Ingalls Heads WBFO 88.7 FM Advisory Board

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- WBFO 88.7 FM, a public service of the University at Buffalo and the area's most-listened-to NPR station, has announced the appointment of Donald R. Ingalls, vice president of government affairs for HealthNow of New York Inc., as chair of its advisory board by Marsha S. Henderson, UB vice president for external affairs.

WBFO's Advisory Board consists of community leaders from the Buffalo Niagara region and UB faculty members who are committed to the concept and purposes of public radio. Not only do they support the mission and goals of WBFO, but they also actively serve as advocates and foster philanthropy, according to Carole Smith Petro, associate vice president and WBFO general manager.

"Don will bring his longtime passion for public radio and his deep conviction of its importance in public discourse to this role as chair," Petro said. "We will benefit from his guidance as well as his sheer enthusiasm."

Ingalls joined HealthNow, the parent of BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York and BlueShield of Northeastern New York, in August 1999, and is responsible for government relations at the federal, state and local levels.

Prior to joining HealthNow, he was executive director of CMG Health/Magellan Behavioral Health in Buffalo for six years and responsible for the clinical and administrative aspects of managing behavioral health care on a full-risk, capitation basis for 650,000 members in seven HMOs.

Over a 12-year period, Ingalls held a number of executive positions with Community Health Care Plan, a staff model HMO in Connecticut, including vice president of marketing and public affairs. While in Connecticut, he initiated and chaired the legislative committee of the Association of Connecticut HMOs.

A resident of Buffalo, he serves as treasurer of the NYS Health Plan Association; a board member of the Northwest Buffalo Community Health Center, of which he is past president; a member of the local advisory committee for the Local Initiative Support Corporation's (LISC) Buffalo program, a

member of the WBFO Advisory Board, and a member of the advisory committee for the Center for Children and Families at the University at Buffalo.

For more information about WBFO and a complete listing of the current WBFO Advisory Board, please visit http://www.wbfo.org.

WBFO 88.7 FM, a major public service of the University at Buffalo, is the area's number one National Public Radio (NPR) station. It reaches an audience of almost 100,000 people through its main signal in Buffalo and through repeater stations WUBJ 88.1 FM in Jamestown and WOLN 91.3 FM in Olean. WBFO news department offers comprehensive coverage of regional and worldwide news. The station also offers a depth of programming not available elsewhere in the community, including NPR/PRI news and entertainment programs, public and cultural affairs programming and jazz and blues.