Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please submit the good news—or the bad—from your shop, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Baptist Health South Florida
(Baptist Health South Florida)
Brian E. Keeley, president and CEO of Baptist Health South Florida, announced this week plans to retire in 2022.
Keeley has been with the organization for more than 50 years, first as an administrative resident at Baptist Hospital in 1969. He was named its chief operating officer in 1979, became CEO in 1986 and was the system’s first president and CEO as of its 1995 merger with South Miami Hospital and Homestead Hospital.
Baptist Health South Florida has grown to 11 hospitals and 100 other centers with an operating budget of $4 billion during his tenure.
Keeley will stay in the CEO role until his retirement is official. During the transition, he will be focusing his efforts on the system’s long-term strategy, mergers and acquisitions, philanthropy and innovation, among other responsibilities.
The system’s board has selected Albert Boulenger, the current executive vice president and chief operating officer, to take up the mantle after Keeley. In the meantime, his title has been updated to include the role of president as he manages the system’s day-to-day operations.
American Medical Association
(American Medical Association)
Gerald E. Harmon, M.D., has been inaugurated as the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) 176th president during a special meeting of the professional organization’s House of Delegates.
Harmon has practiced for more than 30 years as a family medicine specialist and is currently a clinical professor at two South Carolina medical schools. He also holds positions as a clinical faculty member, community health system board of trustees adviser, physician practice vice president and medical director across several other organizations.
Harmon has served as an AMA board member since 2013 and as its chair from 2017 to 2018. He was named president-elect last year and outlined the organization’s recent plan to advance racial justice and health equity as a priority for his term.
(American Medical Association)
The meeting also saw Jack Resneck Jr., M.D., named as the AMA’s next president-elect.
Resneck is a dermatologist from the San Francisco Bay Area and currently serves as vice chair and professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco.
He was elected to the AMA board of trustees in 2014 and was board chair from 2018 to 2019. He has also served as chair on its Council on Legislation and was a delegate to its House of Delegates.
Resneck is slated to take over the president role next June.
One Drop
(One Drop)
Carrie Siragusa has been named as vice president of commercial strategy at One Drop, a digital diabetes and chronic disease management company.
Siragusa comes to One Drop after nearly a decade at Sanofi, where she held a slew of senior management roles that culminated in a year as the drugmaker’s head of innovation and diabetes portfolio. A certified public accountant, she also spent time as an auditor at accounting and advisory firm EisnerAmper.
One Drop’s new hire will be tasked with bringing its multi-analyte dermal biosensor to market. The startup says the new product will generate a continuous stream of data among its users, which the platform will use to fuel its predictive analytics for preventive condition management.
To this end, Siragusa will be reporting to One Drop’s senior vice president of commercial strategy and innovation, Rachel Yap Martens. She’ll also be side by side with Ashwin Pushpala and Matthew Chapman, both senior vice presidents of biosensor development.
Covenant Health
(Providence)
Walter L. Cathey has been named as regional chief executive of West Texas-based Covenant Health System, which is part of Providence.
Cathey joined Covenant 24 years ago as a rehabilitation aide and went on to hold several hospital- and system-level executive titles. These included chief operating officer and CEO of Covenant Medical Center and chief executive of Covenant Health’s Lubbock market.
During that time, he supported the organization by spearheading acquisitions, leading expansions and guiding the system’s COVID-19 response, according to the announcement.
Cathey steps into the new role in the wake of Richard Parks, who retired this week after holding the regional chief executive title since 2010.
> AdventHealth has promoted Neil Finkler, M.D. to the new role of chief clinical officer for its Central Florida Division.
> Flagship Pioneering, a venture capital company best known for backing and incubating Moderna, has made the controversial move of announcing former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, M.D., as its chief medical officer.
> Intermountain Healthcare has named Greg Matis as senior vice president and chief legal officer after he filled the interim role since March.
> Clover Health, a tech-heavy startup insurer, has hired Carmalitha Gumbs as head of community engagement and partnerships.
> Healthmap Solutions, a kidney population health management company, has appointed Howard Shaps, M.D., as chief clinical officer.
> Owl Health (formerly Owl Insights), a precision care management platform for behavioral health, fleshed out its executive team with three new vice presidents: Doug Keyes as vice president of sales, Paige Mantel as vice president of marketing and Justin Witkowski as vice president of program management.
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota has named Matt Hunt as its first chief experience officer.
> Inspira Health has appointed Anneliese McMenamin to the role of chief human resources officer.
> Aidin, which offers technology to handle care transitions, named Akanksha Karwar to the newly created role of chief operating officer.
> Ascellus, a behavioral health provider specializing in treating injured workers, announced Jim Harvey as its new senior vice president of national account management and strategy.
> Evidation Health, a real-world data analysis and technology company, has brought on Adaeze Enekwechi and Lucia Savage as advisers.