Trinity Health is one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the nation. In collaboration with the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and Ceres, ¹ Trinity Health’s Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Program uses its shareholder influence to advance its mission and core values, which include issues of human rights, public health, nutrition, environmentalism, and tobacco control. ²

Background

Trinity Health is one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the nation. Through its Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Program, Trinity Health uses its shareholder influence to advance its mission and core values, which include issues of human rights, public health, nutrition, the environment, and tobacco control. ³ Trinity works in collaboration with the left-of-center Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and the environmentalist group Ceres. ⁴

Shareholder Advocacy

Human Rights

A shareholder proposal was filed, in collaboration with the United Auto Workers (UAW) Retiree Trust and Mercy Investment Services, requesting a human rights supply chain disclosure from McDonald’s. ⁵

Trinity Health was the lead filer for a resolution requesting United Airlines to develop a human trafficking policy, especially as it pertains to protecting children. The resolution was withdrawn after United developed a human rights policy, and provided employees with ethics and compliance trainings. ⁶

Similar human trafficking resolutions were filed with American Airlines and Starwood Hotels and Resorts. ⁷

Tobacco Control

Trinity Health shareholder resolutions have addressed restricting the use or depiction of tobacco in a variety of ways, including advocating for ingredient lists, regulating smoking in public places, assigning an R rating to movies depicting smoking, raising the smoking age to 21, and eliminating tobacco sales from pharmacies like Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, RiteAid, and Melville. ⁸

A shareholder proposal was filed with Altria, asking for an analysis and report on the potential health concerns of liquids and additives in products, including e-cigarettes. ⁹

A resolution was filed with Philip Morris, asking the company for a human rights policy that includes the human right to health, and asking that the company’s lobbying and marketing efforts do not contradict this right to health. ¹⁰

Food and Nutrition

Trinity Health shareholder resolutions have targeted consumer options in food choice, targeting McDonald’s over childhood obesity, asking the company to remove Ronald McDonald from schools, to increase healthy options on its menu, and to market more responsibly. ¹¹

Trinity Health has used its shareholder engagement to pressure businesses like Target, Walmart, General Mills, and Kellogg to create healthy eating initiatives, amend their marketing, increase nutritional information on their packaging, and stop advertising in schools. ¹²

People

Cathy Rowan

Cathy Rowan is the Director of Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) for Trinity Health, and leads their shareholder advocacy work. Rowan also serves as a corporate responsibility consultant for other SRI groups, like the Maryknoll Sisters, and the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment. ¹³

Rowan is a member of the Jubilee Assembly committee,¹⁴ a Calvert Foundation group of faith-based institutions, who are invested in Calvert Impact Capital’s Community Investment Note. ¹⁵

Board of Directors

Michael A. Slubowski is the President and CEO of Trinity Health, and its former COO. He is formerly the President and CEO of Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System, and has held executive positions with health systems including the Henry Ford Health System, Samaritan Health Services, and Providence Hospital. ¹⁶

James Bentley is the chair of the board, and a former health policy analyst, who worked for the American Hospital Association, and the Association of American Medical Colleges. Bentley served for the Health Care Financing Administration, as a member of an external task force that advised on prospective payment systems for Medicare. ¹⁷

Kevin Barnett is a Senior Investigator at the Public Health Institute. Barnett has assessed community health for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and has worked as part of a national initiative funded by the Kresge Foundation, focusing investments by hospitals. ¹⁸

Barnett works in partnership with the Governance Institute and Stakeholder Health, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as well as the Carsey School of Public Policy. Barnett sits on the boards of the California Health Workforce Alliance and Communities Joined in Action. ¹⁹

Joseph Betancourt is the vice president and chief equity and inclusion officer at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Betancourt is the founder, and senior advisor of the Disparities Solutions Center. He formerly served on the leadership team of the MGH Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the Boston Board of Health, and the Board of Neighborhood Health Plan in Boston. ²⁰

Rita Brogley is a software executive who has worked with companies like Microsoft and Facebook, and is a former management consultant with Bain and Company. ²¹

Barrett Hatches works for the Chicago Family Health Center (CFHC), and has overseen the expansion of their services including the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and enrollment in the health insurance marketplace. He is a former executive consultant for Hatches Consulting, former president and principal owner of BHMM Energy Services, and former CEO and COO at Swope Community Enterprises. ²²

Mary Catherine Karl is a principal at the Surgical Safety Institute. Karl has previously served as chair of the board of BayCare Health System, vice president of finance for Times Publishing Company, Treasurer of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and Director of Internal Audit for the City of Tampa. Karl is a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. ²³

George M. Philip is the President of the University of Albany – SUNY. He serves on the board of the Research Foundation for SUNY. Philip previously served as executive director and chief investment officer of the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System, and currently serves as an investment advisor to Trinity Health. ²⁴

Kathleen Popko is the President of the Sisters of Providence, Holyoke. Popko helped create Catholic Health East (CHE) by combining the operations of the Sisters of Providence Health System, the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany Health System, and Eastern Mercy Health. Popko played a role in the founding of the consortium of Catholic health systems, Consolidated Catholic Health Care (now Catholic Health Initiatives). ²⁵

Joan Marie Steadman is the former executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), a theologically and politically liberal association of American nuns. ²⁶ Steadman has formerly served as the Associate Director of healthcare ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, vice president for mission at Holy Cross Hospital, and regional executive team member at Holy Cross Health Services of Utah. Steadman serves on the board of the Loyola University Health System, and has formerly served on the board of Saint Mary College, Notre Dame. ²⁷

Roberta Waite is a tenured professor and director of the Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family Health Services of Drexel University, part of the Family Practice and Counseling Network. ²⁸

Larry Warren has previously served as Interim COO and CEO of Trinity Health, CEO of Howard University Hospital, Director of Rehabcare Group, and CEO of the University of Michigan Hospital. Warren currently serves on the boards of Blumont, Wellness Plan, the Global Good Fund,²⁹ Arbor Research Collaborative, and the American Kidney Fund. Warren has formerly served on the boards of the District of Columbia Hospital Association, the Greater Detroit Area Health Council, the International Society of Hypertension in Blacks, the Michigan Hospital Association, the Council of Teaching Hospitals, and the Eastern Michigan University Foundation. ³⁰

Linda Werthman formerly served on the Board of Trustees of the University of Detroit Mercy. ³¹

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