John "Jack" O. Mudd, JD, JSD
Ascension Health Board of Trustees

John "Jack" O. Mudd, JD, was appointed to the Ascension Health Board of Trustees in 2000 and served as the Chair from November 2003 through June 2008. Mr. Mudd serves as Senior Vice President, Mission Leadership, Providence Health & Services, Seattle, Wash.

Mr. Mudd received his bachelor's and master's degrees in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Montana; a Master of Law degree and a Doctor of the Science of Law degree from Columbia University, New York City, where he also was a Wien Fellow.

Mr. Mudd was in private practice from 1973 to 1979, when he became the Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Montana, a position he held until 1988. Mr. Mudd led the law school through a major curriculum project, which attracted national attention and grant funding to the school's approach to legal education.

During Mr. Mudd's tenure as Dean, he became a recognized leader in legal education and chaired the law school administration section of the Association of American Law Schools. Mr. Mudd remained Dean until 1988, when he became a partner in the law firm of Garlington, Lohn & Robinson, PLLP, Missoula, Mont., where he specialized in mediation and conflict resolution. In 1989, Montana Governor Stan Stephens appointed Mr. Mudd as Chair of a special commission to recommend improvements in the funding, structure and programs of higher education in that state.

The American Bar Association appointed Mr. Mudd to serve as a member of its task force on law schools and the profession. Referred to as "The McCrate Commission," it issued an influential report on the future of legal education, calling upon law schools to integrate more teaching of professional skills and values as part of the required curriculum.

His governance experience includes serving as the founding Chair of the board of trustees of Providence Services, as well as service on regional and national nonprofit boards. He currently chairs the board of the Ministry Leadership Center, an organization formed by five Catholic health systems on the West Coast to aid in the development of the senior executives of those systems.

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