John Eich
John joined the Office of Rural Health in 2005 as a Program Manager of the Rural Community Initiatives, and was appointed Director in 2006. His experience and skills are primarily in community development, program planning, systems analysis and design.
John came to the Office of Rural Health from southern New Mexico, where he directed a county Health Council—a public/private partnership that assessed community health and wellness needs, established priorities, then built and maintained coalitions to strategically plan and implement projects. They also served as a resource to and advocate for the county on a regional and statewide basis.
John grew up in rural Wisconsin, dividing his spare time between doing chores and hiding from them with a good book.
Penny Black
Penny has over 15 years of experience in public health program evaluation. She has worked at city, county, and state levels, domestically and abroad. Penny is responsible for assessing, analyzing, and reporting rural health data; tracking the effectiveness of the Office’s programming and collaborative projects; and overseeing graduate student interns.
Penny has a Master’s Degree in Health Science from California State University, Long Beach and a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science from California State University, Fullerton.
Kevin Jacobson
Kevin began working for the Office of Rural Health in April 2007. His program management responsibilities include the Health Professions Loan Assistance Program, the Strong Rural Communities Initiative and the Rural Health Development Council. Kevin also publishes a blog, Rural Community Development, where he posts information on opportunities and resources to improve capacity in rural communities, specifically around health care issues.
Before he relocated to Madison, Kevin was a Program Manager with the Syracuse University Environmental Finance Center, where he worked with rural communities in New York on a variety of environmental, public health and community development issues. Prior to that he was Payroll Manager of the University of California, Los Angeles Student Association.
Kevin has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science with an emphasis in Public Administration from UCLA and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Southern California.
Ann Thornburg
Ann Thornburg joined the Office of Rural Health in 2021. She is responsible for managing the SORH office and financial functions, with oversight from the Director. Her diverse operational and finance background makes her an instrumental team member of the Rural Health’s office, especially since she is the bridge between our office and numerous university departments that require operational updates and we depend upon to function as an organization.
Ann has worked in the university system since 2008 in financial administration and grant management areas. She previously operated her family company for over 20 years and worked within the WI Circuit Courts for approximately 7 years. Ann was born and raised in a small rural farming community in southern Wisconsin. She now resides in Madison with her family and enjoys walking with her beloved dog.
James Small
James grew up on Washington Island and has spent his entire adult life in working in public safety since becoming a first responder in 1993. James has nearly 10 years of experience as a Public Safety Director and has served two municipalities as Police Chief and Fire Chief. He holds certification as a Paramedic, Law Enforcement Officer, and Fire Officer II.
James enjoys working with organizations and helping them develop strategies that improve street level service delivery to citizens. James has experience consulting on personnel matters such as employee selection, workplace culture, and employee discipline. His workplace culture training program, “It’s your ISLAND” has been popular at conferences throughout the United States.
James is a lifelong learner holding a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Carroll College, Master of Justice Administration from Norwich University, and Certified Public Manager at the University of Wisconsin. He teaches as an adjunct faculty member of two colleges in Southern Wisconsin.
Megan Polster
Megan recently graduated from University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where she studied Nursing and Sociology, with an emphasis in Community, Organizing, and Environment, and received a certificate in Social Equity and Diversity. She was raised in rural Northern Wisconsin, so this role is very personal to her after growing up thinking it was normal to drive an hour and a half to her pediatrician, experiencing the struggles of rural healthcare, and working as a Certified Nursing Assistant for over two years at the nursing home in her hometown.
Megan joined the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health in September 2022 as the Program Assistant. In this role, she provides technical assistance to Critical Access Hospitals and Rural Health Clinics throughout the state. The WORH helps fund these hospitals and clinics and creates quality improvement projects with them through two federal grants we apply for. Megan loves that she can be a part of improving rural healthcare.
Megan loves living in Madison with so many events happening and places to explore with her friends. She also enjoys riding her bike, setting up her hammock by the lake, and taking care of her plants.
Laura Ketterhagen
Samantha Peck
Samantha comes to WORH via South Africa, where she was born, raised, and educated with a passion for bringing resources to under-served communities.
After working in education for several years, she moved to the non-profit world where she managed an English program for refugees in Cape Town, South Africa. Moving to the United States, she managed the nutrition program at a day center for women and children experiencing poverty. Her background working in the non-profit world has cemented her determination to serve with a people-first approach. When she moved to Madison in 2020, she brought this approach to her work in community-based research at the UW-Madison, as she worked on building research representation primarily with older adults and rural communities across South Central Wisconsin.
Joining WORH in January 2024, Samantha now works with Wisconsin’s rural hospitals and clinics on the Flex and SHIP programs, focusing on access and quality improvement programs and resources.
Outside of the office, she spends her time traveling, challenging herself to recreate culinary replicas of dishes tasted while traveling, and watching Formula 1 (and cooking food from each race’s host country).
Gina Larsen
Gina joined the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health (WORH) with 25 years of strategic communications and copywriting experience. Most recently, she managed integrated communications initiatives for the Wisconsin Commercial Tobacco Prevention and Treatment Program within the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Gina has also worked in university relations and led her own health care communications agency where she was embedded with large regional health care systems, long-term care organizations, and a mental health provider specializing in school-based mental health screenings, among others. A native of smalltown Wisconsin, Gina authored the centennial history of her hometown in 2010, Putting Pulaski on the Map.
At WORH, Gina will help lead strategic communications planning, warmly and effectively engage with varied constituencies, and implement tactics that shine a light on the valuable work of Wisconsin’s diverse and talented rural health providers.
Gina holds a degree from the University of Wisconsin in political science and international relations. In her free time, she especially enjoys reading Tudor-era historical fiction, foraging for mushrooms, and kayaking. She resides with her family in Neenah, Wisconsin.