HOPKINTON – Wood River Health recently appointed Kalpesh Shah as board chair and elected Greg Kenny and Dr. Michael McCarten to the board of directors.
Wood River’s board is made up of local professionals in banking, business compliance, finance, health care and nonprofits.
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Shah joined the board in May 2022. Shah has focused on philanthropy, including connecting people with food, shelter and education. After migrating to the U.S. from India, he launched Connecticut Fibers Inc., where he exports recycling material to paper mills in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The support of Shah and his wife, Jeannette, helped Wood River launch telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shah graduated from the Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, India, with a Bachelor of Commerce and earned a master’s degree in cost accounting. He also earned the Partners in Philanthropy Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2021 for his contributions to Wood River. He also serves on the advisory board at Monsignor Clarke School in South Kingstown and chairs the facilities committee.
Kenney served on Wood River’s board from 2015 to 2021 and was reappointed in July. He has served on the Hopkinton Finance Board, Chariho School Committee, Chariho Building Committee, and Community 2000. Kenney is also principal and president of Perreault Family Real Estate Partnership.
McCarten graduated from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1983 when he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy – starting a 30-year career when he traveled to 24 countries on five continents. McCarten served as senior medical officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt at the time of the 9/11 attacks. His ship was deployed a week later, and he was in combat for five months.
McCarten also served as commanding officer of the North Atlantic Trade Organization trauma hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he oversaw 500 U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force and NATO medical personnel for one year. There, the medical personnel recorded a historic 97% survival rate for combat casualties. He was also a fleet surgeon overseeing the health care of 20,000 sailors and marines on ships deployed from Hawaii to Africa. He did this while planning and helping with humanitarian and disaster relief missions in the South Pacific and South Asia. After retiring from the Navy in 2013, McCarten worked as a family physician in New Hampshire and at Wood River Health before retiring in December 2023.
As a federally qualified health center, the majority of Wood River Health board members must be patients served by the health center. The board must also represent the racial, ethnic and gender makeup of the populations the health center serves.
Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Castellani@PBN.com.
