Our Leadership

North Central

W. Howie Walz

Mid-America Division Vice President

W. Howie Walz joined the American Red Cross in 2002 after a successful 20-year career leading non-Red Cross blood and biological organizations. He held the position of chief executive officer of the Red Cross Lewis and Clark Blood Services Region for three years prior to becoming the vice president of the Mid-America Blood Services Division in 2005. As vice president, Walz is responsible for management and oversight of the Divisions’ eight Red Cross Blood Services Regions, which span the central United States from Texas to Minnesota. The Division collects more than 1 million red cell and 200,000 platelet donations annually, and serves more than 500 hospitals and transfusion centers.

Geoff Kaufmann

Chief Executive Officer

Geoff Kaufmann joined top-ranked North Central Blood Services Region on December 29, 2008, with a long and successful career as a leader and administrator in the healthcare industry, most recently as chief administrative officer for the Stillwater Medical Group. He has more than 30 years experience in the Twin Cities area with a background in business strategy, planning and implementation. Kaufmann has worked with many of the hospitals served by North Central Blood Services and has been a member of North Central's Board of Directors for more than 13 years, the past year as Chairman.

Kaufmann attended St. Olaf College in Northfield and received his Masters in Health Policy and Management from the University of Chicago. He also teaches at the Carlson School of Management and the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn.

John Roberts

Board Chair

John Roberts has been a member of the American Red Cross North Central Blood Services Region Board of Directors since 2005. He was named board chair in July 2011. He previously served as vice chair.

Roberts is vice president, managing director of Bi-Phase Technologies, a subsidiary of Schwan’s Home Service, Inc., where he has held leadership positions with Schwan’s for more than 30 years. Roberts, a Washington, Kan. native, holds a bachelor’s degree from Madison University and a master’s degree in business administration from Norwich University.

David C. Mair, M.D.

Mid-America Blood Services Division Chief Medical Officer, Medical Director (North Central Blood Services Region)

Dr. Mair provides medical and scientific oversight to the Reference and Neutrophil Laboratories in the North Central Region and serves as an assistant medical director of the transfusion service and the therapeutic apheresis departments at the University of Minnesota Medical Center-Fairview in Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Veteran’s Hospital. Dr. Mair is a published transfusion-medicine expert and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for Immunohematology, Journal of Clinical Apheresis, Transfusion, and Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine publications.

Gary Bachowski, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Medical Director

Dr. Gary Bachowski received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Medical College of Wisconsin. He has extensive training in transfusion medicine, cytopathology, pathology and biochemistry. Dr. Bachowski is an active member and meeting participant with the AABB. Dr. Bachowski helps to ensure regulatory compliance and provides medical supervision and counseling on donor safety and eligibility. Dr. Bachowski is also on the transfusion medicine staff at the Minneapolis Veteran’s Hospital and the University of Minnesota Medical Center.

Salima Shaikh, M.D.