New members of the board of trustees of Saint Barnabas Medical Center bring experience in three key fields.
THREE AREA RESIDENTS—CELIA COLBERT OF Summit; Russell Langan, M.D., of Jersey City; and Richard Ritholz, B.S.B.A., of Short Hills—were recently named to the Board of Trustees at Saint Barnabas Medical Center (SBMC), an RWJBarnabas Health facility in Livingston. “I welcome our newest board members and thank them for their passion, talent and dedication to furthering Saint Barnabas Medical Center in our mission to provide compassionate care, health care excellence and superior service to our patients and their families,” said Stephen P. Zieniewicz, FACHE, president and chief executive officer.
“These trustees are joining Saint Barnabas at a very exciting time in the hospital’s history,” states Bruce Schonbraun, chairman, Board of Trustees. “With the recent opening of the Cooperman Family Pavilion and the continuous evolution of the health care landscape, their wealth of experience and expertise will help us expand our award-winning tertiary and quaternary services throughout the region.”
Celia Colbert
Celia Colbert graduated cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in English and American literatures and language and received her jurist doctorate from Columbia University School of Law. She worked as a senior legal executive at Merck & Co for more than 20 years, starting as a corporate staff attorney and retiring as senior vice president, secretary and assistant general counsel in 2012. At the time of her retirement, Colbert managed the activities of Merck’s Board of Directors and stockholders and oversaw legal support for the company’s corporate, compliance and philanthropic areas.Colbert graduated cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in English and American literatures and language and received her jurist doctorate from Columbia University School of Law. She worked as a senior legal executive at Merck & Co for more than 20 years, starting as a corporate staff attorney and retiring as senior vice president, secretary and assistant general counsel in 2012. At the time of her retirement, Colbert managed the activities of Merck’s Board of Directors and stockholders and oversaw legal support for the company’s corporate, compliance and philanthropic areas.
Colbert is the chair of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee and a member of the Executive Committee and Nominating Committee for the United Negro College Fund Board of Directors. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for Colgate University, the Summit Area Public Foundation and the Summit Free Public Library. Colbert is the former president of the Summit Board of Education and a former trustee for the Summit African American Action Association, which is dedicated to helping African American students excel in the Summit education system. In addition, she has generously supported the Cancer Center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. A New York City native, Colbert is a longtime resident of Summit, where she and her husband, Frederick Watts, raised their two sons.
Russell Langan, M.D.
Russell Langan, M.D., joined Saint Barnabas Medical Center in a dual appointment with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. He specializes in complex surgical oncology and has particular interest and expertise in the surgical management of diseases of the pancreas, liver and bile ducts. He strives to provide the highest level of expertise and precision with unwavering compassion and optimism for his patients and their families.
Dr. Langan completed his general surgery residency at Saint Barnabas Medical Center as well as Georgetown University Hospital. He completed fellowships in tumor immunotherapy and surgical oncology at the National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health. Prior to joining SBMC, Dr. Langan completed a fellowship in complex general surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Langan has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and seven book chapters dedicated to surgical oncology. Within his field, he has lectured and presented nationally and has been an associate investigator on numerous oncology-related clinical trials.
Dr. Langan is a member of the American College of Surgeons, Society of Surgical Oncology, American Hepatopancreatobiliary Association, Association of Academic Surgery and Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract. Dr. Langan has received awards from the National Institutes of Health, Health and Human Services (Recognition for Special Act and Service), Georgetown University Hospital, the Washington, D.C., chapter of the American College of Surgeons, the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, the Marquis Who’s Who Award in 2015 and the Top Doctor Award for surgical oncology in New York, N.Y., for 2016.
Richard Ritholz, B.S.B.A
Richard Ritholz retired from Elliott Management Corporation (EMC) in April 2018. While at EMC, he led a team that traded energy, metals, agricultural commodities and soft commodities in the firm’s New York, London, and Hong Kong offices. During his 13 years there, assets under the firm’s management increased from $4 billion to $35 billion, making Elliott one of the largest global commodity firms.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Olin Business School in 1984, Ritholz went on to earn a master’s degree in business from Columbia University. His first job was with Mobil Oil Corporation, where his positions included head of European natural gas trading, based in The Hague, Netherlands. Ritholz left Mobil in 1998 to start JMR Energy Inc., an energy commodity trading adviser to institutional accounts and high-net-worth individuals.
Ritholz and his wife, Linda, are longtime supporters of Washington University, and he was elected to the Board of Trustees earlier this year. The couple established the Richard and Linda Ritholz Scholarship at the university, and they host an annual dinner for Washington University’s basketball teams when they travel to New York. Ritholz also serves on Olin Business School’s Advisory Board as well as on the North Jersey Regional Council, of which he is co-chair. The Ritholz family has generously supported Comfort Project 360 at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. They also support the David Falk School of Sport Management and Human Dynamics at Syracuse University, Syracuse University Athletics, and The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, among other organizations. Ritholz is a board member and on the finance committee at Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange. The Ritholzes reside in Short Hills with their two children.