Briefs Gunnison County

New Hires
Several new leaders have been hired for influential positions throughout the county, including a CEO for Gunnison Valley Hospital, a director to take over the helm of the newly reformed housing authority, and a director for the Gunnison Crested Butte Tourism Association. All of the new hires come from out of the county.

Gunnison Valley Health CEO
After a national search, the Gunnison Valley Health board of trustees has appointed Rob Santilli as the CEO of Gunnison Valley Health. With more than 30 years of experience, Santilli spent 27 years as an executive in one of Pennsylvania’s leading health care systems, Riddle Health System. As executive vice president/COO, Santilli provided oversight for strategic planning and operations. For the past four years Santilli has been COO of Lifestyle Healthcare Group, a new model of outpatient services designed to make communities healthier and allow people to enjoy quality of life. Santilli brings a balance of big-hospital experience with an understanding of the role a health system plays in rural communities.
“Rob has worked through the challenges facing hospitals in this tough economy,” said board of trustees chairman Bob Brickman. “He understands the requirements of health reform and holds an impressive list of achievements earned by leading the growth of a top-performing health system. He has a special interest in building a positive organizational culture that involves employees and physicians. It is to our advantage that Rob is choosing to bring this experience to Gunnison Valley Health and follow a lifelong dream to be part of a smaller community in Colorado.”
Santilli received his MBA in health care administration from Temple University in Philadelphia and his undergraduate degree in health care administration from Pennsylvania State University. He has also held a nursing home administrator’s license. Santilli will relocate to the Gunnison Valley in October.

Tourism Association director
Former Colorado resident and destination marketing professional Pamela Loughman has been hired as executive director of the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association. In the public sector, Loughman served as a gubernatorial appointee as deputy cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Tourism Department. In the private sector, she was vice president of tourism for New Mexico-based Rick Johnson & Company, where she led marketing initiatives for clients such as the New Mexico Tourism Department, Angel Fire Ski Resort, Santa Fe, Albuquerque CVB, Gallup CVB, Las Cruces CVB, Indian Country USA, chambers of commerce and hotels.
In Arizona, Loughman led strategic marketing programs for the Arizona Office of Tourism while an account supervisor at Moses Anshell. Most recently, she was associate vice president of client services, public relations and strategy at Phoenix-based McMurry, where she developed programs for tourism clients including the Ritz-Carlton, Hotel Andaluz, SilverRock Resort-Arnold Palmer Classic Golf Course and Communication Integrators’ guestLINK in-room hotel technology product. Loughman has served on the board of advisors for New Mexico State University’s Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management program since 2001. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a double concentration in marketing along with travel and tourism from University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management. She begins her new role on October 1.

Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority director
Karl Fulmer is relocating from northern Michigan. He has 12 years of experience in housing, land use and development in the public, nonprofit and private sectors. Fulmer holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a two-time recipient of the Weiss Urban Livability Fellowship at UNC. He also has seven years of experience in the Ketchum/Sun Valley Community, where he was the first director of the Ketchum Housing Commission, which he helped transform into the regional Blaine County Housing Authority. There, Fulmer led the revision and introduction of housing-friendly land use policies and coordinated the development of the first affordable housing community in the city of Ketchum, a mixed-income property called the Fields at Warms Springs.
For the past five years, Fulmer has worked as a housing and finance consultant for private sector development companies and public housing agencies. Commissioner Paula Swenson says, “Karl is a perfect fit for our community; his experience comes from working in rural, resort communities and he has worked collaboratively to bring the various entities together—just what we need in the Gunnison Valley.” Fulmer begins in his position on October 24.