10 Hospital CEOs Age 40 or Younger

Chad Aduddell, Bone and Joint Hospital (Oklahoma City, Okla.). Mr. Aduddell, now 36, became president of 102-bed Bone and Joint Hospital in March 2007. His key goal is to develop an environment of patient-centered care, upholding clinical excellence. He has 12 years experience in healthcare, having served as senior practice administrator at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City, where he oversaw primary care clinics and graduate medical education programs. Mr. Aduddell received an MBA from Oklahoma City University.


Mark Baker, Hughston Healthcare (Columbus, Ga.). In October 2009, Mr. Baker, 40, was appointed CEO of Hughston Healthcare, which consists of Hughston Clinic, a 20-physician orthopedics practice with nine locations in Georgia and Alabama, and 62-bed Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital. He had been serving as interim CEO of the hospital since February and since 2004 had been COO of Hughston Clinic. Mr. Baker has been working to unify the culture at Hughston Clinic and Jack Hughston Memorial, which the clinic acquired in 2007.

Jeremy Biggs, St. Mary's Medical Center North (Powell, Tenn.). Mr. Biggs, now 38, helped plan and develop 72-bed St. Mary's Medical Center North, part of Knoxville-based Mercy Health Partners, and became its first chief administrative officer when it opened in July 2007. Mr. Biggs' first healthcare job was working as a college student in a blood center in the early 1990s. He then earned a master's degree in health administration and joined Mercy. "I had a lot of folks say, 'Look how young you are and look how fast you've gotten to where you are,'" he told Knoxville Biz in 2007. "I've been given opportunities at the right place at the right time and I've done my homework."

Damond Boatwright, Lee's Summit (Mo.) Medical Center. Mr. Boatwright, now 37, became CEO of the new Lee's Summit Medical Center, an HCA hospital, in Jan. 2008. He previously served as an assistant administrator at Colleton Medical Center and CJW Medical Center and COO at Henrico Doctors Hospital. "Damond is a dynamic young leader," HCA's Midwest division president told the Lee's Summit Journal. "He is engaging and warmly accepted by his executive peers, physician leaders, his employees and the patients that he works tirelessly to satisfy."

Barry Bondurant, Baptist Memorial Hospital-Tipton (Covington, Tenn.).
Mr. Bondurant, 34, has been administrator and CEO of 100-bed Baptist Memorial Hospital-Tipton since 2008. He previously served as an assistant administrator at Baptist Union City (Tenn.) since 2005 and before that he was a hospital director of wellness and cardiovascular rehabilitation. Mr. Bondurant, whose nickname is "Skipper," has a master's degrees in business from Union University and exercise & sports medicine from the University of Memphis.

George Gaston, Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital (Houston).
George Gaston, now 38, became CEO of 274-bed Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital in 2007. He joined 11-hospital Memorial Hermann as an administrative fellow in 1996, was named administrative director at Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital in July 1998 and assistant vice president of hospital operations at Memorial Hermann Southwest in 2003. Mr. Gaston said his experiences at age 30 with a cyst, later found to be benign, helped him relate to patients, he told the Fort Bend Sun.

Talitha Glosemeyer, Norman (Okla.) Specialty Hospital. Ms. Glosemeyer, 38, is administrator and CEO of 50-bed Norman Specialty Hospital, which can meet a wide range of acute-care needs including internal medicine, pulmonology, wound care, nephrology, neurology, cardiology, podiatry and psychiatry. "I have the opportunity to touch the lives of individuals who are going through life-altering medical events that may change their lives as they know them forever," she told OKC Business. Ms. Glosemeyer holds a master's of health degree in health administration and policy from the University of Oklahoma.

Ben Koppelman, St. Joseph's Area Health Services (Park Rapids, Minn.).
Mr. Koppelman, 36, is president and CEO of St. Joseph's Area Health Services, 50-bed community hospital owned by Catholic Health Initiatives. "It was a big jump, coming right out of college into my first administrative position," Mr. Koppelman told the Pilot-Independent, recalling his start as administrator of a 17-bed, financially troubled hospital in Albany, Minn., in 1995. Within years, the hospital was making money. "For a young healthcare administrator, it was a unique opportunity to run both a hospital and a clinic," he told the Pilot-Independent.

Michael Lutes, Carolinas Medical Center-Union (Monroe, N.C.). Michael Lutes, now 38, became CEO of 157-bed Carolinas Medical Center-Union in Feb. 2008. He has worked in healthcare for 13 years, including stints as CEO of Greenbrier Valley Medical Center in West Virginia and COO of Mary Black Memorial Hospital in Spartanburg, S.C., and Abilene Regional Medical Center in Abilene, Texas. His goals for Carolinas-Union have been to make the hospital as friendly a place as possible, expand services and deliver healthcare on a more local level.

Kevin L. Unger, Poudre Valley Hospital (Fort Collins, Colo.). In less than a decade, Kevin L. Unger, now 40, went from being a chauffeur to president and CEO of 241-bed Poudre Valley Hospital, according to an homage from his alma matter, University of Colorado Denver Business School, published in the school's 4th Street Journal. He won the American College of Healthcare Executives Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for 2009 and his organization won the 2008 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. During his tenure, the hospital has significantly raised patient and physician satisfaction and lowered medical error and infection rates.

Contact Leigh Page at leigh@beckersasc.com.

 

 

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