Montgomery College Welcomes President of Holy Cross Health Network and Former Dual Enrollment Student as Newest Board of Trustees Members

The Montgomery College Board of Trustees announced two new board members this week, Annice Cody and Deepica Premaratne. The trustees, whose terms began July 1, were appointed by Governor Larry Hogan. Premaratne is a business major in the Macklin Business Institute (MBI). She began her academic career at Montgomery College as a dual enrollment student in high school and will serve a one-year term. Cody is the president of Holy Cross Health Network and will serve a six-year term.

Holy Cross Health Network is Holy Cross Health’s community-based operating division. Holy Cross Health Network operates safety-net health centers and primary care sites; provides more than 200,000 community health encounters annually through programs such as Senior Fit, perinatal education, Chronic Disease Self-Management and community health worker outreach; leads community engagement to promote health equity; oversees Holy Cross Health’s $57 million community benefit program; leads Holy Cross Health’s population health initiatives; and guides the organization’s advocacy initiatives.   

Trustee Cody serves as the board chair for Nexus Montgomery Regional Partnership, a joint venture of all six Montgomery County hospitals, focused on reducing avoidable utilization and improving health in our community in ways that no single hospital could accomplish on its own. She is on the Board of Directors of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the leadership group of Montgomery Moving Forward, a community collaborative using the collective impact framework to create a better early care and education system for our community.

Prior to joining Holy Cross Health, Trustee Cody worked as a vice president at the Lewin Group, a health care consulting firm in Fairfax, Virginia.  She previously served as vice president, strategic and community planning at Advocate Health Care, a regional health system in Chicago. She has an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. from Brown University. She and her husband have lived in Montgomery County since 1998 and have two children.

Student Trustee Premaratne, an MBI business major, began her academic career at Montgomery College as a dual enrollment student in high school. Her contributions to the MC community can be seen through her work as a co-leader of Raptor Tank, the collegewide business pitch competition encouraging participants to explore their entrepreneurial interests. In addition, she helped to revive the MBI Café after it was closed for two years due to the pandemic, implementing initiatives to improve the customer experience and raising funding for projects and programs benefiting the MC community. Through her many years of engagement with the College, she has developed a passion to improve the standards of education and opportunity within the MC community. 

Trustee Premaratne is committed to bringing a student voice to the Board, ensuring inclusivity in academic and social opportunities at Montgomery College. She is looking forward to being a champion for the needs of the students.

The Board of Trustees of Montgomery College is the institution's legal governing body and is comprised of ten community individuals who are appointed by the governor.