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For Immediate Release
Date: February 1, 2017
Contact: Leslie Piotrowski
(847) 377-8055
Hannah Goering
(847) 377-8099
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(Lake County, IL February 1, 2017) The Lake County Board of Health and Lake County Community
Health Center Governing Council are pleased to announce that Mark Pfister has
been appointed the new executive director for the Lake County Health
Department/Community Health Center. Pfister served as interim executive
director since June 18th, 2016. His new position became effective on
January 28th, 2017.
As executive director, Pfister is responsible for leading
over 60 separately funded public health, behavioral health and medical programs
performed at more than 20 locations in Lake County. He oversees approximately 1,000 employees and
the administration and preparation of the Department’s $70 million budget.
“Mr. Pfister has built an outstanding track record over the
26 years he has served at the Health Department,” said Board of Health
president Tim Sashko. “He has
demonstrated strong skills in strategic leadership and fiscal management. He is
passionate about Lake County and has a clear-eyed vision for reaching our goal
to achieve the highest level of health for all in the county. The Board of Health
has complete faith in his vision having worked closely with him for so many
years.”
Pfister brings a wealth of experience to his new role. He recently organized and created the “Together
Summit,” a meeting of over 200 community partners to collectively address
health issues identified in the Lake County Community Health Improvement Plan. He
successfully led and achieved accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation
Board in 2016, in which the Health Department became one in approximately 100
local health departments that had achieved national accreditation. He revamped
the Health Department’s strategic planning process, and reorganized and
centralized quality improvement, organizational development, and assessment and
planning. He also recently restructured the agency’s quality management system.
Over the years, Pfister has served in several roles at the
Health Department. From 1991 to 2005, he served as aquatic biologist and
program coordinator of the Lakes Management Unit (now known as Ecological
Services), which works to protect the county’s lakes. From 2005 to 2009, he
served as the associate director of Environmental Health Services where he directly
supervised seven programs. In 2009, he became the interim director of
Environmental Health Services where he managed 70 staff and a $5.6 million
budget. He was named director of Prevention and Population Health Services in
2010, where he was responsible for the management of 25 programs and 232 staff.
Prior to serving at the Health Department, he was an
associate instructor/research assistant at the Indiana University Environmental
Systems Application Center. He also
served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon, West Africa, in the late 1980s.
Pfister is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Public Health
(DrPH) from the University of Illinois-Chicago School of Public Health. He received a M.S. in Environmental Science
from Indiana University at Bloomington and a B.A. in Biology, Psychology and Environmental
Science from Augustana College.
Established by referendum in 1956, the Lake County Health Department is
a state-certified, nationally accredited public health department responsible
for the prevention of disease and disability, the promotion of health and the
maintenance of a healthful environment. The Health Department’s Community
Health Center provides comprehensive, patient-centered medical, dental and
behavioral health care to adults and children at nine locations.
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