McLaren Greater Lansing
Executive Team

Kirk Ray, MBA, brings a wealth of health care leadership experience to his role as President and Chief Executive Officer of McLaren Greater Lansing. He leads McLaren Greater Lansing’s two current hospitals while overseeing the construction and opening of a new, state-of-the-art $450 million health care campus in Lansing.

Previously, Ray was the Chief Executive Officer of Lutheran Health Network (LHN) – Kosciusko Community Hospital and Lutheran Health Physicians in Warsaw, Indiana where he was responsible for strategic, operational, and market leadership initiatives. He oversaw the development of a Clinically Integrated Network for LHN and was an executive board member for the network’s accountable care organization. During his tenure at LHN, Ray was also responsible for the development of telemedicine services for behavioral health and neurology; the acquisition and operation of emergency medical services within LHN; the development and expansion of occupational health service across northern Indiana; the growth and expansion of urgent care; and a 10 percent improvement of overall patient satisfaction scores.

Ray has also held President/CEO positions at ValleyCare Health System of Ohio (Youngstown, Ohio), DeKalb Health (Auburn, Indiana), St. Joseph Hospital (Ft. Wayne, Indiana), and Select Specialty Hospital (Ft. Wayne, Indiana). Ray is an active member of the local community through his service with a number of organizations focusing on patient safety and quality, population health, and economic development.

Ray is also active with national and regional professional associations and the Ball State University Alumni Association. Ray received the Ball State University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012, and has received a number of other honors and recognitions throughout his career for community service and business leadership.

Ray earned a Bachelor of Science from Ball State University and a Master of Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Linda Mercado Peterson, MD, FAPA, FAPM has been an invaluable member of both the Lansing Hispanic community and Lansing medical community since she joined McLaren Greater Lansing in 1994—known then as Ingham Regional Medical Center.

The daughter of Puerto Rican parents, Dr. Peterson was born in Canada where her father served in the United States Air Force. She spent much of her early life constantly relocating with her family to and from Puerto Rico and military bases before settling in San Antonio, Texas.

Dr. Peterson first came to the Lansing community as a medical student at Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine where she received her medical degree in 1987. She then completed her residency at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where she focused on women’s mental health, including pregnancy and post-partum depression.

Since returning to Lansing in 1994, Dr. Peterson has held numerous leadership roles at McLaren Greater Lansing including Co-Chief of the Medical Staff, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Chair of Medical Ethics Committee. She founded Lansing’s Citywide End-of-Life Subcommittee which developed Citywide Medical Advance Directives education and information for families written in both English and Spanish. And, in 2012, Dr. Peterson was named Chief Medical Officer of McLaren Greater Lansing.

Board Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and Fellowship trained in Psychosomatic Medicine, Dr. Peterson has been a dedicated educator, serving as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Michigan State University for both College of Human and Osteopathic Medicine and faculty for Grand Valley State University. She has received extensive teaching awards since her arrival at McLaren Greater Lansing including Teacher of the Year by both MSU CHM and Grand Valley PA Program. In addition, Dr. Peterson has earned awards for her End-of-Life work, as well as her efforts in recruiting and retaining medical residents to the Lansing area.

In our community, Dr. Peterson has served and supported a number of local organizations during her career, including as a board member for Cristo Rey Community Center and the Lansing Community College Foundation, and has been extremely active with the Lansing Latino Health Alliance, Capital Area Health Alliance, and Okemos schools—where she and her husband, Dr. William Peterson, saw their daughters Kelsey and Kailey attend. She has also been an advocate for youth soccer in our community, supporting the Michigan Chill team and Hope Sports Complex.

Jay’s understanding of health care comes from the ground up as he started his career as an administrative resident for a large cardiovascular group practice, where he was responsible for strategic planning, operations, and finance. He also spent time as a director of cardiothoracic and vascular surgery before transitioning into hospital operations and has recruited multiple physicians to the medical staff at each hospital he’s served across 7 different states.

Most recently Jay served as the CEO of Lake Huron Medical Center, a 144-bed acute care hospital located in Port Huron, Michigan. During the last two years of his tenure, he implemented measures that drastically reduced nursing turnover and increased procedural volumes in the OR and Cath Lab. The hospital received multiple recognitions for quality, safety, and service during his tenure, including Level III Trauma designation from the state, Top 5% for Patient Safety from Healthgrades, and consecutive “A” ratings from the Leapfrog Group. In addition, Jay secured more than $7 million for purchasing state-of-the-art equipment and renovations to the OR and patient rooms. This experience is a perfect fit in our efforts to redesign health care at our new hospital. Jay has held many leadership positions including interim Chief Executive Officer at Memorial Hospital of Salem County and Chief Operating Officer at Lutheran Health Network, ValleyCare Health System of Ohio, and HealthSouth Sunrise Rehabilitation Hospital.

Jay received his Bachelor of Science in business administration from Birmingham-Southern College. He has also earned master’s degrees in both business administration and health administration.

Jay’s commitment to community is well established with experience serving as a board member for multiple organizations over the past 12 years, the most recent examples being the Economic Development Alliance of St. Clair County, the United Way of St. Clair County, and the St. Clair County Child Abuse/Neglect Council.

Deborah was the former Chief Nursing Officer of McLaren Greater Lansing from 2002-2008. She also held numerous roles in our organization during her previous time here.

Most recently, Deborah served as the CNO of Healogics, a nationwide wound care management company located in Jacksonville, Florida, where she was responsible for ensuring high-quality operational efficiency in the delivery of chronic wound care services across approximately 700 center and 300 skilled nursing facilities.

From 2012-2016, Deb held the CNO role at Sinai-Grace Hospital, owned by Tenet Healthcare Corporation, where she oversaw and managed the delivery of patient care in the 404-bed urban community teaching hospital, co-led a construction project of an emergency department and two critical care units, and facilitated process improvement initiatives in the ED, inpatient units, and surgery.

Deb has also held roles as the VP of Patient Care Services/CNO at Detroit Receiving Hospital, a 289-bed academic teaching hospital, consulted for Allegiance Health System, and served as the Vice President of Patient Care Services at Hayes Green Beach Memorial Hospital.

Deb received her Bachelor of Science in nursing from Northern Michigan University. She is also a Certified Nurse Executive, a LEAN Healthcare Executive, and has a master’s in management.

Dale figures he could have been a CFO in any industry, but he has worked at McLaren Greater Lansing since 1995 because healthcare contributes so much to the greater good of a community. He proudly supports the hospital’s focus on providing compassionate care to every patient every time. In addition, he loves the people he works with and regards them as members of his extended family. Dale, who moved into his CFO position in 2013, began his career at McLaren Greater Lansing as a staff accountant. He has held several positions since, including senior accountant, supervisor of accounting, and manager and director of finance.

Outside of work, the Northwood University graduate serves on the board of two healthcare-related organizations. An avid runner, he has finished five marathons, as well as a Half-Ironman triathlon. His wife Julie is a registered nurse at Eaton Rapids Medical Center, and the two of them enjoy supporting the extracurricular activities of their three children.

Lynn Griffor serves as Chief Experience Officer and VP of Philanthropy. In her role, she is responsible for developing and leading practices and innovations that enhance the experience for those receiving treatment as well as their families. Lynn also guides the organization to improve the culture for employees, physicians, residents and volunteers.

As VP of Philanthropy, she led a $10 million capital campaign for McLaren Greater Lansing’s new health care campus and works closely with local, state and federal representatives. She places an emphasis on community partnerships and is proud of the work she has done to improve the overall health and well-being of the Greater Lansing community.

Prior to her role in Lansing, Lynn has held leadership positions at McLaren Port Huron, Beaumont Health and the University of Michigan Department of Surgery.

In 2021, Lynn was recognized as one of the “11 in the 517” by 517 Magazine. She holds a BA in Psychology from University of Michigan-Dearborn, a Master of Public Administration from the University of Michigan and a Master Certificate in Healthcare Leadership from Cornell University.

Derek grew up locally in Mason, Michigan. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of South Carolina in 2001. He then began working for a labor union out of the Detroit area and helped with labor relations. He joined the HR team at McLaren Greater Lansing in 2008 and worked here for 6 years. While working at MGL, he attended Thomas Cooley Law School and earned his JD in 2013. He then passed the Michigan State Bar Exam in 2014 and became a licensed attorney that same year. He has recently lead the HR teams at McLaren Lapeer Region, McLaren Health Management Group, and McLaren Northern Michigan. He enjoys spending time with my family, music, and movies. He is very happy to be back home in the Lansing area.

Brian Brown is vice president of marketing and business development at McLaren Greater Lansing. In his role Brian has policy-level responsibility for all components of marketing including public relations, advertising, brand management, marketing research, business development, and strategic/business planning.

Brian also serves as one of the project executives on McLaren’s efforts to combine its two current inpatient facilities into a new health campus adjacent to Michigan State University in South Lansing. He led the planning efforts to substantiate a replacement hospital, cancer center, and ambulatory care center at the new campus. Brian currently serves as the champion on a number of committees with the responsibility of programing, designing, and constructing the facilities. Brian joined McLaren in 2010 as director of planning and marketing where he oversaw the hospital’s service line marketing, internal and external communications, branding, and public and community relations efforts. He assumed responsibility for business development program when he was promoted to vice president in 2016.

Prior to joining McLaren, Brian spent a decade in at two Lansing-based, multi-client strategic communication firms where he represented statewide trade associations, private companies, coalitions, ballot initiative committees, and nonprofit organizations.

Brian received his Masters in Business Administration from Oakland University in 2017 and his Bachelors of Arts degree in Communication from Michigan State University in 2000. Brian and his wife Anne enjoy traveling and chasing around their son, Sam, in their free time.

John Patterson, MPA, is an Alumni of Ferris State University and Western Michigan University and maintains his license as a Respiratory Care Practitioner. John’s dedication to McLaren and compassionately serving our patients is apparent to anyone who has worked with him during his decades-long tenure with McLaren Greater Lansing. John's experience in overseeing many clinical areas will add a patient centered focus to the development of the new hospital.