At least three health systems have seen more than one C-suite leader exit the organization at the same time in 2026, and while the drivers behind each departure differ, all three came at moments when the organization was already in a transition.
Most recently, Burlington, Mass.-based Tufts Medicine announced Mike Dandorph, president and CEO, and Andrew DeVoe, executive vice president and CFO, plan to step down Sept. 30. The news comes as the system has made progress in strengthening its financial foundation over the past several years, according to board Chair Phil Lembo.
“While important work remains ahead, we have generated significant momentum and are entering the next phase of our financial turnaround with greater focus, discipline and purpose,” he said.
Mr. Lembo said the board and Mr. Dandorph together decided it is the right time to transition leadership to a new president and CEO. It is an example of tandem exits tied to a turnaround reaching a new stage, with the timing framed as a joint decision rather than a response to pressure.
Not all tandem C-suite exits have included resignations. Ogdensburg, N.Y.-based North Star Health Alliance dismissed three leaders in March as it sought Chapter 11 protection. The dismissals were not performance-based but rather part of a broader restructuring “aimed at maintaining organizational stability, ensuring continuity of care, and positioning the organization for long-term sustainability,” a health system spokesperson said. The changes came at the same time Andrew Manzer was named interim CEO, and weeks after President and CEO Richard Duvall resigned. The exits included Brandon Bowline, COO; Randy Fipps, chief administrator of behavioral health; and Peter Sinagra, executive director of the North Star Foundation.
Portland-based Oregon Health & Science University saw four leaders exit the organization not at the same time but within a span of three months. OHSU President Shereef Elnahal, MD, told staff April 3 that Tarek Salaway was no longer CEO, while Mr. Salaway’s attorney told Becker’s that OHSU terminated his employment after not taking his concerns about bias and resource waste seriously.
In addition to the CEO transition, which has seen several interim and permanent leaders over the past two years, three other OHSU leaders exited in early 2026. They were Tionna Foglio-Reed, senior executive assistant to the CEO and OHSU Health, who exited April 3; Brooke Lippincott, senior vice president and chief ambulatory officer, who exited March 20; and Tim Kringen, a senior adviser, who exited Feb. 18. Here, the pattern is less a single tandem exit than a cluster of departures orbiting the CEO seat.
Also in April, Waconia, Minn.-based Ridgeview saw its CEO and CFO share plans to retire. President and CEO Mike Phelps and CFO Aaron Bloomquist shared plans to retire Jan. 2, 2027, and July 3, 2026, respectively — another instance, like Tufts Medicine, of two long-tenured leaders coordinating an exit rather than leaving involuntarily.
Taken together, these four 2026 moves point to tandem exits focused around two kinds of moments: a turnaround or long tenure reaching its natural next stage, compared to financial distress or leadership instability preceding a broader shake-up. They also tend to occur near CEO transitions, which can lead to further C-suite turnover — not always through exits, but sometimes through updated job titles or promotions.
Looking back to 2025 shows a third pattern: tandem exits tied to a system-level restructuring rather than a single leader’s departure. Megan Ryan, president and CEO of Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, N.Y., shared plans to resign July 20, 2025, following a state-approved restructuring of the board that oversees the hospital. She was among 10 leaders who left the organization or shared plans to do so around the same time, including the CIO, chief medical officer, CHRO and chief nursing officer. Ms. Ryan was terminated before her resignation date, and since the exits, the former CEO and hospital have filed lawsuits against each other. In November, the hospital filed separate lawsuits against seven former executives over alleged improper termination payments, who disputed the hospital’s allegations.
Also in 2025, a Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health spokesperson said two system C-suite leaders and two hospital executives were no longer with the organization. Executive transitions were made as part of “ongoing efforts to transform our health system to meet the demands of our current healthcare landscape,” the spokesperson said. The departing health system leaders were CFO Gail Kosyla and General Counsel Bill Aseltyne, as well as Greenwich (Conn.) Hospital’s COO, Marc Kosak, and CFO, Bill Degnan.
The new executive leadership structure at Greenwich Hospital was in alignment with other system hospitals and systemwide structure, the spokesperson said. In March 2025, Yale New Haven Health restructured its leadership to consolidate roles, drive growth and streamline decision-making.
Across the 2026 moves — and echoed in the 2025 instances — tandem exits tend to show up alongside some form of organizational change already underway, whether it was a turnaround entering a new phase, financial distress, or a restructuring meant to consolidate roles. The circumstances vary enough that tandem exits do not point to one single cause.
But the recurring thread is that these departures rarely happen in isolation: They tend to coincide with a system reworking its financial position, its structure or its leadership bench, and the language a system uses to explain the timing — “next phase,” “restructuring,” “consolidate” — is often a useful marker of which of those is underway.
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