Cristy Garcia Thomas

I've been in the healthcare field for over 25 years, though my career is rather unique. I'm a journalism major who started my career in media, working for Knight Ridder, and was recruited to Milwaukee, Wisconsin through Journal Communications, which owned TV, radio, and newspaper. My career accelerated there, and as an executive, I was recruited onto the board of Aurora Healthcare. I was a board member, and during my time as a board member, the CEO that we had just recently hired was needing an executive to help him with external affairs, so I came in to run the external affairs work for the largest healthcare system in Aurora. As part of the executive team, I was on the M&A team that then brought Aurora and Advocate together, and was part of the M&A team that helped bring Aurora Advocate Health with Atrium Health, which is now called Advocate Health. So I did two M&As, and in between the two M&As, I ran incident command for COVID with our Chief Medical Officer and our Chief Nursing Officer. I stepped away from healthcare and thought I was going to retire and took a year and a half off of work, and then got a call to come run the Greater Milwaukee Committee, so that's what I'm doing now. I've been in my current role for 6 months. The Greater Milwaukee Committee is a civic organization that brings together executive leaders from various industries across the Milwaukee region, such as corporations, CEOs, CEOs of healthcare, universities, nonprofits, civic, to align around some of the most challenging issues that the region is facing, and to convene the power of the membership to help create change and influence change in areas that's going to improve the region for the future. We focus in on education, infrastructure, fiscal strength, and public safety. It's extremely rewarding. It's an opportunity to help make a difference in a community that has given a lot to me, and I'm in a position where I can give back and help to influence positive change for future generations.