The Sarasota County Public Hospital Board has appointed local financial advisor and civic leader Sarah Lodge to fill a vacant position on the nine-member board, which governs Sarasota Memorial Health Care System.

At its May 18 public meeting, the board selected Lodge to fill Seat 1 of the Central District. The open seat on the elected, unpaid board was vacated in February by Bill Noonan, who relocated out of state for personal reasons. Lodge’s term on the Hospital Board will begin in June, pending approval from the governor’s office, and continue until the general election in November 2020.

A certified financial planner, Lodge has extensive experience in long-term strategic planning and financial problem-solving. She currently serves as associate vice president for RBC Wealth Management in Sarasota, a position she has held since 2015. Previously, she was a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley from 2006 to 2015.

Known for her passion for volunteering and giving back to the community, Lodge has served in leadership roles for several local civic organizations. As the current president of the Rotary Club of Sarasota Foundation, she has provided stewardship for the organization’s Rotary Reading Project, which supplied kindergarten readiness bags to local children and books to more than 12,000 students this year. In 2019, she was named the Rotary Club of Sarasota’s Rotarian of the Year.

Lodge also served as non-profit director and a founding board member of Impact 100 SRQ, which empowers women to collectively fund transformational grants to non-profit organizations in Sarasota and Manatee Counties. A past president and current volunteer with the Junior League of Sarasota, Lodge also was a member of Leadership Sarasota’s class of 2014-15 and the Gulf Coast Leadership Institute in 2012.

She has worked closely with the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation and its efforts to support critical hospital services and programs.

Lodge moved to Sarasota with her husband, Ryan, a few years after graduating from the University of Florida in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in health science. Her three children all were born at Sarasota Memorial. “I strongly feel that health care is at the center of our community’s success,” she said. “Having a place on the board will provide me with an avenue to make meaningful contributions to the community that will affect generations to come.”