NASHVILLE, TN - July 19, 2005 Pine Creek Healthcare Capital, a specialized lender to community and rural hospitals, announced today that Wes Watkins, former U.S. Congressman for Oklahoma, has been added as an advisor to its experienced leadership team.
Watkins joins former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Chief Operating Officer Ruben King-Shaw in the endorsement of Pine Creek's specialized capital product, which offers small, rural hospitals access to fast, more efficient loans. King-Shaw joined Pine Creek’s management team in an advisory role in 2004.
"Health care is essential to rural economic development, and Pine Creek is addressing a growing need and eventual crisis in rural healthcare," says Watkins.
Watkins stated, "Having been born and raised in rural America and having served the citizens of Oklahoma for most of my career, I have a deep understanding of the needs of rural communities and the people who live there. I believe Pine Creek truly is a private sector solution for a public sector goal."
With over forty years of public service, Watkins has spent his career representing the people of Oklahoma. Watkins served in the U.S. House of Representatives for twenty years from Oklahoma's Third Congressional District, a largely southern and eastern Oklahoma region known for its economic challenges.
"Wes Watkins' passion for rural America is second to none, and we are privileged to have leaders like Wes and Ruben on our team," says Raymond J. Brooks, chief executive officer of Pine Creek.
After serving in the U.S. Congress from 1977 to 1990, Watkins ran for governor of Oklahoma and later became president of World Export Services, Inc, an investment and consulting company. After Representative Bill Brewster announced his retirement from the Third District seat in 1995, Watkins was elected to his former seat in November 1996, and served in the U.S. House until 2002.
"Our team is honored to bring Wes Watkins aboard this organization," says David Frederiksen, Pine Creek chief operating officer. "Given his dedication to rural economic development as an elected official for twenty years, he is a perfect fit for our strategic vision of meeting the financing needs of our nation's rural hospitals."
From 1980 to 1990, Watkins served on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee and became a founding member of the Congressional Trade Caucus and president of the House Rural Caucus. Watkins was the only Member of Congress in U.S. history to have served on all three major Congressional economic committees: Appropriations, Budget, and Ways and Means. He began his public career in 1975 when he was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate.
