HealthPartners executive honored with sustainability leadership award

Barbara Tretheway, senior vice president and general counsel, is the recipient of the 2019 Practice Greenhealth’s Visionary Leader Award

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading health care community dedicated to environmental stewardship and sustainable practices, has honored Barbara Tretheway as this year’s “Visionary Leader.”

Barbara, senior vice president and general counsel for HealthPartners, has been with the organization for nearly 20 years and will retire in July. Each year, the Visionary Leader Award goes to a senior-level health care executive who has made significant contributions to health care sustainability. The award honors extraordinary leadership that drives sustainable operations both within the health system and the greater health care community.

Under Barbara’s leadership, the organization has connected the dots between human and environmental health. HealthPartners hospitals have won numerous national and local awards and have launched a five-year strategic plan for sustainability. The organization has built a strong commitment to tackling climate change, completing carbon footprints for each of its six hospitals and more than 14 sites of care total. Barbara has also been instrumental in incorporating sustainability and climate change into the organization’s Community Health Needs Assessment process.

“I cannot think of a more deserving person for recognition as a Visionary Leader,” said Dana Slade, director of sustainability programs. “Barb’s direction, passion and spark have molded our sustainability program into what it has become today—a comprehensive, inclusive and successful part of the great culture of HealthPartners and the community overall.”

This award, along with 28 other Practice Greenhealth awards received by HealthPartners, were presented on May 9 at the Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Awards Gala in Nashville, Tenn.