Beebe Foundation names new board members, honors departing ones

Beebe Medical Foundation recently welcomed two new board members and said thank you to Janet McCarty and Benedette Cooper for their years of service.

After 18 years, McCarty will step down from the board, and Nancy Levenson will take her place. After four years chairing the foundation’s board of ambassadors, Cooper will step down, and Brad Travis Jr. will assume this role.

“It’s an honor to serve on the Beebe Medical Foundation board with so many capable and dedicated members,” Levenson said. “My hope is to help educate residents and friends about all the positive things underway at Beebe and to help bring forward more supporters in our community.”

McCarty has been with the foundation since 2001. She said it has been a tremendous experience to witness the expansion of Beebe Healthcare’s campuses, knowing firsthand what a difference it makes in the community. 

“It’s been a great pleasure and honor for me to serve for these last 18 years,” McCarty said. “I have learned from and worked hand in hand with pioneers of the foundation such as Dr. Jim Beebe, Eugene Bookhammer, Joe Hudson, and many others – dear friends, all of them. I am very excited to see the tremendous success that is being accomplished by our foundation and its leaders with the I Believe in Beebe campaign. We are fortunate indeed to have Beebe Healthcare right here, so close to home.”

McCarty also serves on the Beebe Medical Center Board of Directors, having joined in October 1994. She served as board chair from 2005-10, and as vice chair from 1998-2005.

Cooper, who was a foundation ambassador for nine years, said she has enjoyed participating in many helpful acts within the community.

"The many years I have volunteered for the Beebe Medical Foundation have allowed me the opportunity to meet and work with some wonderful people while helping to raise funds for the Emergency Department, Tunnell Cancer Center, and many other areas of our healthcare system. I will miss being a part of making a difference for our community,” Cooper said.

Travis, an ambassador for the past five years, has helped out with golf tournaments like the Baywood Classic, as well as with the Planned Giving Committee and the I Believe in Beebe Campaign. 

“I have had a special connection with Beebe Healthcare throughout my life, and I’m excited to share that passion with our community,” he said. “Many members of my family have worked there throughout the years, myself included, and my wife Juliet and I are expecting our first Beebe baby this fall. After five years on the board of ambassadors, I am excited to become the chair and to continue supporting Beebe because of the importance that quality healthcare serves in our community.”

For more information about Beebe Healthcare, go to www.beebehealthcare.org. To find out how Beebe Healthcare is Creating the Next Generation of Care for the community, go to www.nextgenerationofcare.org.