Centennial Medical Center Names Board

Centennial Medical Center announced the selection and formation of the initial hospital Board.  Comprised of two area physicians, three community leaders, the hospital CEO, and the Senior Vice President of Tenet Texas, the board will be responsible for overseeing the hospital’s operations, reviewing quality measures, approving the hospital’s bylaws and advising hospital leadership on community needs.

Centennial’s Board members are Clay Alexander, M.D, Richard Eller, M.D., Audie Adkins, Chris Tompkins, Ken Paxton, Robert Smith and Lynn Mergen.

Clay Alexander, M.D. is a board-certified obstetrician who has been in private practice since 1987.  He attended medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and attended Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville for post graduate training.  He is an associate of Health Central Women’s Care of Dallas, a member of the Dallas County Medical Society and a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Richard Eller, M.D. is a board-certified general surgeon who has been in private practice since 1997.  He attended medical school at the Texas A & M College of Medicine and did his post graduate studies in laproscopic general surgery at Vanderbilt University.  Dr. Eller has published a number of articles on endoscopic and laproscopic surgical procedures and is a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons.

Audie Adkins has served as the president of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce since 1995.  Prior to that she was a business owner for 15 years in Hewitt, Texas, where she also served as the executive director of the Hewitt Chamber of Commerce.  In 1997, Adkins was designated as one of the “Women Who Make a Difference” in Collin County and in 1999 she was presented with the Spirit of Frisco award.

W. Kenneth (Ken) Paxton currently serves in the Texas State House of Representatives as the State representative for District 70, representing Frisco, Allen, McKinney and Prosper.   Paxton has been a private practicing attorney since 1988, specializing in estate planning, tax, probate, general business matters and real estate.  He has served on the Board of Directors for the Collin County Bar Association as well as the Board of Marketplace Ministries.  He received a master’s degree in business from Baylor University, and then attended the University of Virginia School of Law.

Chris Tompkins has served in the role of president of First National Bank Southwest for the past three years.  Prior to moving to Frisco, he was president and CEO of the First National Bank and Trust Company of Ardmore, Oklahoma.  Mr. Tompkins has been active in banking since 1982.  He received his undergraduate degree in finance from Oklahoma State University and completed graduate studies at the Graduate School of Banking in Colorado. Tompkins also serves a board member of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce and the Red Cross of North Texas.

Lynn Mergen is the Chief Executive Officer of Centennial Medical Center and Robert Smith is the Senior Vice President of the Texas Region of Tenet Healthcare.

“We are extremely fortunate to have a Board of this caliber to aide us in the opening and early years of the medical center.   The expected size of the medical staff and the complexity of services at this hospital means there is a great deal to accomplish over the next year.   I am very appreciative of the time and effort being committed to by each Board member,” said Mergen.

Centennial Medical Center is a 190-bed, acute care hospital at State Highway 121 and Coit Road in Frisco.  The hospital will open 118 beds and all services in June of 2004.