About

Donald K. (“Don”) Spies is President and Executive Director of the North Texas 3-Share Plan, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization working to develop a low-cost healthcare program for the “working poor” of small employers in North Texas. Don is a Fellow of The Legacy Center for Public Policy, the Immediate Past Chair of the Indigent Health Care Advisory Committee to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and was the founding chairman of the Southwest Benefit Association. Don is also a Past Chairman of the Dallas Summer Musicals and continues as a member of the Executive Committee of the Musicals.

Don enjoyed 32 years with the international actuarial, employee benefit, compensation, and human resource management consulting firm of Towers Perrin, retiring in 1996 as Vice-President and Managing Director of the U.S. Western Region. Following his retirement from Towers Perrin, Don was the principal member of the Business Development Group (BDG) and president of DKS, Inc. He then matriculated at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University and received a Master of Theological Studies degree, cum laude, in 2004 prior to joining Dallas County in 2005 as Director of Health Initiatives for District 1. He left the county in 2008 to start the North Texas 3-Share Plan.

Don spent four years in the U.S. Coast Guard upon graduation from high school. Spies then attended Columbia University and transferred to Western Reserve University where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1986 he completed the Stanford Graduate school of Business Executive Program. He has received Certification from the Dallas Center for Nonprofit Management in both Nonprofit Management and Nonprofit Leadership.

Don has been an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, guest lecturer in the London Business School in London, England and both the Graduate School of Business and Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University.

In 2007 Spies was awarded a "Healthcare Heroes" award from the DFW Alliance for Healthcare Excellence for his work on indigent healthcare. The Alliance for Healthcare Excellence annually recognizes and celebrates the individual contributions that its members make by donating their time and talents to activities that promote access to affordable, quality health care.