Presbyterian Central New Mexico Board Members

Kathleen Avila Kathleen Avila, managing member of Avila Retail Development & Management, LLC, graduated from Texas Tech University with a bachelor's degree in elementary education.  After having taught school for two years, she moved to Albuquerque in 1968.  She stayed busy as a homemaker until 1972, when she began her career in retail and merchandising.  Since that time, she has been instrumental in the growth and development of the successful retail business she and her husband own and operate.  Ms. Avila takes a special interest in the community, having held leadership positions on many community boards including the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.  She currently serves on the Denver Region Federal Reserve Board.  In recognition of her community involvement and business leadership, Ms. Avila has been nominated for Female Executive of the Year and the YWCA's Woman on the Move Award.

Lauren Cates Lauren Cates joined Presbyterian in 1999 as an Administrative Fellow.  She subsequently served in a variety of administrative roles and is now the Central Delivery System Chief Operations Officer.  She received her Master's of Health Care Administration and Master's of Business Administration degrees from Arizona State University.  Ms. Cates was recognized in the New Mexico Business Weekly’s “Forty Under 40” leadership list in 2008.

Sean Coston, MD Dr. Sean Coston grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado and attended the University of Colorado for both his undergraduate and medical degree studies. He studied chemical engineering at Colorado University Boulder with emphasis in bioengineering and computer sciences. Needing some way to pay for medical school and having some family history of military service, he accepted a United States Air Force (USAF) scholarship and completed general surgery residency training while on active duty in San Antonio at Wilford Hall Medical Center. After four years as a practicing general surgeon in the USAF, he relocated to Albuquerque to be closer to family and friends. Since joining Presbyterian Medical Group in 2003, he has enjoyed building a busy surgical practice. He served PHS as the General Surgery Division Chair (2008-2009) and the Credentials Committee Chair (2010) and has been very active in the realm of clinical informatics. He intends to relocate to the Rio Rancho Medical Center when it opens.

Sylvia Crago, MD Dr. Sylvia Crago is a pediatrician with the Presbyterian Medical Group (PMG) Rio Rancho Pediatric group where she is Lead Physician.  She is also Associate Medical Director for PMG Ambulatory Pediatrics.  Dr. Crago grew up in west Texas and south Alabama and received her BS from the University of Alabama in microbiology.  She then received her Ph.D in molecular cell biology from the University of Alabama in Birmingham and did research and teaching in the area of mucosal immunity from 1982 until entering medical school in 1988 at the University of New Mexico.  She completed a residency in pediatric medicine in 1995 and joined West Mesa Pediatrics (now Rio Rancho Pediatrics) that same year.  Since joining PMG, Dr. Crago has served on the PMG Executive Council for ten of the past twelve years.  She served as chair from 2005-2006 and chairs the Council for 2011.

Michael DeWitte Michael DeWitte, P.E. is the Executive Vice President for B&D Industries and oversees strategic development and systems integration for the multi-disciplined construction and electrical/mechanical systems design, operations, and maintenance firm. His technical experience includes work in the nuclear fuel cycle and alternative energy systems, state-of-the-art clean room design, structural dynamics and blast resistant design, vulnerability and targeting studies, and the design and construction of unique research and development facilities and systems.  He specializes in the integration and management of complex issues and programs with diverse sets of customers and stakeholders. Mr. DeWitte is a veteran and was a captain in the United States Air Force.  He is a registered professional engineer with a bachelor’s of science degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy and a master’s of science degree from the University of Illinois.  He earned his master’s in business administration from the University of New Mexico (UNM) and has completed executive programs at Northwestern and Harvard. He is chairman of the New Mexico Business Roundtable for Educational Excellence and serves on the boards of directors for the Economic Forum, Albuquerque Economic Development, the Innovation Discovery Center, LLC, and Central New Mexico Community College.  He was a member of the charter Leadership New Mexico class and is a recipient of the Governor’s New Mexico Public Service Award.  He was inducted into the UNM Anderson School of Management’s Hall of Fame in 2005.

Jim Haynes Jim Haynes entered a career in public accounting after graduating from the University of Central Oklahoma.  He joined P&A the following year as a staff accountant, was promoted to tax senior in 1995, was named tax supervisor in 1997, tax manager in 1998, and became a shareholder in the firm in 2004.  Mr. Haynes chairs the Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation Board of Directors.

Jim Kaehr Jim Kaehr was most recently the Quality/Technical Leader of the Albuquerque Plant Operations at GE Aviation in Albuquerque and has been a resident of Albuquerque for over 50 years.  He is actively involved and volunteers a good deal of his time to the All Faiths Receiving Home, Auxiliary, the Roadrunner Food Bank and the GE ELFUN.  He is Six Sigma Certified and has valuable experience as the Business Manager in High Pressure Turbine Manufacturing, Manager of Quality Operations at GE and as a Senior Quality Systems Engineer.

John Liljestrand, MD Dr. John Liljestrand grew up in Oklahoma City.  He attended Benedictine College in Kansas and received a bachelor's of science degree in chemistry.  He attended University of Oklahoma Medical School and then completed residency in family practice at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.  He has worked with Presbyterian Medical Group since 1995 on the Kaseman campus.  He is a past chair of the Presbyterian Medical Group Executive Council, past member of the PHS Board Finance Committee, and past president of the Greater Albuquerque Medical Association.

Fran Roberts, RN, PhD Fran Roberts is the Dean of the College of Nursing at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona.  Prior to her position as Dean, Dr. Roberts served as the Vice President for Professional Services at the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association and the Director of the Healthcare Institute. Dr. Roberts' clinical practice areas include rehabilitation, rheumatology, community mental health/psychiatry, and long term care/gerontology. She holds two bachelor of science degrees from Elmhurst College in Illinois, one in nursing and the other in psychology. She received her master of science degree from Arizona State University in community mental health/psychiatric nursing and is a psychiatric nurse practitioner.  Dr. Roberts' PhD is in nursing from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.  She is the past Chairperson of the Center for Hispanic Excellence for the University of Arizona's College of Medicine, is a Fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Executive Nurse Fellows Program, and a member of the American Hospital Association's Commission on Workforce for Hospitals and Health Systems.

David Stryker, MD Dr. David Stryker was raised on an island in the Detroit River. Both of his parents were physicians.  He graduated from Cornell University with a BA in experimental psychology.  After medical school at the University of Michigan, a general internship was followed by itinerant general medical and emergency room work through Intermountain Healthcare in Utah and Idaho. After completing an internal medicine residency, first in Spokane and then at UNM, he served as chief resident and then took an infectious disease fellowship.  He currently works with four other physicians at Infectious Disease and Internal Medicine Associates, providing city wide services in internal medicine, infectious disease consultation, epidemiology and antibiotic utilization.  Other medical positions have included presidency of the Greater Albuquerque Medical Association, Councilor to New Mexico Medical Society, and presidency of New Mexico Medical Group.

Dick Teater Dick Teater is President, CEO and owner of Big J Enterprises, LLC, a specialty mechanical contractor based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  He grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, graduated from the United States Naval Academy, served as an officer in the United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps for seven years, received a master's degree in construction management from Purdue University, and spent 20 years in the international engineering and construction industry rising to Group President at Fluor Corporation.  Since moving to Albuquerque 10 years ago, he has been active on boards of the Chamber of Commerce, United Way, Vistage, ACI and AJCC.

Helen Wertheim Helen Wertheim graduated from high school in New Mexico and earned a bachelor of arts degree in Psychology and Marketing in 1984 at the University of Arizona.  Ms. Wertheim began her career as the Director of Marketing for an architecture and engineering firm in Phoenix.  In 1988, she moved back to Albuquerque and served as President and CEO of Charter Insurance Services.  Ms. Wertheim is very active in community affairs and was awarded the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce's Chairman's Award for Excellence for 1996-1997 and 1998-1999.  She was the recipient of the New Mexico Business Weekly's “Forty Under 40” award in 2000 and the Anderson School of Management's  “Up and Comers"  Award in 2000.