Marie Aragon, MSN, RN, whose first experience at Southern California Hospital was as a nursing student, is now leading its all-women executive team as CEO.
She completed rotations on the telemetry floor and in perioperative services at the 420-bed community hospital in Culver City, Calif. She graduated, moved on and built a career that wove through EHR consulting, bedside nursing and biotech before she found her way back. She has now held 12 positions within the organization she once trained at as a student. In August, she was named its CEO.
“That’s how I came full circle,” she said. “I’m just really grateful.”
Ms. Aragon leads alongside an all-women executive team at Southern California Hospital: Jessica Greer, BSN, RN, as chief nursing officer, Katherine Avendano as COO, Teresa Liaw as CFO and Kathren Alkasspooles as vice president of business development. Women held 35% of healthcare C-suite seats in 2024, up from 29% in 2020, according to McKinsey.
“The amount of collaboration and bouncing ideas off of each other and supporting each other has been a game changer,” she said. “Our ideas flow without anyone having a negative thought about them.”
Before nursing, Ms. Aragon had a career in computer engineering, but later returned to school for nursing. After graduation, she landed at Epic, where her technical background was a natural match. She later applied to Southern California Hospital and was hired as an informaticist — the start of a long tenure with the organization.
As the hospital constructs a new emergency department, she has made sure that clinicians, materials management and operations all have a seat in the planning process. The details most likely to cause problems later, she has found, are the ones that only surface when the right people are in the room.
“If you don’t bring people to the table, things don’t work out the way they should be,” she said. “You miss one area and it can really be detrimental — when it comes to any project.”
Nursing gave her something she reaches for often in the CEO role: the listening and advocacy that bedside care demands.
“As a nurse, you learn to listen, assess the situation, stay calm under pressure and advocate for what is best for the patient,” she said. “I carry those same principles into leadership. I never want to lose sight of the people behind the numbers and the decisions we make.”
Ms. Aragon moved through a range of positions at the system over the years, including work in the cath lab and a role as associate CNO, before leaving for a period. She went back to the bedside, worked in biotech and returned to Southern California Hospital in January 2020. She later served as interim CNO and most recently in the permanent role before stepping into the CEO seat.
“I think one assumption I’ve had to rethink is that being CEO means having all the answers,” she said. “I’ve learned that leadership isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about surrounding yourself with talented people, asking the right questions, listening to different perspectives and creating an environment where people can do their best work. I don’t need to be the smartest person in the room. I need to make sure we have the right people in the room and that their voices are heard.”
First-year priorities
Ms. Aragon’s priorities as CEO center on people, growth and excellence. She wants to build a culture where employees feel heard, valued and empowered; position the organization for sustainable growth, including the launch of a new emergency department; and continue strengthening quality, patient safety and the patient experience.
“For me, success in the first year isn’t just about what we accomplish operationally,” she said. “It’s about building a strong foundation for where we want to go next.”
The new ED is expected to open in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter of 2027. The timing matters — the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will bring significant international activity to the area, and Culver City is confirmed as the base for New Zealand’s Olympic delegation. The hospital has worked closely with the city’s fire and police departments to prepare for that kind of surge.
On the financial side, she is watching operating performance and productivity closely, though not as a standalone measure.
“I’ll be looking at it alongside quality, patient safety, patient experience and workforce engagement,” she said. “A healthy organization needs to perform financially while continuing to deliver excellent care and create an environment where people want to work.”
She is also focused on strengthening key clinical service lines, developing strategic partnerships and deepening community relationships.
“Growth for us isn’t simply about becoming bigger,” she said. “It’s about becoming more connected, more accessible and better positioned to meet the evolving healthcare needs of our community.”
The results of that people-first approach are already visible in staffing stability. The hospital’s perioperative services run at roughly 2% turnover, and the cath lab operates without travel nurses. Financial performance, in her view, follows from that investment.
Her advice to CNOs interested in the CEO path reflects the same logic.
“Believe in the things that you did as a CNO. They equate to the CEO role, even though it’s a little bit different. Focus on the quality, the clinical care. The financial stuff will come,” she said. “Let that be your guiding light. The money does follow.”
