When Joan Budden announced her retirement as CEO of Priority Health after serving in that position for five years, the team at Priority Health immediately thought of honoring her with a gift to Grand Valley.

Joan and her husband Doug had previously established the Budden Family Pathway Endowed Scholarship to assist students majoring in the health sciences from middle-income families who do not qualify for federal financial aid.  An honorarium gift to the Budden Scholarship from Joan’s colleagues at Priority Health just made sense.

“At Priority Health, we believe all people deserve the opportunity to live a healthy life, which includes access to quality education. Joan was committed to serving our community and spent a lot of time dedicated to mentoring and professional development,” said Mary Anne Jones, SVP of Finance and Operations at Priority Health. “It only seemed fitting to honor her with a gift that helps increase access to education and develops the next generation of health care leaders in our community.”

Priority Health invests more than $1.5 million a year in sponsorship and philanthropy by teaming up with organizations, like Grand Valley, that align with its mission and values. Financial support is just part of their partnership with the university. Priority Health also sponsors the annual Health Care Economic Forecast Report, provides health care coverage for Grand Valley employees, and has hired countless Grand Valley student interns spanning three decades. Some staff members even work in Grand Valley classrooms as adjunct professors. Being a strong community partner is nothing new to Priority Health.

“Investing in our communities is essential and transformative. It’s our responsibility as a non-profit company. We feel strongly that a good community partner finds unique ways to support diversity, equity, inclusion and sustainability to help improve the overall wellbeing of each community member,” said Praveen Thadani, president at Priority Health. “We are excited about our continuing partnership with Grand Valley which helps provide young people in our community with the knowledge and skills necessary to positively impact their communities.”

Companies like Priority Health partner with Grand Valley to help us build a stronger region and state. Grand Valley’s goal is to create relationships with our corporate partners, matching their objectives with the university’s priorities. Like Priority Health, the university’s corporate partners connect with the wide range of resources that Grand Valley offers such as providing a talent pipeline for organizations, conducting research, offering continuous learning for employees, philanthropy, and many other types of engagement. For more information visit our website or contact Shannon Small-Wilson, Director of Corporate Giving, at 616-331-6539.

Back to Horizons: Winter 2021

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