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.
Privia Health
Parth Mehrotra has been promoted to chief executive officer of physician enablement company Privia Health.
Mehrotra most recently held the positions of president and chief operating officer. He will be filling the shoes of current CEO Shawn Morris, who is retiring and will remain on the company’s board of directors. Since Morris stepped into the role in 2018, the company has gone public, expanded its reach to eight new states and increased implemented provider partners by over 125% to more than 3,600 providers.
Mehrotra stepped into the COO position also in 2018. Before joining Privia, he held the same position at Privia’s former parent company Brighton Health Group. Previously, Mehrotra was a senior financial officer at athenahealth and served as a member of the healthcare investment banking group at Goldman Sachs.
Privia recently announced that the company turned a profit in the fourth quarter of 2022. The Arlington, Virginia-based company expects robust growth for the remainder of the year while it grows geographically. Mehrotra will step into the new role July 1.
Froedtert Health and ThedaCare
Froedtert Health and ThedaCare announced plans to merge as one organization. If the merger is completed as planned, Froedtert Health President and CEO Cathy Jacobson will first assume the role of CEO while ThedaCare President and CEO Imran Andrabi, M.D., will serve as president.
Following a six-month transition period, Jacobson will retire from the organization and Andrabi will take the role of president and CEO of the combined organization.
Other leadership shifts will include Thomas Arquilla’s move from ThedaCare’s chief strategy officer to chief growth officer of the combined organization. Scott Hawig will step into the role of chief financial officer. David Olson will take the job of chief business development officer. Ian Schwartz will serve as chief clinical officer. Mark Thompson will take the job of chief transformation investment officer.
The entire executive leadership roster will be named prior to the final merger agreement.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Kelly Johnson has been named chief nursing officer of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles following a national search to fill the role.
Johnson comes to the position after four decades of nursing and nurse leadership including filling the role of CNO at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and University of California Benioff Children’s Hospitals in Oakland and San Francisco. She will respond to changing trends in healthcare as nurses report higher-than-ever burnout and hospitals face retention challenges.
Most recently, Johnson worked as CNO of Queens Medical Center and chief nurse executive at Queens Health System in Honolulu while launching a healthcare leadership consulting and coaching group and serving as the director of administration, operations and community relationships for a statewide healthy child initiative spearheaded by the Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the Hawaii Department of Education. Johnson has led five successful Magnet accreditations, including two first-time designations and three redesignations.
Johnson succeeds Nancy Lee in the position. Lee retired as chief clinical officer and CNO. Johnson will step into the role April 17.
COTA
Sandy Leonard was welcomed by oncology data and analytics company COTA as its first chief commercial officer.
As CCO, Leonard will design growth strategies and improve customer success and experience. She was previously the senior vice president of partnership and real-world data at HealthVerity where she was responsible for establishing strategic partnerships, increasing government engagement and expanding the company’s workforce.
Leonard previously held the position of vice president of medical evidence and observational research at AstraZeneca. At the pharma giant, she led a team of scientists and study delivery professionals that touched the entire company’s portfolio.
COTA recently announced new offerings and strategic partnerships with companies like Genomic Testing Cooperative and the Clinical Research Data Sharing Alliance.
> Inspira Health named Elizabeth Ryan as chair of its board of trustees. She is the first woman to hold the position.
> PointClickCare strengthened its senior leadership team with the appointment of Brian Drozdowicz as general manager of acute and payer markets of the health tech company.
> OncoHealth, a leading digital health company focused on oncology, has appointed Wes Staggs as chief commercial officer.
> Zelis has named Sue Schick as president and chief revenue officer of the healthcare finance company.
> Gillette Children’s has named orthopedic surgeon and Medical Director of Integrated Care Services Tom Novacheck, M.D., as the chair of its Cerebral Palsy Institute.
> Firefly Health announced the launch of its advisory council, comprising Brian Marcotte, Ron Fontanetta, Matt Manders, Manny Menendez, Marcus Osborne, Erik Sossa and Karyn Polito.
> City of Hope appointed John Carpten as director of the National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, director of Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope and chief scientific officer.
> Henry Ford Health named Jonathan Braman as the new department chair and medical director of the orthopedic service line.
> Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia tapped Monica Schmude for president.
> AmeriHealth Caritas unveiled Kathleen Giblin as senior vice president for clinical operations.
> SelectHealth, the nonprofit insurance arm of Intermountain Health, named Curt Howell as president of its Colorado market.
> Greenway Health asked Don Kleoppel to join as chief information and security officer for the health IT provider.
> Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital in Baltimore named Scott Klein its next president and chief executive officer.
> Yale Health hired Jason Fish as its next chief executive officer.
> Lifespan announced that Saul Weingart, M.D., Ph.D., president of Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children's Hospital, has left the company.