CHICAGO- Aylwin B. Lewis,  Stephen N. Potter,   Bishop Jeffrey D. Lee and Robert DeCresce, MD, have been named trustees at Rush University Medical Center. Their elections were announced by Richard M. Jaffee, chairman of the Rush board on June 10.

Aylwin B. Lewis, of Lake Forest, IL, is president and chief executive officer of Potbelly Sandwich Works, a Chicago-based sandwich chain, and serves as a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company. Previously, Lewis has served as president and chief executive officer of Sears Holdings, Kmart and Sears Retail and YUM! Brands, Inc. Lewis also served as chief operating officer of Pizza Hut and has over 26 years of restaurant experience. Lewis received his undergraduate degree and master’s in business administration from the University of Houston.

Stephen N. Potter, of Kenilworth, IL, is president of Northern Trust Global Investments, executive vice president of Northern Trust and sits on the corporation’s management group. From 2001 until 2008, Potter was based in London and served as the chief executive officer of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for Northern Trust overseeing all business in the region. He also served as chairman and chief executive officer of Northern Trust Global Services Ltd., chairman of Northern Trust Global Investments, Ltd., and as segment head of International and Global Fund Services in London. Potter has over 25 years of experience within the financial services industry. He received his B.A. in economics and history from Duke University and an M.B.A. degree from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey D. Lee is the Episcopal Bishop of Chicago and 12^th Bishop of Chicago. Bishop Lee is the former rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina, Wash., and also served as rector of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in River Hills, Wis. Bishop Lee is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Nashotah House Seminary. He was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Northern Indiana in 1985. Lee is   a faculty member of CREDO Institute and serves on the board of Bishop Anderson House, an Episcopal ministry serving all hospitals in the Illinois Medical District. Lee has served on the boards of the North American Association of the Diaconate, the Council of Associated Parishes, and Affirming Catholicism. He was a deputy to the 2000 and 2006 General Convention of The Episcopal Church and is the author of Opening the Prayer Book in the New Church’s Teaching Series.

Dr. Robert DeCresce, of Chicago, is the new president of the medical staff of Rush University Medical Center. He is the Harriet Blair Borland professor and chairman of Pathology at Rush, director of clinical laboratories and associate vice president for Hospital Operations. DeCresce came to Rush in 1991 from Michael Reese Hospital where he was acting chief of service and director of laboratory services, operations and planning. He has previously served as vice president and laboratory director for MetPath, Inc., of Des Plaines, Ill., and director of chemistry and hematology at University Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. DeCresce is a fellow of the College of American Pathologists, the American Society of Clinical Pathologists and the American Board of Clinical Biochemistry. He has served on the editorial boards of professional journals, written more than 100 research papers and is actively involved with Rush’s   Science and Math Excellence (SAME) Network.

DeCresce graduated from Boston College and completed medical school at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. He completed his residency at Presbyterian Hospital in New York while earning an M.B.A. at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia. He also earned a Masters of Public Health degree from the School of Public Health at Columbia.

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About Rush:

RushUniversity Medical Center includes the 674-bed (staffed) hospital; the Johnston R. Bowman Health Center; and Rush University (Rush Medical College, College of Nursing, College of Health Sciences and the Graduate College).

Rush is currently constructing a 14-floor, 806,000-square-foot hospital building at the corner of Ashland Avenue and Congress Parkway. The new hospital, scheduled to open in 2012, is the centerpiece of a $1 billion, ten-year campus redevelopment plan called the Rush Transformation, which also includes a new orthopedics building (to open in the Fall 2009), a new parking garage and central power plant completed in June 2009, renovations of selected existing buildings and demolition of obsolete buildings  The new hospital is being designed and built to conserve energy and water, reduce waste and use sustainable building materials. Rush is seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.    It will be the first full-service, “green” hospital in Chicago.

Rush’s mission is to provide the best possible care for our patients.  Educating tomorrow’s health care professional, researching new and more advanced treatment options, transforming our facilities and investing in new technologies—all are undertaken with the drive to improve patient care now, and for the future.