Tenet Healthcare President and Chief Operating Officer Saum Sutaria has been appointed the hospital chain’s CEO starting Sept. 1, with current CEO Ron Rittenmeyer serving as executive chairman of the company and board through next year.
Sutaria joined Tenet in January 2019 as its COO and previously worked at consulting firm McKinsey & Company for 18 years. He was promoted to president last year.
Rittenmeyer said in a statement that Sutaria’s appointment was part of a succession plan he had developed.
“During the past several years, Saum and I have worked closely together through extraordinary times including COVID, and at each step, he has continued to demonstrate excellent leadership in framing the right strategic and tactical pathway,” Rittenmeyer said in a statement. “He has long been a leader in healthcare, and he also knows Tenet extremely well after nearly three years in top management roles.”
Rittenmeyer served as a director on Tenet’s board since 2010 and was the previous president and CEO of IT services company Electronic Data Systems. He was appointed in 2017 after former CEO Trevor Fetter stepped down.
The transition comes a few weeks after Tenet posted $120 million in net income for the second quarter, a 36% increase over the same period in 2020.
Rittenmeyer said last month that its higher acuity work focused on general surgery and other specialties has “been steadily progressing in key markets across the country.”