Mark Faris was promoted to vice president/CFO at SRI/Surgical Express Inc., which provides central processing and supply chain management services to hospitals and surgery centers across the United States. He has been serving as interim principal financial officer since April, succeeding former CFO Wallace Ruiz. Faris joined SRI as controller and vice president in February 2007. He previously was director of treasury for WellCare Health Plans Inc.
The Board of Trustees of Abington Health voted to appoint Laurence M. Merlis its new president/CEO. Merlis will succeed Richard L. Jones, Jr., who will retire on Jan. 31. Merlis has served as president/CEO at GBMC HealthCare/Greater Baltimore Medical Center since 1999.
Craig McKasson, vice president of finance and corporate controller at Premier Inc., will be promoted to senior vice president/CFO effective Jan.1. As CFO, McKasson will join Premier's executive leadership team and will report directly to Susan DeVore, Premier's president/CEO. McKasson will replace Ann Rhoads, who is resigning her position after 11 years of service, following a recently announced office consolidation that is expected to be complete by February 2011.
Medical City Dallas Hospital has named Erol Akdamar president/CEO, effective Jan. 11. Akdamar, 42, is currently CEO at St. David's South Austin Hospital. He has held various senior management roles over the past 15 years, including hospitals involved in partnerships between HCA and tax-exempt organizations such as St. David's in Austin, Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria, LA, and Tulane University Hospitals in New Orleans.
Health Net, Inc. has named Angelee Bouchard, 41, as senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary, effective immediately. Bouchard joined Health Net in 2003 as vice president, assistant general counsel, and assistant secretary. Her primary responsibilities have included oversight of all of the company's corporate finance and merger-and-acquisition transactions as well as the company's corporate governance program.
J. Michael Cowling has been named CEO at the 199-bed Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center. Cowling most recently served as division vice president with Health Management Associates, a Naples, FL-based operator of acute care hospitals. Opened in 1968, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center is owned by a subsidiary of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp.
The Cottage Hospital Board of Trustees has appointed Maria Ryan as the new CEO of Cottage Hospital, a 25-bed, critical access hospital in Woodsville, NH. The transition of this office is expected to be completed in late January. Ryan is has served a dual role as Cottage Hospital's CNO/COO for the past three years. She succeeds Reg Lavoie, the current CEO.
Secours Health System and the Bon Secours St. Francis Health System have appointed Mark Nantz as its new CEO for Bon Secours St. Francis Health System in Greenville, SC. Nantz will assume his new responsibilities at St. Francis Feb. 1. Nantz comes to St. Francis from Carolinas HealthCare System, where he is currently president of Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast in Concord, NC.
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. has announced that Alec R. Cunningham, 42, has been elected CEO effective today. Cunningham, who is currently president of WellCare's Florida and Hawaii division, will succeed current President/CEO Heath Schiesser, who, as previously announced, will leave the company at the end of this year.
Julie Quirin, CEO of Saint Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, will lead the American Hospital Association's Section for Metropolitan Hospitals as chair of its 24-member governing council for 2010. The Section is a forum for suburban and urban hospitals to discuss common interests and concerns and to participate in the AHA policy process. Mark Gavens, senior vice president, Clinical Care Services/COO for Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles is this year's chair-elect. Brian A. Gragnolati, president/CEO of Suburban Hospital Healthcare System in Bethesda, MD, is immediate past chair. The Metropolitan governing council advises the AHA on federal policy issues.
