Mark K. Cramer, Esq.

TITLE:
Associate General Counsel
Delaware North Companies

on which HORIZON BOARD(s) do you serve?
"I served on the Health Management Group, Inc. board for eight years, and have served on the Horizon Health Services board since 1990. I was recently elected to the Horizon Village board."

HOW DID YOU COME TO BE ON THE BOARDS?
“I was general counsel to the Horizon companies through my previous employer, and came to know Jim Wiegand (Horizon’s founder), who enlisted my services as a board member.”

WHY DID YOU WANT TO SERVE ON THE HORIZON BOARDS?
“When I first started representing Horizon, it had gone through the conversion from one of the County's "catchment area" corporations, had shed the deficit-funding dependency and was on its way to becoming a viable, independent and effective provider of behavioral health services. Jim had turned Horizon into a privately-run not-for-profit company with a more professional approach and a more entrepreneurial spirit. That kind of organization appealed to me, and I wanted to stay involved, to keep in touch with the people I’d met as counsel.”

WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND MOST REWARDING ABOUT SERVING ON THE BOARDS?
“I’ve gotten an education working with Horizon! I’ve watched the growth of this organization during a time when similar organizations were not making it, and were not keeping up with the revolution of healthcare services over the last 10 years. It’s been very satisfying to watch that, to be a part of Horizon’s evolution.”

WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT HORIZON?
“That, at Horizon, they ‘grow their own.’ The people who run the organization, who make the important decisions and institute the innovative approaches all started as counselors or other staff members. The continuity that this approach has afforded Horizon has been astounding.”

ARE YOU INVOLVED IN ANY OTHER CIVIC CAUSES?
"I am an officer and director of the Kelly For Kids Foundation, an elder at Deerhurst Presbyterian Church and serve on the Board of Advisors of the Westminster Early Childhood Program."