CEO Wayne Smith: Tenured Leader of Community Health Systems

Wayne Smith is the chairman of the board, president and CEO of Community Health Systems in Nashville, Tenn. Mr. Smith joined CHS in 1997 and has been one of its most tenured and respected executives.

As president and CEO, he oversees one of the nation's leading operators of general acute-care hospitals. The organization's affiliates own, operate or lease more than 134 hospitals in 29 states, with an aggregate of approximately 20,000 licensed beds.

When Mr. Smith was recruited as CHS' president and CEO, he brought more than 20 years of healthcare industry experience. Prior to joining CHS, Mr. Smith served Humana for 23 years where he held a variety of senior management positions including president and COO. He was also a member of Humana's board of directors from 1993 to mid-1996. Before serving Humana, Mr. Smith spent four years as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Services Corps.

He currently serves on the boards of directors for Praxair, a supplier of industrial gases, coatings and related services and technologies; Nashville Healthcare Council, where he served as chairman in 2006 and 2007; and the Federation of American Hospitals, where he served as chairman in 2003 and 2012.

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