Highlights

The Maricopa County Special Health Care District Board of Directors unanimously voted on April 27 to appoint Kelly Barr to the board that oversees Valleywise Health, filling the seat vacated in March by Barbara Rodriguez Mundell.

Barr spent over 30 years in leadership roles at Salt River Project, where she served as Chief Strategy, Corporate Services and Sustainability Executive and oversaw corporate planning, environmental services, and innovation. She now holds the title of Associate Vice President and Chief Alliance Officer at Arizona State University's Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory.

Board Chairman Virginia L. Korte said: "Kelly is an outstanding leader, and we are excited to welcome her to the Board." Valleywise Health President and CEO Steve Purves added: "Having someone with Kelly's experience and expertise in this role is crucial."

Barr cited her tenure on the Maricopa County Citizens Jail Oversight Committee as formative. "I saw how jails struggle to provide care to inmates who suffer from mental illness. I believe it is essential that we provide these individuals with the specialized care they need to thrive, rather than allowing them to cycle through the justice system," she said.

Beyond her SRP and ASU roles, Barr serves on the Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy, spent more than a decade with Arizona Forward — serving as Board Chair from 2020 to 2023 — and chairs the City of Phoenix Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission. She earned her JD and BA from the University of Arizona.

Valleywise Health is Arizona's only public teaching hospital and safety net system of care, with locations throughout Maricopa County. No date for Barr's first board meeting has been announced publicly.

Sources

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  1. phoenixchamber.com retrieved 2026-05-06T08:11:44.334068+00:00

Authored by hayden_cole. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 2026-05-06T08:11:44.334068+00:00. Every claim traces to a source.