Baton Rouge General Announces New Members of Board of Trustees

BATON ROUGE, La. - Today, Baton Rouge General (BRG) announced five new members of its Board of Trustees, each elected to serve a three-year term beginning January 1: Annette Barton, Rhoman Hardy, Ryland Percy, Christopher Tyson and Raju Vatsavai, M.D.

Annette Barton recently served as co-chair of the Baton Rouge General Foundation’s successful RISE Campaign and is also chair of the Foundation’s Annual Fund. In addition to her involvement with the Foundation, Barton is on the board for various community organizations, including Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Baton Rouge Green, Burden Foundation and Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation. Born in Baton Rouge, Barton earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma and worked for Chase Bank for many years.

Rhoman Hardy is Vice President for Shell’s Gulf Coast and Pennsylvania manufacturing locations and general manager of Shell’s site in Geismar. He began working for Shell in 1988 while studying electrical engineering at Louisiana State University and has worked in various positions in Shell’s manufacturing business as well as the company’s distribution and pipeline business. Hardy, who also holds an executive MBA from Rice University, is on the board of the Louisiana Chemical Association, Shell Pension Trust, Arts Council of Baton Rouge, and Baton Rouge Area Chamber. He has previously served on the board of directors for Capital Area United Way.

Ryland Percy is senior partner in the law firm of Percy, Mumphrey and Skias and has practiced in Ascension Parish for more than 40 years. He serves on the governing boards of the Ascension Parish Library and the Louisiana Super Region Rail Authority, and previously served on the boards of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce and River Parish Community College Foundation. A 37-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, retiring as a Rear Admiral in 2006, Percy has also worked as attorney for the City of Gonzales and the Pontchartrain Levee District. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from LSU, a Master of Science in Administration from the University of Guam, and a Juris Doctor degree from LSU Law Center.

Christopher Tyson is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Build Baton Rouge, where he leads Baton Rouge’s land development and blight elimination efforts. Currently on leave from his position as the Newman Trowbridge Distinguished Professor of Law at the LSU Law Center, Tyson has previously worked at Accenture, Jones Walker and in the Washington, DC Office of Senator Mary Landrieu. In 2015 he was the Louisiana State Democratic Party nominee for Louisiana Secretary of State. While unsuccessful, Tyson earned the largest number of votes of any black candidate at that point in Louisiana’s history. He earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree with honors from Howard University, his Master of Public Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, and his Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Raju Vatsavai, M.D., a faculty member of Baton Rouge General’s Internal Medicine Program, earned his medical degree from Siddartha Medical College in Vijayawada, India, and completed his Internal Medicine residency at Cleveland Clinic. He also completed a clinical research fellowship in the department of Cardiology at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Vatsavai is board certified in internal medicine and also serves as Assistant Professor for Tulane University School of Medicine.

Other members of the BRG Board of Trustees are:

• Phyllis McLaurin, Chair
• Charles D’Agostino, Vice Chair
• Jacques de la Bretonne, M.D.
• Gwen Hamilton
• Brian A. Jackson
• Joseph E. Juban
• Roy G. Kadair, M.D.
• Scott Kirkpatrick, Ex Officio Member
• Louis Minsky, M.D., Ex Officio Member
• Isabelina Nahmens, Ph.D.
• Andrew Olinde, M.D.
• Edgar S. Starns
• Edgardo Tenreiro, Ex Officio Member

Annette Barton	Rhoman Hardy	Ryland Percy
Christopher Tyson	Raju Vatsavai, MD

About Baton Rouge General Medical Center
Baton Rouge General Medical Center is the area’s first community hospital with 588 licensed beds between two campuses. Baton Rouge General opened its doors in 1900, and has provided the Greater Baton Rouge community with high-quality healthcare for generations. An accredited teaching hospital since 1991, Baton Rouge General serves as an affiliate of Tulane University School of Medicine, and offers other medical education programs, including a School of Nursing, School of Radiologic Technology, Family Medicine Residency Program, Internal Medicine Residency Program, and Sports Medicine Fellowship Program. For more information, visit BRGeneral.org, find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/BatonRougeGeneral and follow us on Twitter at @BRGeneral.

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