UNC Health Blue Ridge Appoints New Board Members

MORGANTON, N.C. (July 6, 2023) –

UNC Health Blue Ridge appointed three new members to its Board of Directors. Kevin Baxter, Amy Jackson-Kincaid, and James Rostan began their service at the July meeting.

“We are thrilled to welcome these new board members to UNC Health Blue Ridge,” said Kathy C. Bailey, President and CEO. “This team will lead us with insight and dedication as we continue to enhance, grow, and secure access to superior healthcare right here at home. Their unique backgrounds and experiences will strengthen our board.”

Baxter is the Vice Chancellor and Chief Campus Officer for N.C. School of Science and Math-Morganton and joined the school in January 2017. His career has largely centered on honors education – first at the University of Maryland and then at East Carolina University, where he designed, built, and grew special programs and communities for talented scholars. This work led him to his current role where since 2017, he has led the development and opening of the newest campus of the UNC System at NCSSM-Morganton.

He is a 2022 graduate of Leadership North Carolina, his current service roles include serving as Chairman of the Board of C2Life Foundation, serving as a board member with the WNC Bridge Foundation and the YMCA of Catawba Valley, and serving on the steering team for the Industrial Commons Innovation Campus, the Work in Burke initiative, and the Appalachian State University Hickory Campus Advisory Council.

He and his family live in Morganton.

Jackson-Kincaid is a Program Supervisor with the Guardian ad litem program, which is administered through the North Carolina Administrative Office of Courts. Amy was awarded a Certificate for Professional Excellence by NC Chief Justice Paul Newby at the GAL Statewide Conference in 2022. A Guardian ad litem is appointed by a district court judge to investigate and determine the needs of abused and neglected children and youth petitioned into the court system. She also serves as an on-call chaplain for Amorem (formerly Burke and Caldwell Hospice).

Jackson-Kincaid is a graduate of Lees McRae College with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and holds a Master of Divinity degree from N. Greenville University in Tigerville, SC. She is an active member of the community, serving on the Western Piedmont Community College Board of Trustees (current chair); National Day of Prayer, Burke County Women’s Committee; Burke Ministerial Alliance secretary; and Co-Chair of Morganton Area Ministerial Alliance.

She lives in Morganton.

Rostan, who was elected secretary, has been an active supporter of UNC Health Blue Ridge. He served 20 years on the Board of Directors of Valdese General Hospital and Blue Ridge HealthCare. He spent 25 years as owner and manager of a 700-employee business and is President of the private Rostan Family Foundation. He also manages several Private Investment Partnerships. He is a graduate of Davidson College and holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Rostan’s extensive community service includes being a founding member of the Community Foundation of Burke County; past president of the Burke County Chamber of Commerce; past president of the Valdese Rotary Club; executive board member of the Boy Scouts of America Piedmont Council; First Union Bank board member; Burke County United Way board member; past president of the Old Colony Players; current board member of the Historic Valdese Foundation and chairman of the Waldensian Heritage Foundation.

He and his wife, Linda, live in Valdese and have two grown children and four grandchildren.

Other members of the Board of Directors include Michael Bridges, Past Chairman; Jeff Carswell, Chairman; M. H. (Mac) McCrary, Vice Chairman; David Bennett, Treasurer; Dr. Andrew Brant, Susan Haire, Dr. Gandhari Loomis, and Tea Yang.

UNC Health Blue Ridge (www.unchealthblueridge.org) is a not-for-profit community healthcare system, providing advanced healthcare and wellness services from more than 40 locations across a three-county region of Western North Carolina. The system includes one hospital with two locations and a continuing care retirement community. Nearly 120 primary care physicians, physician specialists and extenders in the Blue Ridge Medical Group combine with other physicians on the Medical Staff to serve patients in the region. UNC Health Blue Ridge provides graduate medical education programs for medical school graduates and students in allopathic and osteopathic medicine. UNCBR is affiliated with UNC Health System (www.unchealthcare.org), a not-for-profit integrated health care system owned by the state of North Carolina and based in Chapel Hill