Chicago – Mark E. Rust, Managing Partner in Barnes & Thornburg LLP’s Chicago office and Chair of the firm’s Healthcare department, has been elected Chair of the Better Government Association’s (BGA) Board of Directors for a two-year term.
Rust was elected on Friday, November 21, and will take over the position January 1. Other officers of the BGA board include Steve Miller of Origin Ventures; Dan Goodwin of the Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc.; Heidi Rudolph of Aegis Advantage; Jose Padilla of DePaul University; and Scott Solomon of Navigant Consulting. Rust originally joined the board in 2013, when his law partner, former BGA board chair Rod Heard, passed away after a battle with cancer.
Rust has held a variety of leadership positions prior to his new role, having served as Chair of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Health Law Section, the Chicago Bar Association’s Health Law Committee, and the American Bar Association’s Medicine and Law Committee.
He brings more than 30 years of experience practicing and writing about healthcare law to the organization. In his legal practice, Rust concentrates on transactional, governance, regulatory and medical-legal issues affecting healthcare entities and provider organizations, as well as advising such entities on mergers and acquisitions, and contract formation and negotiation. He has participated in briefs to the United States Supreme Court for clients such as the American Medical Association, and provided testimony to the U.S. Congress and several state legislatures on healthcare delivery and managed care. Rust is listed as a notable healthcare lawyer in Chambers USA, Top Healthcare Lawyers of Illinois, SuperLawyers®, and The Best Lawyers in America®.
A former editor for American Medical News, Rust’s writing has appeared in a wide variety of publications, from the Journal of the American Bar Association to USA Today. He is also a frequent author and contributor to educational resources and textbooks, such as Legal Medicine and The Law of Medical Practice in Illinois.
The Better Government Association is a Chicago-based nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog organization that works for integrity, transparency and accountability in government by exposing corruption and inefficiency; identifying and advocating effective public policy; and engaging and mobilizing the public to achieve authentic and responsible reform.
With more than 600 attorneys and other legal professionals, Barnes & Thornburg is one of the largest law firms in the country. The firm serves clients worldwide from its offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Delaware, Indiana, Los Angeles, Michigan, Minneapolis, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. Visit us online at www.btlaw.com or on Twitter @BTLawNews.
