UnityPoint Health® announces the appointment of Ashley Thompson to the Executive Committee of the Iowa Rural Development Council.
“I am honored to have been selected by the Iowa Rural Development Council leadership team to serve as a member of the executive committee,” said Thompson. “As someone who was born and raised in Iowa and has deep family roots in our state’s rural communities, I care deeply about the issues that are important for our fellow Iowans. The Council has long served as a leading voice in supporting strategies and policies for our small towns, so I am proud to help guide in this incredible organization.”
The Iowa Rural Development Council is a statewide nonprofit organization created as part of an Executive Order and ensuing Farm Bill in 1992. The Council works closely with the Iowa Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative to develop, recommend and implement programs, services and policies that focus on rural vitality for communities across the state.
Thompson currently serves as the system director of government & external affairs for UnityPoint Health and has served as the health system’s representative on the Iowa Rural Development Council since 2018. In addition, she serves as a board member of the Iowa Rural Health Association, a deputy of the Iowa Business Council and vice chair of the Story County Analysis of Social Services Evaluation Team (ASSET). She was named a national “Rising Star: Top Healthcare Leaders Under 40” by Becker’s Hospital Review in 2019 and was the feature story in the May 2020 issue of Business Record Iowa that focused on rural health.
Thompson holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Northern Iowa, a Master of Public Health from the University of Georgia and a certification in Cultural Competency in Health Care from Global Health Corps. She and her husband, Nate, CEO of Story County Medical Center in Nevada, Iowa, reside in Story County.
Thompson will immediately serve in an ex-officio capacity for the remainder of 2020 and will being her three-year team on the Executive Committee in January 2021.
Click here to read the public announcement from the Iowa Rural Development Council.