Spokane Regional Health District announce four finalists for Administrative Officer leadership position

Four finalists have been chosen in the search for the next administrator of the Spokane Regional Health District.

The position has been vacant for the past year since former Administrative Officer Amelia Clark left in September 2022. The health district board will hold in-person interviews with the four candidates on Oct. 30.

Working under the direction of the board, the administrative officer supervises the county’s health officer, Dr. Frank Velázquez.

The four candidates include Lola Phillips, the current deputy administrative officer of the health district; Clark Halvorson, president and CEO of United Way of Anchorage; Tony Proctor, an Air Force veteran; and Alicia Thompson, the chief operating officer of Chiricahua Community Health Centers in Douglas, Arizona.

“The Spokane Regional Health District Board of Health is pleased to move forward with four very qualified candidates for the administrative officer position,” Board of Health Chair Kevin Freeman said in a statement.

Lola Phillips

Over the past year, Phillips has been jointly responsible for the duties of the administrative office position, along with Velázquez and Finance Director Kim Kramarz. She has also worked as the interim director of the Disease Prevention and Response Division and the Community Health Division.

Phillips received a bachelor’s in health administration from Eastern Washington University, where she first interned for the health district. She was later associate bureau chief at the State of Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services from 2012 through 2018. Phillips returned to the SRHD in 2021 as deputy administrative officer.

Clark Halvorson

Halvorson has 25 years of nonprofit and governmental public health experience, according to information provided to the board. He has previously served as assistant secretary within the Department of Health for the State of Washington, where he led the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He has also served as assistant secretary of Environmental Public Health for Washington state. He has since moved to Alaska to lead United Way of Anchorage.

Halvorson wrote that he has a “deep passion to see public, private, and non-profit sectors work together … in finding innovation, improving service delivery, and seeking change that supports growing and diverse communities.”

Tony Proctor

Proctor served 24 years in the Air Force, including as leader of the 353rd Special Operations Group in Japan, where he advised the executive team on the successful 2018 Thai cave rescue that saved twelve young boys.

“I am a servant leader. My successes only come from those within my team at the guidance and direction of the leadership above,” he wrote in a statement to the board. “I believe a high performing organization is built on trust; trust that relies on experience of the members, a healthy dose of empowerment, and a level of sacrifice from me as a leader to ensure the team succeeds.”

Alicia Thompson

Thompson is a graduate of Lewis & Clark High School and Eastern Washington University. She worked as an SRHD epidemiologist for seven years in the 1990s. She has been health director for several public health organizations including Cascade City-County Health Department in Montana and for Cochise County in Arizona. Thompson is currently the COO of Chiricahua Community Health Centers in Arizona.

In a statement to the board, she wrote her “intention has always been to return to Eastern Washington and use her expertise in leadership and administration to support Spokane County and the surrounding communities.”