MIDDLEBURY — Sen. Claire Ayer, D-Weybridge, has been named to a nine-member state panel that will vet nominees for the Green Mountain Care Board, which will help design and administer major components of a single-payer health care system for Vermont.
Gov. Peter Shumlin on Wednesday announced the members of the nine-member Green Mountain Health Care Board nominating committee. As dictated by state statute, the Governor appointed three, House Speaker Shap Smith appointed three, and Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell appointed three.
Ayer, chairwoman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, was one of Campbell’s three appointees. Ayer helped draft the health care reform legislation that moves the state toward a single-payer system.
The five-member Green Mountain Care Board will begin its work Oct. 1.
Gov. Shumlin’s appointees are:
• Elizabeth Bankowski, who has extensive experience in government and business. Bankowski most recently chaired Gov. Shumlin’s transition, overseeing the recruitment of senior executives to serve in the Administration.
• Dr. Deborah Richter, a family physician with Cambridge Health Center and also part of the Addiction Medicine Synergy Counseling Group of Montpelier.
• Thomas Torti, president of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce. Torti also served as Commissioner of Personnel and Commissioner of Buildings and General Services in a previous gubernatorial administration.
Speaker Smith’s appointees are:
• Kevin Kelley, who has spent over 30 years as a health care administrator.  He currently serves at the Chief Executive Officer of Community Health Services of Lamoille Valley, a federally qualified health center with over 14,000 patients. 
• Rep. Mark Larson, Chair of the House Committee on Health Care, where he spearheaded the effort to craft and pass H.202.  Rep. Larson has served on the Health Care Reform Commission, most recently as co-chair. He has also served as a member of the Joint Committee for Health Access Oversight.
• Rep. Vicki Strong from Albany, a member of the House Committee on Health Care.
Sen. Campbell’s appointees are:
• Dr. Louis Kazal, Jr. who lives in Hanover, N.H., and serves as Associate Professor, Department of Community and Family Medicine, at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, where many Vermonters receive hospital care
• Sen. Claire Ayer of Addison County, Chair of the Senate Health and Welfare. Ayer helped draft the health care reform legislation that moves the state toward a single payer system.
• Sen. Kevin Mullin of Rutland, who is the Assistant Minority Leader in the Senate and Vice-Chairman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.
Following an organizing meeting, the Nominating Committee will circulate the job description, applicant questionnaire and information about the application process.  This information will be available at the website for the Department of Human Resources at http://humanresources.vermont.gov/.