Cone Health Foundation announces new board members and officers

Cone Health Foundation, Guilford County’s largest health-specific philanthropy, recently announced that it has added three new members to its Board of Directors:
J. Samuel Cone, JD, is a financial consultant with Pinsker Wealth Management, an independent wealth and tax planning firm in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Cone practiced law before joining Pinsker Wealth Management. Following law school, he was a law clerk to Justice Mark Martin of the North Carolina Supreme Court, after which he practiced in the litigation group of Irell & Manella in Los Angeles, California. Cone earned his law degree cum laude from the New York University School of Law in 2008, and his bachelor’s degree with highest distinction in mathematics and philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Society of Financial Service Professionals and the N.C. Bar Association. Cone is active in the community and involved with several nonprofits devoted to youth health, gender equality, charitable giving within the Jewish community, and other causes.

Ray Trapp is the director of external affairs for North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The office of external affairs works to promote the university’s legislative outreach to federal, state and local elected officials, state agencies, higher education stakeholders, alumni and others who play a role in advancing and supporting policy and legislation that align with the priorities of the university. He previously served as a Guilford County Commissioner representing District 8 from 2012 to 2017. He won his first election to the commission in 2012 and was re-elected without opposition in 2016.

Trapp served in the United States Navy as an interior communications specialist aboard the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and earned a Master of Science in Agricultural Education at North Carolina A&T State University.

He has chaired the Greensboro Zoning Commission and served on the boards of the Greensboro Minimum Housing Standards Commission, Affordable Housing Management, Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Welfare Reform Liaison Project. His professional work and service have earned numerous awards, including the National Association of Counties’ 2016 Public Health Achievement Award for the “Food Desert Storm” project addressing food insecurity in Guilford County, and his inclusion in the Triad Business Journal’s 2011 “40 Business Leaders Under 40.”
Patrick E. Wright, MD, is a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician with Cone Health Medical Group. His practice previously included pulmonary and intensive care medicine and has recently changed to a focus on the medically underserved/uninsured population at the community care clinics. Wright is currently medical director for the Cone Health Congregational Nurse program and the Cone Health Mobile Medicine program, including recent efforts to assist in development of a mobile COVID-19 community screening program. In collaboration with Cone Health Congregational Nursing, Wright began a medical clinic in January 2020 at the Weaver House homeless shelter in Greensboro.

Wright is a graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. His internship and residency in internal medicine were completed at Baylor College of Medicine. He also completed a fellowship in pulmonary medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Wright’s community service is extensive, including past board chair of Hospice and Palliative Care Center of Greensboro (now AuthoraCare), president of the North Carolina Thoracic Society and chairman of Triad HealthCare Network. He is a member of the Greater Greensboro Medical Society, Society of Critical Care Medicine, and American Medical Association.

Cone Health Foundation also elected the following board officers:

• Chair: John Cross, Partner, Brooks Pierce
• Vice-Chair: Kim Gatling, Partner, Fox Rothschild
• Secretary: Wilson Lester, Executive Director, Piedmont Business Capital
• Treasurer: Cindy Thompson, Executive Director, Boundless Impact

Since 1997, Cone Health Foundation has awarded more than $100.9 million in the Greater Greensboro area in the form of 1,807 grants and contributions. The majority of these grants fall into the Foundation’s four focus areas of grantmaking: access to health care, adolescent pregnancy prevention, HIV, substance use and mental health disorders. For more information about the Foundation visit conehealthfoundation.com.

[nggallery id=215]