Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center Board Chair Allie Stickney today announced that the board will conduct an internally-focused search – across the UVM Health Network – for the next president of the UVM Medical Center, and has named a search committee to lead the process. UVMMC is the largest hospital in the Network. The Network includes Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin and Porter Medical Center in Middlebury, as well as three hospitals in upstate New York and the UVM Visiting Nurse Association.
“Our goal is to find the right leader to successfully guide our academic medical center and meet our mission of patient care, education and research,” Stickney said. “To achieve that goal, the board will conduct a rigorous process to fully consider and vet any individuals that come forward from across the Network. If at the end of this process we haven’t found the right candidate, we will move to a national search.”
National search firm Witt-Kieffer, which specializes in health care and has conducted many searches for the UVM Medical Center, has been retained to support the search.
Stephen Leffler, MD, has been serving in the role of interim president following the retirement last June of Eileen Whalen, MHA, RN. According to a spokesperson for the hospital, Dr Leffler is interested in the position.
Whalen, who was brought in from outside the network, had led the organization for four years. She made about $1 million in salary and benefits. The board has not set a salary for the new president, but has an established process for determining compensation for leadership and they will follow that process.
Stickney also announced the names of the 10-person search committee:
- Allie Stickney, Search Cmte Chair and UVMMC Board Chair
- Pat Donehower, RN, UVMMC Board Vice Chair
- Ira Bernstein, MD, UVMMC Physician Leader-Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Hal Colston, UVMMC Trustee; Vermont State Representative-Winooski; Winooski City Councilor
- Rosemary Dale, NP, UVMMC Trustee; Department Chair, College of Nursing & Health Sciences
- Kristen DeStigter, MD, UVMMC Physician Leader-Radiology
- Joseph Hagan, MD, UVMMC Trustee; Community Pediatrician
- Richard Page, MD, UVMMC Trustee; Dean, UVM Larner College of Medicine
- Aly Richards, UVMMC Trustee; CEO, Let’s Grow Kids
- Linda Tarr-Whelan, UVMMC Patient and Family Advisor
“I believe this committee offers the breadth and diversity of opinions and perspectives necessary to help us make a good decision. They were selected with an eye toward diversity, gender equity, nursing and physician representation, input from colleagues at UVM, community representation, and also patient and family input.” Stickney said. “To strengthen our sensitivity to diversity and inclusion in our process, we will include a trained, neutral observer who will observe our meetings and provide feedback to us about unconscious or unintentional bias.’”
Stickney expects the internal search process to conclude by the end of 2019. If a national search becomes necessary, it would extend that timeline.
About the University of Vermont Medical Center
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a 447-bed tertiary care regional referral center providing advanced care to approximately 1 million residents in Vermont and northern New York. Together with our partners at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, we are Vermont’s academic medical center. The University of Vermont Medical Center also serves as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.
The University of Vermont Medical Center is a member of The University of Vermont Health Network, an integrated system established to deliver high quality academic medicine to every community we serve. The Network includes:
- The University of Vermont Medical Center
- The University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group
- The University of Vermont Health Network – Alice Hyde Medical Center
- The University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center
- The University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital
- The University of Vermont Health Network – Elizabethtown Community Hospital
- The University of Vermont Health Network – Porter Medical Center
- The Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties
Source: BURLINGTON (VT) – The University of Vermont Medical Center. 10.22.2019. For more information visit www.UVMHealth.org/MedCenter