David Goldner’s background is in public accounting, as he has over 40 years of experience in the field and is partner emeritus at Gross Mendelsohn, but he also held many other roles.
He serves on the board of directors at LifeBridge Health and as the chairman of the board at Sinai Hospital. He joined the LifeBridge board in 2016, taking a leadership position at Sinai Hospital in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While he says that he doesn’t know much about health care aside from what he’s learned from the doctors he’s had as accounting clients, Goldner uses his financial experience to help guide LifeBridge Health into the future, setting a path for growth and expansion.
Goldner, 66, lives in Marriottsville with his wife. They are both members of Baltimore Hebrew Congregation. Growing up in Baltimore, he initially attended Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion. He made the change after college.
“We weren’t Orthodox in quite the way that the Orthodox community of today is,” he explained.
Because of his financial background, when Goldner first started working with nonprofit organizations, it was usually as treasurer. He got his start at Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Maryland, which began as a fairly small program but grew exponentially over the 12 years he worked with the organization. Later, he became a treasurer for Susan G. Komen, one of the U.S.’s biggest breast cancer research and support foundations.
“There are people at these organizations who are super mission-oriented and focused on helping others. They do that, and I add my value, which is understanding finances and trying to make sure that resources are used well in the community,” Goldner said of his work at these two organizations.
It was this work that led him to Associated Jewish Charities — now The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore — where he served as a member of the investment committee. He still continues to work with The Associated as part of LifeBridge Health, and also collaborates with the JCC of Greater Baltimore due to the partnership between the two organizations.
He explained that a number of the charitable foundations he worked with as part of Associated Jewish Charities made gifts to the LifeBridge Health system, which is what brought him into contact with them.
In 2018, Goldner was asked to become the chair of the performance oversight committee at Sinai Hospital, a position he quickly accepted. Two years later, right after he became their chairman of the board, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, giving his work at the hospital a new meaning.
“For three years, instead of worrying about how we care for patients in the broad picture and how to improve the world, we had to figure out how to keep people alive and how to keep our staff working,” he said.
Despite the fact that he described this period as “the worst three years ever,” the pandemic also got him even more involved with financial operations at LifeBridge Health. He noted that Sinai Hospital’s employees all stepped up and went the extra mile during the height of the pandemic.
“I’ve never had a question about the desire of the professionals to provide the greatest care to patients and meet all of their requirements,” he added.
But the pandemic was not the only change to Sinai Hospital under Goldner’s leadership. The hospital has introduced and implemented several brand-new initiatives, including doubling the size of its emergency department and opening a regional medical campus with the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Not all of the patients Sinai Hospital services are Jewish, but its history as a Jewish hospital is still central to its identity. Goldner noted that all new employees learn about the hospital’s Jewish background and how it is shaped by Jewish values when they first start their training.
“My philosophy is that when you have good people doing good work, you let them do the work and you help them do the work,” Goldner said.
