Meet Our Board of Directors
Inclusa’s Board of Directors consists of a diverse group of community members from across the State of Wisconsin. We invite you to learn more about our board members.
Term
July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2022
Community
La Crosse, WI
About Beth
As a Member Representative on the Board, Beth Arimond brings a strong background in educational, social services and medical advocacy for persons with disabilities. Beth earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Minnesota. She has past work experience with the State of Minnesota, the City of Whitewater, WI and the Gundersen Health System. Beth and husband, George, have lived in La Crosse, WI for 30 years with their son Mark. Mark was born with Marshall-Smith Syndrome (MSS) and has a complicated medical history.
Email Beth
Term
July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2021
Community
Warrens, WI
About Ron
Ron Carney was elected in 2004 to the Jackson County Board of Supervisors, where he is the Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee and also of the Land Conservation Committee. He serves as Chair of the Jackson County Board of Adjustment, is Vice County Board Chair, a member of the Executive and Finance Committees, and also is a member of the Jackson County Law Enforcement and Personnel Committees. Ron also serves on the Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission. He retired in 1998 after working 37 years for Abbot Laboratories, where he held several key positions, including Associate Research Fellow. He graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a degree in Chemistry and holds an honorary PhD in Biochemistry from Abbot Laboratories.
Email Ron
Term
July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2020
Community
Steuben, WI
About Ken
Ken Cornish is a founding member of the Inclusa Board. He has over 25 years of healthcare administrative experience in small, rural hospitals, nursing homes and clinics. He is a Fellow in the Healthcare Financial Management Association. Ken also serves as President of the Boscobel Fire District Board and Treasurer of the EMS Board of Directors. He is a Master Naturalist and active in local and state conservation issues. He and his wife Jean live in rural Steuben in Crawford County.
Email Ken
Term
July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2021
Community
Wausau, WI
About Ken
Kenneth Day, Ph.D. served as a Marathon County Board Supervisor from 2001- 2016. Ken began his service on the original CCCW Family Care Board at its inception, and is a founding member of the Inclusa Board. His most recent employment included serving as the Director of Business Development for the American Society of Laser Medicine and Surgery. Prior to that employment, he served as the Senior VP of Business Development for the Aspirus Healthcare system for 19 years, and as a Vice President at North Central Technical Institute for 13 years. Ken has served on several nonprofit Boards of Directors including the North Central Technical College board for 12 years, and North Central Healthcare Center. Ken represented Marathon County, and was a founding member and co-chair of the Central Wisconsin ADRC Board of Directors. He has been active as a volunteer and consultant to numerous community organizations, including the United Way of Marathon County. He currently consults with nonprofit and governmental organizations on leadership development and governance.
Email Ken
Term
July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2021
Community
Baraboo, WI
About Joan
Joan Fordham spent her professional career as an Executive Director in the non-profit arena. She was appointed to the original Southwest Family Care Alliance Board in 2008, when she was a member of the Sauk County Board of Supervisors. She has continued to serve on the Board through its expansions and merger. She works part-time for two small non-profit organizations and is on the Board of Directors for several others. Joan has three children and three grandchildren.
Email Joan
Term
July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2022
Community
Chippewa Falls, WI
About Jack
John (Jack) Halbleib has an extensive history working in long-term care. Following graduation from UW-Eau Claire, Jack was employed for eight years as a Social Worker in Chippewa County, initially at the county-owned Health Care Center, then as an Adult and Child Protective Service Worker. Much of the job responsibility was working to transition mental health clients back to community settings in an era with little coordinated supports. Obtaining a Nursing Home Administrator License in 1978, he spent over thirty-five years operating nursing home facilities covering multiple types of ownership until developing his own health care system in 2002 until retiring in 2017. Jack has served in various roles with United Way, American Red Cross and has served on the Chippewa County Human Services Board (Citizen Representative) for over fifteen years and serves as chair. Jack is married to Mary Lee, has two adult children (with grandkids!) and lives in his hometown of Chippewa Falls.
Email Jack
Term
July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2022
Community
La Crosse, WI
About Tara
Tara Johnson was elected to the La Crosse County Board of Supervisors in 2000 and, since July 2011, was elected by her peers as its Chair. She was a founding Board member of the La Crosse County CMO which became Western Wisconsin Cares, one of the three legacy organizations which joined forces to become Inclusa. Tara received her bachelor’s degree from Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. She worked as a United Way professional in Milwaukee, Green Bay and La Crosse, where she ended her 15-year career as the Executive Director. Tara also serves on the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Counties Association and Emerge Wisconsin. Along with her husband, Tim Padesky, she resides in the Town of Shelby where they raised their two college-aged children. Tim and Tara were guardians for an uncle who received Family Care services for many years, an experience that lends additional insight into her role on the Inclusa Board.
Email Tara
Term
July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2020
Community
Buffalo City, WI
About John
John Kriesel serves as Buffalo County’s appointee to the Board. A Buffalo City, WI resident, John is also an elected member of the Buffalo County Board of Supervisors. He brings a strong background in long-term support to both roles, having retired from his position as Director of the county’s Health & Human Services Department after working 34 years for Buffalo County. During his final year with the department, he participated in the initial planning phases for Family Care expansion and regionalization. John resides in Buffalo City with his wife and has two adult children. He believes all individuals should receive the services they need to experience the quality of life most people take for granted.
Email John
Term
July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2024
Community
Pewaukee, WI
About Karen
Karen has spent most of her life working with children and families as a Child/Family Therapist in the Treatment Foster Care system. Karen received her bachelor’s degree from Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. After working in residential treatment for a few years, Karen earned her Master of Social Work (MSW) degree at Washington University in St. Louis, specializing in Family Therapy. From 1989 until her retirement in 2015, Karen worked in the Treatment Foster Care program at St. Aemilian-Lakeside, Inc., providing therapy for individual children, family therapy for birth families, and parenting education for treatment foster parents. Karen worked as a therapist and as a clinical supervisor for therapists in the program. Karen and her wife Diane have lived in Pewaukee, WI for 29 years, and share their home with their beloved English Springer Spaniels. Karen has extensive personal experience with the long-term care needs of family members and friends who have needed the help and guidance of Family Care. Karen is excited to put her professional and personal experience to work on the Inclusa Board.
Email Karen
Term
July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2024
Community
Green Bay, WI
About Steve
Steve McCarthy has served as Curative Connections’ president and chief executive officer since the end of 2012. Steve began his career in the nonprofit sector with Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan (LSS), holding a variety of roles in organizational advancement, program administration and public policy. Prior to LSS, Steve taught English in China during that country’s ill-fated democracy movement. He was also the managing editor for a Chicago area newspaper. Steve has served on several boards of directors, including CASA of Northeast Wisconsin, Disability Services Provider Network (DSPN), Foundations Health and Wholeness, and United Way of Brown County. Steve chairs DSPN’s public policy committee. He co-leads the Population Health Collaborative, a Brown County consortium of Family Care managed care organizations, an IRIS consulting agency, the area’s three health systems, community service providers and others dedicated to the vision of improving Family Care members’ health outcomes, their experience with the systems of care around them, and reducing overall costs.
Email Steve
Term
July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2022
Community
Boscobel, WI
About Gary
Before the inception of Family Care in Wisconsin, Gary Ranum and his family provided ten years of care in their home for a parent stricken with Alzheimer’s. In 2012, he became the Grant County Board of Supervisors representative on the former Southwest Family Care Alliance Board and has been on the Inclusa Board since its inception. In Health & Human Services-related experience, he has served on the Grant County Social Services Board, Board of Health, Orchard Manor Nursing Home Board of Directors and the Board of Directors for Unified Community Services of Grant and Iowa Counties. He is Chairman of both the Grant County Law Enforcement/Emergency Management Committee and the county’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. He also serves on the county’s Executive Committee and on the Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission. Gary graduated from UW-Whitewater with majors in Math and Physics and from the United States Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA with a Masters in National Security Affairs. He completed additional programs at the Defense Intelligence University and the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute – both in Washington, DC. A retired senior naval officer, he served in numerous operational, staff and diplomatic positions in the U.S., in Europe and at sea.
Email Gary
Term
July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2020
Community
Plover, WI
About Janis
Janis Ribbens has been active in long-term care redesign in Wisconsin since 1998. She and her late husband, Timothy, experienced a variety of forms of in-home, long-term care before being fortunate enough to live in Portage County when it became a pilot for the Family Care program. They wholeheartedly embraced self-directing their own long-term care support services. Ms. Ribbens has served as a member representative on various committees and workgroups and eventually was asked to serve on the Board of Directors of Community Care of Central Wisconsin (CCCW) in 2008. She served as Board Chairman when CCCW merged with Western Wisconsin Cares and ContinUs to form Community Link, Inc. (and then Inclusa) in 2017. She attended UW-Whitewater and UW-Stevens Point.