A social entrepreneur at heart, Kristy Bird MaKieve founded Healthy Rural California, Inc. to provide solutions for Butte County and the rural and underserved region north of Sacramento. As Healthy Rural California’s CEO and GME Administrator, Kristy led the development of a new medical education pathways centered in Chico. These include a Community Psychiatry and a Family Medicine Residency in an innovative consortium model. Kristy is also the Executive Director of Butte-Glenn Medical Society and North Valley Medical Association in Redding which are now fiscally managed by Healthy Rural California. The rural and underserved region of Northern California has some of the highest ACES scores, overdose rates, opioid subscription rates, and worsening access to care and mental health care in the State. 

Kristy earned an MBA at UC Davis Graduate School of Management and a BA with double majors in English and Art History from Barnard College of Columbia University of New York City. She is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) through the ASAE and a member of CalSAE. Kristy has previously worked at UC Davis Health, the California Medical Association, UC Davis Graduate School of Management and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, the California School Boards Association, GraphXStaff, Aquent, the Japan Society of Boston and Art Education for the Blind. She also taught English in Japan for two years primarily in the Nara-Ken area. Kristy and her husband, Dan MaKieve, MD, are the founding Legacy Partners for Healthy Rural California’s Planned Giving fund. They live in Sacramento and enjoy being in the forests of Tahoe and exploring the world as often as they can.