Jaewon Ryu, MD, the founding CEO of Risant Health, will step down, and Dale Maxwell has been named interim CEO.
According to a July 29 news release, Dr. Ryu will leave the role to focus on his family. Mr. Maxwell, former president and CEO of Albuquerque, N.M.-based Presbyterian Healthcare Services, will serve as interim CEO while the Risant Health board conducts a national search for a permanent successor.
Washington, D.C.-based Risant Health is a nonprofit created by Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente to expand value-based care by partnering with community health systems. As the organization’s inaugural CEO, Dr. Ryu built its leadership team and operating model and oversaw the additions of Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger, which operates 10 hospital campuses, and Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health, which has five hospitals and more than 150 locations.
“Jaewon has been instrumental in turning the vision for Risant Health into reality,” Greg Adams, chair and CEO of Kaiser Permanente and chair of the Risant Health board, said in the release. Mr. Adams said Dr. Ryu built an exceptional leadership team and positioned the organization to expand value-based care.
Mr. Maxwell spent more than 24 years in executive roles at Presbyterian Healthcare Services, serving as president and CEO from 2016 until his 2024 retirement. Mr. Adams said the transition reflects “thoughtful planning, not a change in strategy” for Risant Health.
A Kaiser Permanente spokesperson told Becker’s that Mr. Maxwell will start on Aug. 17. There will be a planned overlap and transition period, with Dr. Ryu’s last day being Sept. 4.
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