The Sarasota County Public Hospital Board, which governs Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, appointed former Hospital Board Chair William “Bill” Noonan to temporarily fill the vacant at-large Seat 3 on the Board. Charged with setting the strategic direction of the organization and serving as stewards of public resources, the Board is made up of nine citizens elected to serve on the unpaid Hospital Board. The at-large Seat 3 has been vacant since mid-April, when Britt Riner stepped down to focus on a new role advocating for parents and children at a statewide level. Noonan, who is not running for election this year, will serve on the Board until the general election in November 2024, when local voters will elect a new member for a full, four-year term. Noonan previously served on the Hospital Board from 2016 to 2020, representing Seat 1 in the Central District. He was named Board chair for 2019-2020 but stepped down in 2020 for personal family reasons. He resumed his service to the organization in 2021, when he was appointed to serve as a community representative on the Hospital Board’s Mission & Planning Committee. Born and raised in New Jersey, Bill was hired by IBM after graduating from Villanova University in Pennsylvania with a degree in electrical engineering. During his 30-plus years with IBM in Boston, he served in a number of senior executive roles, including senior global sales operations manager and senior program manager for incentive planning. While at IBM, Bill was also selected as the U.S. representative to the IBM Cambridge Programme at the University of Cambridge, England. After retiring from IBM in 2004, Bill joined Novell, a global enterprise software company, ultimately serving as senior director for global field operations. His many areas of expertise include business and financial management, HR and executive management, operational process design, implementation and improvement, as well as sales and marketing. Bill has been active in our community since he and his wife, Candace, moved to Sarasota in 2012. Sarasota County voters will have an opportunity to vote for candidates for the at-large Seat 3 and three other seats on the Hospital Board in the Primary Election on Aug. 20 and General Election on Nov. 5. Information on candidates and when and where to vote in the upcoming elections can be found on the Sarasota Supervisor of Elections website, www.SarasotaVotes.gov.