Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) has hired Brian C. Lent to direct the health system’s project to repurpose the former Southern Vermont College (SVC) campus. “Brian was selected for his long experience managing complex projects,” said Thomas A. Dee, FACHE, SVHC’s president and CEO. “We feel he has the skills and background necessary to drive our efforts with this large and exciting effort and to fulfill our aim to restore the campus as a valuable community asset.”
SVHC was awarded the former college campus through a bankruptcy auction in December. The leadership of the health system, through the direction of its Board of Directors, has expressed its commitment to developing a long-range plan to maximize the use of the campus, including considerations as to how the property could enhance community and health-related services for the southern Vermont region.
Lent has 34 years of management experience. Most recently, he worked as vice president and general manager of Dailey Precast, LLC/Peckham Industries, Inc. in Shaftsbury, VT. Within this role, he was responsible for all plant and field operations, sales, estimating, engineering, quality, procurement, safety, and human resources.
“Brian is a long-time member of the community and already has connections with many of the people he will be cooperating with,” said Dee. “These relationships and his familiarity with the regulatory environment give him a head start on this important work.”
Notably, Lent earned his bachelor’s of science in Business Management and an associate’s degree in accounting from Southern Vermont College. He also graduated from the General Motors Assembly Division Supervisor Training Program.
“This is an exciting opportunity for me,” Lent said. “The work will require me to use my management experience in an entirely new way. Of course, from a personal perspective as a long-time member of the community, I am eager to see the campus put to good use.”
Lent will begin working with local stakeholders, including the Town of Bennington, to explore opportunities and develop strategies for the former college campus and associated assets.
About SVHC:
Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) is a comprehensive, preeminent, health care system providing exceptional, convenient, and affordable care to the communities of Bennington and Windham Counties of Vermont, eastern Rensselaer and Washington Counties of New York, and northern Berkshire County in Massachusetts. SVHC includes Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center, the Centers for Living and Rehabilitation, and the SVHC Foundation. SVMC includes 25 primary and specialty care practices.
SVMC has earned several prominent distinctions. Most recently, SVMC received the American Hospital Association’s Rural Healthcare Leadership Award for transformational change in efforts toward healthcare reform and its fifth consecutive designation within the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program®. It ranked fourth in the nation for healthcare value by the Lown Institute Hospitals Index in 2020 and is one of Vermont’s Best Places to Work. SVMC earned an ‘A’ for hospital safety from the Leapfrog Group for two years in a row. During the pandemic, SVMC and both its skilled nursing facilities, the Centers for Living and Rehabilitation in Bennington, and the Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation at Hoosick Falls, earned perfect scores on a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services evaluation meant to determine the ability to prevent transmission of COVID-19 and other infections.
Southwestern Vermont Medical Center provides exceptional care without discriminating on the basis of an individual’s age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression. Language assistance services, free of charge, are available at 1-800-367-9559.