Mr. Smith graduated from Auburn University in 1969 with a master’s degree and from Trinity University with a master’s degree in hospital administration. He also spent 13 months of his residency at an Army hospital in Seoul, Korea, and left with the rank of captain.
He spent 23 years working for Humana, where he progressed from hospital administration to president and COO. While at Humana, he was tasked with rescuing Humana from a financial crisis brought about by a flaw in its then recently launched Humana Health Plans. Within two years, the healthcare division had gone from reporting severe losses to turning a $4 million profit.
In 1991, Mr. Smith was named executive vice president of health care operations at Humana, and later president and COO. He retired in July 1996 — until Forstmann Little and Co., which had recently acquired CHS in a $1.1 billion buyout, came to him with an offer. In 1997, he became president and CEO of CHS.
Since starting at CHS, Mr. Smith has focused its attention on purchasing non-urban, not-for-profit hospitals and enforcing company-wide regulatory compliance. In 2007, CHS merged with Triad Hospitals, making CHS a $10.2 billion company with 133 hospitals and 90,000 employees. Currently, CHS oversees 123 hospitals and was counted as the second largest acute-care hospital chain on Becker’s Becker’s Hospital Review’s May 2010 list. In 2008, Becker’s Hospital Review wrote about Mr. Smith, “He has done a remarkable job guiding [CHS] forward in changing times.”
