Meyer M. Saltzman has four words of advice for his successor at the Caring for Colorado Foundation: “Just keep it going.”

The foundation makes grants that increase basic health care services for Coloradans.

Saltzman’s chairman’s seat will be filled by Tom C. Westfall of Wray, Colo.

Saltzman has been on the Caring for Colorado Foundation board for the past eight years, six of which he has served as board chairman.

He was appointed by the governor, and his term is up. He will remain on the foundation’s investment committee.

The foundation is one of the dozens of non-profit boards and foundations on whose behalf Saltzman has worked for the past 45 years.

The Caring for Colorado Foundation is a nonprofit organization which was formed after the sale of Blue Cross and Blue Shield to Anthem in 1999.

The foundation helps ensure that the unmet health care needs of Coloradans are addressed.

Saltzman believes that health care and education are the keys to improving people’s lives. “The more we do, the less we have to worry about poverty; we build healthier communities and a better economy,” says Saltzman.

Many of the foundation’s grants support the health care safety net, serving the underinsured or uninsured.

Saltzman always wanted the foundation to be run “lean and mean, and the money be given to the community.”

Caring for Colorado construction grants that played a role in building new facilities around the state helped more than 136,000 Coloradans gain access to regular medical care, 2001-early 2008.

During this period, foundation grants toward medical equipment helped more than 130,000 obtain care using specialized technology, including digital radiology, ultrasound technology and telemedicine.

In 2007, the foundation gave more than $7.5 million dollars in grants to 151 organizations statewide.

Since its inception, the foundation has provided $43 million in grants to the people of Colorado.

Says President and CEO Chris Wiant:

“Meyer is a man with a big heart and an acute attention to detail.”

He says Saltzman has been instrumental in developing many of the organizational policies for what was then a fledgling foundation, including bylaws, human resource policies, financial reporting, the formula for determining the level of grantmaking and due diligence in financial review of grant proposals.

He felt there had to be a balance between the business and medical expertise in the group. “You need both,” he says.

Saltzman has served as chairman of the National Jewish Medical and Research Center. He serves on the boards of the Denver Zoological Foundation, where he is vice-chair – finance, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and the Colorado Judicial Institute.

He is a commissioner on the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission, and was on the board of Adams State College, both by gubernatorial appointment.

He is past president of the JNF’s Mountain States Council and past national vice president of the Community Associations Institute.

He is a member of Colorado Concern, a political action committee for improving the economy, education, and quality of life in Colorado.

Saltzman is a Colorado native, a DU graduate, and founder of the accounting firm of Saltzman Hamma Nelson Massaro.

Says Dr. Lynn Taussig:

“Some people just have that inner drive to help as many people as possible, and Meyer does so by being actively in organizations that can have an impact and help as many people as possible.”

Lynn Taussig is also a foundation board member and a special advisor to the provost in the molecular life sciences initiative at the DU Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

Taussig says Saltzman’s long term involvement and strong leadership have made the Caring for Colorado Foundation a leading foundation in the state.

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