Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please submit the good news—or the bad—from your shop, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Anna Newsom was named this week as the next executive vice president and chief legal officer of Providence, reporting directly to CEO and President Rod Hochman, M.D.
She comes by way of The Travelers Companies, where she most recently served as group general counsel and led more than 1,000 legal professionals across dozens of offices. Having been with the company since 2013, she also held roles as vice president with its strategic resolution group and second vice president with enterprise major case and international claim.
Providence said Newsom is experienced in building business partnerships between legal teams on their clients and has experience in delivering productivity, efficiency and engagement during organizational transformations.
In a statement, Newsom said she hopes to use her legal expertise “to advocate for the fundamental right to healthcare and to champion health equity” at the 52-hospital Catholic health system.
Newsom will start with Providence in April.
Max Buetow has been tapped as the next president and CEO of CoxHealth, effective in June.
Currently an executive vice president and chief operating officer, Buetow has been with the Missouri system for about a decade.
He leads and coordinates operations at CoxHealth’s six hospitals and recently spearheaded the development of “super clinics,” the system’s single-location facilities that house several areas of care.
However, he spent much of his time with the company in leadership positions at Cox Medical Group and, prior to that, in director roles at its neurological clinics.
Buetow will be taking over for Steve Edwards, who late last year announced plans to retire on May 31, 2022. Edwards has been with CoxHealth since 1992 and was named president and CEO in 2012.
The announcement follows a four-month national search that ultimately led the six-hospital system’s board to unanimously hire from within.
Melanie Eidson has joined Color, a health technology company focused on genetic testing, counseling, healthcare access and other preventive care services, as its new chief marketing officer.
Eidson joins the well-funded startup after a decade building products and leading marketing teams at Amazon. Of note, she was responsible for building the Amazon Student Brand Ambassador program and Amazon Web Services’ industry vertical marketing and strategic accounts marketing teams.
In a Q&A blog post, Eidson said she joined Color to play a role in its recent work scaling healthcare access to large, underserved populations. She also said she has experience building marketing programs that supported AWS’ enterprise healthcare customers Cerner, Philips and Moderna, and is no stranger to moving fast in rapidly growing companies.
Brett Tande has gotten the nod as corporate senior vice president and chief financial officer at Scripps Health. He stepped into the new role March 28.
Tande steps into the organization from six years at Santa Barbara, California-based Cottage Health, where he served as senior vice president and chief financial officer.
He preceded that with finance positions at Northwestern Medicine and Cadence Health as well as an executive director role at Morgan Stanley.
The new gig places Tande in charge of financial planning and financial operations at the San Diego nonprofit. He’s stepping in for Richard Rothberger, who is set to retire May 6 after 20 years at the system.
> Ascension Health promoted Sally Hurt-Deitch to the new role of executive vice president of nursing and operations infrastructure and Tom VanOsdol to executive vice president and chief mission integration officer. Hurt-Deitch and VanOsdol are replacing Karen Springer and Timm Glover, respectively.
> Integris Health selected Brent Hubbard as its new chief operating officer, effective May 2.
> Strive Health, a value-based kidney care company, brought on Ted Shannon to serve as chief financial officer.
> Catholic Health named Michael Mainiero as senior vice president and chief digital and information officer.
> BrainCheck, maker of a cognitive assessment and care management platform, appointed Trey Swain as chief financial officer and Matthew Cerullo as chief revenue officer.
> Cone Health and Triad HealthCare Network named Catharine Fortney vice president and chief compliance and privacy officer.
> Maven Clinic, a women’s and family health virtual clinic, tapped Dawn Godbolt as its new director of health equity.
> Meritus Health’s Meritus Medical Center named Carrie Adams its new chief operating officer.
> Everly Health, a digital and home diagnostics company, unveiled Liz Kwo, M.D., as its new chief medical officer.
> University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center will see Stathis Antoniades step in as president, effective May 16.
> Centivo, a self-funded health plan, announced Marc Backon to the new role of chief operating officer.
> VCU Health System tapped Michael Elliott as chief operating officer.
> Goodroot, a holder of several healthcare companies, named Steve Palma president of medical cost solutions, Sal Grausso as president of pharmacy cost solutions and Markus Waite as chief information officer. Penstock, its subsidiary focused on healthcare payment integrity and reimbursement, also promoted Chief Operating Officer Laura Collier to the new position of president.
> UnityPoint Health announced D’Andre Carpenter as its next chief nursing officer, effective May 9.
> LetsGetChecked, a direct-to-consumer diagnostic testing virtual care platform, named Nigel Clerkin as chief financial officer.
> Memorial Hermann Health tapped Toi Harris, M.D., as senior vice president and chief equity, diversity and inclusion officer.
> Novant Health Enterprises, a newly launched independent business entity, announced Novant Health Executive Vice President Dean Swindle as president of the new division. Angela Yochem, the system’s executive vice president and chief transformation and digital officer, will also lead the new unit as chief operating officer and general manager.
> Russell County Hospital, in Kentucky, announced Scott Thompson as its new CEO, effective May 1.
> Dina, a digital at-home care platform, added the role of president to Chief Operations Officer Tim Coulter’s responsibilities.
> Privia Health Group added Nancy Cocozza, formerly a senior vice president and Medicare business leader at Aetna, to its board of directors and audit committee.