Some people come to support St. Tammany Hospital Foundation through a personal healthcare experience. Some come to it through an interest in medicine. Jim Bradford was born into it.
“My father is a physician here on the Northshore and on the medical staff here (at St. Tammany Parish Hospital) for his entire career,” Bradford said. “He’s James L. Bradford Jr., an ear, nose and throat surgeon, so I kind of grew up in and around St. Tammany Hospital.”
The younger Bradford is a lawyer by trade, a managing partner and 25-year veteran of the firm Daigle Fisse & Kessenich. For him, the law isn’t just a job. It’s a passion. So, when he was recruited by former foundation board member Darci Senner to serve on the board, he figured his legal expertise could be of use.
“Well, it’s the hospital, particularly,” he said when asked what made him decide to sign up. “It is near and dear to our family.”
There’s also the fact that St. Tammany Parish is home. A married father of two, Bradford has lived almost his entire life on the Northshore, outside of school (University of Notre Dame and LSU Law) and two early-career years practicing law in New Orleans.
“Also,” he said, “it’s a public hospital – there are so few of them – and it gives so much to the community. I felt like it would be shameful for me not to give a little bit back.”
Mark Grayson will be the first to tell you he has no background in medicine. He’s not a doctor. He’s not a nurse. He’s not a surgeon.
The longtime Northshore resident does, however, have a background in running a business, building teams and has served on several boards over the past two decades. That, along with a passion for supporting his community, made him a natural to serve on the foundation board.
“As we see the population grow on the Northshore, it’s critical that we provide good healthcare not only to the younger families moving into the area, but also to our older residents as well,” he said. “I’ve personally utilized the services at St. Tammany and it’s a wonderful hospital, with a caring and professional staff.”
Grayson, who has over 30 years of management experience, now serves on the executive team at ISO Services, a division of Ergon Construction Group. He is married with three grown children and one granddaughter.
With the kids out of the house, Mark and his wife now spend more time traveling -- and of course visiting their children in Dallas and Connecticut.
“Serving on this board was a very easy decision for me,” he said when asked why he joined the foundation board. “I’m excited about the opportunity and I think it’s a tremendous cause.”
Kevin Mashburn is first and foremost a money man, serving for the past 28 years as a financial adviser with Merrill Lynch. But he’s also a Northshore man, and so he jumped at the opportunity to serve his community by serving on the foundation board.
“I know people who have been on the board in the past and who are currently on the board, and I’ve always looked at it and thought, ‘That’s an organization that really has an impact on the community that I’d love to get involved with someday!” Mashburn said. “I’ve been on other boards in the past, and I like feeling like I’m contributing. I know this hospital and foundation do great work, and I wanted to be part of that.”
Originally from Baton Rouge, he and his wife lived in Lakeview when 2005’s Hurricane Katrina hit, sending them to the piney woods of St. Tammany. There, they raised their two sons: Bradley, a University of Georgia grad, and Jack, a former member of the LSU Tigers football team.
“We planted roots and have been happy ever since,” he said.
Now, he figures, it’s time to give back to the community that gave his family so much.
“I love to help the community in any way I can,” Mashburn said. “I’ll never pick up a stethoscope, but maybe I can use some of the experience I have to help the board do what they do better.”