Mary’s influence is especially significant in one of Itasca’s best-known initiatives aimed
at reducing disparities. It came out of a Brookings Institution report that found that the
overall health of the Twin Cities region covers up stark disparities – the reduction of
which is important to ensuring continued economic effectiveness. The study looked at
how race, class and place disparities impact just about everything: personal income
levels, jobs, earning potential, homeownership and health care.
As co-chair of Itasca’s Disparities Task Force, Mary focused on addressing disparities
among racial and ethnic groups; among income groups; in central cities and suburbs. She

2. oversaw the development of a toolkit called Close the Gap, which promotes practical
suggestions for employers to help support Itasca’s work.
The vision for the Itasca Project is guided by Mary Brainerd, who is not only a leader, but
a recruiter as well. Her relationships have helped the Project grow and flourish over the
past five years, creating such initiatives as setting regional performance indicators,
helping the University of Minnesota facilitate stronger relationships with business, and
improving early childhood education by enlisting a pro bono consultant to identify areas
of potential improvement.
Another one of Mary’s difference-making community initiatives is the East Metro Mental
Health Roundtable. Mary had the idea to convene a group of 25 community leaders and
decision makers to accelerate improvements in the mental health community. They do
this through partnerships that deliver high quality mental health services. Mary is the co-
chair of the Roundtable, but she actually started the group and rounded up its members.
The group meets regularly to both build awareness of mental health problems and
generate practical short- and long-term solutions and new ways of providing behavioral
health care. The Roundtable has successfully dealt with, or focused on, such issues as
reducing wait times for mental health services, increasing rapid access and short-term
psychiatric services, and increasing awareness and utilization of the services available to
residents.
As a direct result of Mary’s initiative, people with mental health issues are getting more
attention and the issues themselves are more open and less stigmatized. She took the
topic of mental health and brought it to the front of people’s minds—people who might
not have otherwise been giving it attention.
While the Itasca Project and Mental Health Roundtable focus on the people, businesses
and institutions of the region, another of Mary’s community projects directly helps the
area’s charities. Mary was the visionary behind the creation of GiveMN, which has
revolutionized charitable giving in Minnesota.
GiveMN’s mission is to grow charitable giving and move more of it online. As its first
board chair, Mary is helping build partnerships and build a strong leadership base for this
innovative organization.
GiveMN.org is a website that features every Minnesota nonprofit. GiveMN markets
giving opportunities and donor tools to people who care about Minnesota and helps them
find, connect and engage with the causes they care about. The model combines a state-of-
the-art national technology platform with local knowledge and trust-based relationships
established by leaders like Mary.
The centerpiece of GiveMN is the annual Give to the Max day, the largest online giving
event in the world. Last November it raised $13.4 million in 24 hours. Overall, the
organization recently surpassed $50 million in charitable gifts for more than 6,200
nonprofits. This is a huge accomplishment in such a short period of time (three years) and
Mary Brainerd was a key player in making it happen.
Simply put, she led its formation, helping to shape the idea, the business plan and the
launch. Her valuable leadership has also led the incredible growth.

3. Here’s how GiveMN’s executive director Dana Nelson characterizes Mary’s leadership
contributions: “I love watching how she tackles issues head on - with an amazing
combination of grace and tenacity. I feel extraordinarily grateful to have the opportunity
to work with her. It seems like every time I turn around, she is on a panel or leading a
task force. Mary is an incredible leader; committed to her team, committed to her family
and committed to the general well being of others.”
The Itasca Project and GiveMN are two of many, many community projects Mary
Brainerd has immersed herself in. A sampling of her current board memberships gives a
glimpse into the impact she has during her time outside the office:
• MN Philanthropy Partners (Minnesota Community Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation)
• Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
• Minnesota Council of Health Plans
• Minnesota Life/Securian
• Alliance of Community Health Plans
• Minnesota Business Partnership
• Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Regional Economic Development
Her past board work has included the Guthrie Theater, Metropolitan State University, St.
Catherine University and Capital City Partnership.
While leading HealthPartners to record growth, Mary Brainerd has also made it a priority
to improve her community through numerous means and countless volunteer hours.
While representing her organization, she has also been a voice for many in the
community who would not otherwise have one.