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.
Week of June 9
> Women's health provider Wisp appointed Jennifer Peña, M.D., as the company’s chief medical officer. Peña will have a crucial role in driving Wisp’s commitment to being the one-stop-shop for all women’s health needs, as the company continues to scale new and existing offerings, company executives said.
As CMO, Peña will spearhead Wisp’s clinical strategy, quality and safety programs, aligning telehealth operations with the company’s broader business goals. She will oversee clinical care delivery, ensuring regulatory compliance and high standards of patient care, while guiding product development and expanding protocols for new verticals.
She also will mentor and grow a multidisciplinary clinical team, establish KPIs to benchmark performance, and collaborate cross-functionally to integrate clinical insight into Wisp’s innovation and execution.
Peña has 20 years of clinical and leadership experience. As a board-certified internal medicine physician, she previously served as Medical Director for Oscar Health and Chief Medical Officer for Nurx, K Health, and Vault Health. Before that, she served as a U.S. Army physician and White House physician. She earned her MD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and her undergraduate degree from Yale University.
> Kindbody, a national fertility clinic network and global family-building benefits provider for employers, named David Stern as its new CEO to take the company into its next stage of growth.
Kindbody serves patients at 27 clinics and IVF labs, 400+ partner clinics, and in 113 countries around the world.
Stern brings to Kindbody more than three decades of experience in the fertility and women's healthcare industry. Prior to Kindbody, Stern served as Chief Executive Officer of Boston IVF for five years. He also served as CEO of Symbiomix Therapeutics. He also held senior executive roles at Merck Serono, where he served as Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Fertility Business Franchise, and at EMD Serono as Executive Vice President of Endocrinology within their biopharmaceutical division. His experience further includes strategic leadership at Celmatix, Ohana, and OvaScience.
Week of June 2
>Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) President and CEO Charles "Chip" Kahn III is retiring from the for-profit hospital lobbying group at the end of this year.
Kahn has served in FAH's top roles since 2001, and has been a mainstay in healthcare policy for almost 50 years.
He supported high-profile Republicans from the 1970s through the 1990s, initially as a campaign manager for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and later as health aide to Sens. Dan Quayle and David Durenberger, plus other roles supporting Republican health legislature.
Prior to his work representing hospitals, Kahn held various leadership posts at the Health Insurance Association of America (now America's Health Insurance Plans), including president, where he was best known for overseeing the influential "Harry and Louise" political advertising campaign during the Clinton administration. He's also led or participated in several private and public healthcare quality initiatives such as the National Quality Forum and the Hospital Quality Alliance.
FAH said it has tapped organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry to search for Kahn's successor. Kahn, in a statement, hinted that he won't be fully stepping away from the world of healthcare policy.
“What an honor to have an opportunity for a quarter century—and during a consequential period of health policy making—to be the play caller for this important hospital sector. Much has been accomplished,” Kahn said. “Now it is time for a career turn to work on policy from another vantage point. I look forward to engaging in efforts to foster health care affordability, coverage, and quality improvement.”
Week of May 26
>Wolters Kluwer has appointed Greg Samios as CEO of its Health Division, effective June 1. Samios has served as executive vice president of the health division’s two largest business units, Clinical Effectiveness and Health Learning, Research, and Practice. Samios led the introduction of generative AI into the company and has grown its clinical decision support and clinical drug information products, UpToDate and Medi-Span.
Samios succeeds Stacey Caywood as CEO of the Health Division. Caywood is now a member of the executive board of Wolters Kluwer, effective May 15.
Week of May 19
>CVS Health looked within to find a new leader for its Oak Street Health division.
The healthcare giant has tapped Creagh Milford to serve as the president of Oak Street. Milford previously held the title of president of retail health at the company, leading its MinuteClinic work and other retail health initiatives.
In a post on LinkedIn, Milford said that he will continue to serve as interim president of retail health in the immediacy. He said that he will have time this week to meet with more members of the Oak Street team to discuss the future of the division.
"I’m excited to start a new chapter at CVS Health as President of Oak Street Health, where I have the honor of developing and executing business strategy to further grow the organization," Milford wrote in the post. "As a practicing physician, I am passionate about providing consumer-centric primary care to patients — and Oak Street Health shares that passion, resulting in better experiences and outcomes for the older adults we serve."
Week of May 5
>Hims & Hers announced Nader Kabbani as the direct-to-consumer health and wellness brand's new chief operations officer.
Kabbani comes by way of Amazon, where a nearly 20-year stint placed him in charge of PillPack's acquisition, the launch of Amazon Pharmacy and the company's global COVID-19 Vaccinations Task Force. He is expected to help Hims & Hers scale its operations globally.
>The American Telemedicine Association named Nathaniel Lacktman as the new chair of its board of directors. Lacktman is a partner at law firm Foley & Lardner and chairs its telemedicine and digital health industry team.
>Children's Minnesota has named Aimee Szewajs, M.D. as clinical vice president of specialty pediatrics. She takes over amid the planned retirement of Susan Sencer, M.D., from the same role.
Week of April 28
>SCAN Group has tapped several new leaders it says will play key roles in driving its clinical and digital innovation strategies forward.
Joe Kimura, M.D., will step into the role of chief medical officer for SCAN. Kimura brings key experience in population health, digital platforms and evidence-based medicine to the role, and previously served as CMO at Somatus and Atrius Health.
At SCAN, he will be tasked with leading the charge around new care models and ensuring its members have access to high-quality and high-value care.
The not-for-profit company also announced Vinay Kulkarni as its new chief information officer. He will lead the team's push into automation, cloud enablement and other IT operations. Before coming to SCAN, he held digital health leadership roles at Elevance Health, CareMore Health and Heritage Provider Network.
And finally, Zachary Myers will become national general manager, playing a lead role in managing the growth and performance of SCAN's Medicare Advantage plans. Within SCAN, he previously served as vice president of strategy and CEO of Welcome Health.
"As SCAN continues to push the boundaries of our clinical work and expands its footprint across the country to support the health and independence of our members, I am incredibly proud of the talent and vision of our leaders," said Sachin Jain, M.D., CEO of SCAN Group, in the announcement. "Their vision enables SCAN to set the standard in Medicare Advantage and transform the way we care for older adults."
Week of April 21
>UNC Health CEO and UNC School of Medicine Dean Wesley Burks, M.D., will be stepping away from his roles at the university on Sept. 1.
Burks has held those positions since late 2018, and before them had served as the School of Medicine's executive dean and chair of the Department of Pediatrics. He was also the physician-in-chief of UNC Children's Hospital.
Burks chose to step down to spend more time with his family and care for a family member's "increasing health needs," according to the announcement. He also plans to give more attention to the development of North Carolina Children's, a new nonprofit system announced earlier this year by UNC Health and Duke Health that will include North Carolina's first freestanding pediatric hospital.
The academic system's announcement pointed to his work guiding UNC Health through the addition of multiple hospitals, network providers and partnerships during his tenure. Burks' CV also includes clinical studies on food allergies.
Cristy Page, M.D., president of UNC Health Enterprises and the university's chief academic officer, will be serving as interim CEO and dean as the organization searches for Burks' successor.
>Veradigm, a healthcare data and tech company formerly known as Allscripts, will be losing Tom Langan, interim CEO, president and chief commercial officer, on July 31, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission 8-K filing.
The company's separation agreement with Langan will see him receive a full year's base salary, $1.4 million, plus his $406,000 target annual bonus and other benefits related to healthcare coverage and stock.
Langan has been with Veradigm since late 2018 but took up the interim CEO role on June 7, 2024 from another interim head, Shih-Yin Ho, M.D., who herself had stepped up after the company's board urged its prior leadership to resign amid auditing investigations.
The filing did not outline why Langan is leaving, but noted that he declined an invitation from the board to participate as a candidate in the ongoing search for a permanent CEO.
>Morgan Cheatham, M.D., has been tapped as a new Partner and Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Breyer Capital. Cheatham will work to invest in early stage healthcare companies including incubation and pre-seed through Series B investments.
He formerly worked at Bessemer Venture Partners, where he held a vice president role and was the youngest member of the Board of Directors. At Bessemer, Cheatham helped make early investments in health tech companies Abridge and Hinge Health, now multi-billion dollar companies.
When asked about his investing thesis, Cheatham said that he's keeping a close watch on companies that leverage innovative payment models.
“We feel like we're at this moment in healthcare and life sciences, where the science and the AI and the technological transformation is no longer the bottleneck," Cheatham said. "The bottleneck is the business model. It's the payment model, it's the economic model that underlies it. So that's a key area of focus for us as we think about making new investments.”
At Breyer Capital, Cheatham will oversee existing heathcare portfolio companies, Artera AI, Arena Bioworx, Open Evidence and Atropos Health, among others. He is also the first member of the firm that is not a part of the Breyer family. Founder Jim Breyer was the first investor in Facebook (Meta) and has been a part of more than 40 exits, including Spotify, Etsy, Marvel Entertainment, Legendary Pictures, and more.
Cheatham is also interested in pairing unmet clinical needs with the right modality to address the problem.
“Where are the unmet clinical needs, and how do we marry the right modality for that problem, whether it's a therapeutic, diagnostic software or a service or some amalgamation of those different tools that we have?” Cheatham said. “So we're really going on championing this notion of problem-specific, modality-agnostic investing.”
Cheatham said he’s interested in investing in what he calls “AI-first” companies, which often have AI researchers and scientists in house. He said companies that are building their own technology from scratch are constantly trying to push the state of the art and have a higher ceiling than companies that deploy others’ technology.
Week of April 14
>Insurtech Alignment Healthcare has accepted the resignation of Hakan Kardes, the company's chief experience officer, an 8-K filing shows. He will remain at the company through May 16, where he will then "pursue other professional opportunities."
He will be replaced by Aly Duzich, an internal promotion who previously served as senior vice president of clinical operations and population health. Before Alignment, Duzich spent six years at CareMore Health Plan, now known as Carelon Health, and seven years at SCAN Health Plan.
Alignment also named Arta Bakshandeh, M.D., as president of AVA, the company's Medicare Advantage platform. Bakshandeh was chief medical informatics officer since 2018.
>Crozer Health CEO Tony Esposito will be stepping down from his role at the end of the week, the Philadelphia Inquirer first reported citing an internal email sent Monday evening.
The Pennsylvania health system has been on the brink of closure for months amid parent company Prospect Medical Holdings' bankruptcy proceedings. Esposito has been with Crozer for over five years, and stepped into the CEO role in 2022. Taking over on an interim basis will be Greg Williams, president of Prospect's East Coast operations.
>Mayo Clinic has hired on Micky Tripathi, formerly the assistant secretary for technology policy and the national coordinator for health information technology under the Biden administration, as its new chief AI implementation officer, a representative of the system confirmed.
Tripathi is expected to begin next month, and will reportedly develop oversight and monitoring policies for the nonprofit as it applies AI across its organization. The task is in line with his accomplishments as a government official, where he helped develop an agenda for regulating AI development, training and use in healthcare.
>Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company has named Erin Albert chief of pharmacy relations, network and privacy, according to a post on LinkedIn. Albert has been with the company since 2022 and previously served as a vice president.
Week of April 7
>Northern Light Health President and CEO Timothy Dentry announced plans to retire later this year.
He held the 10-hospital system's top role for the past five years, having come to the organization as chief operating officer in 2016. That time saw him at the helm during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent years' financial crunch. Northern Light Health's announcement also highlighted talent development initiatives and campus investments launched under his watch.
The announcement did not include a concrete date for Dentry's retirement. The Maine-based system said it is working with a national recruiting firm to select his successor.
Week of March 31
>AdventHealth has unveiled David Banks as its new president and CEO, effective immediately.
Banks has been with the 55-hospital health system for more than 30 years, and steps into the top spot from a role as CEO for its Primary Health Division and the Multi-State Division—in which he oversaw 22 campuses spanning eight states and three regional partnerships. He's also been the system's chief strategy officer for the past eight years.
The executive is taking over for Terry Shaw, who announced plans to retire after a 40-year stint with the health system. He will "continue to play an active role on the AdventHealth Board," the organization said at the time.
>NYU Langone Health has tapped Alec Kimmelman, M.D., as its next CEO and dean of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
He has been serving as director of the organization's Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center since 2023, but has been with NYU Langone since 2016. Medical research takes up a large portion of his resume, with Kimmelman having published over 100 articles related to oncology, some of which have laid the groundwork for pancreatic cancer clinical trials.
The appointment takes effect Sept. 1 following the retirement of Robert Grossman, M.D., who headed the system for 18 years and had announced plans to retire last year. Grossman will take on a new role as executive vice president to the Board of Trustees.
>Ardent Health, a 30-hospital public, for-profit health system, has appointed Dave Caspers as chief operating officer. Caspers previously served as vice president of omnichannel operations at Walmart Health, had various leadership roles at Banner Health, and at one point led retail healthcare operations at Target.
Ardent also included in that announcement three promotions: Anika Gardenhire to chief digital and transformation officer, Rebecca Kirkham to senior vice president and chief communications and corporate affairs officer, and Reed Smith as senior vice president and chief consumer officer.
>GuideWell and insurer Florida Blue announced CEO Pet Geraghty will be stepping down at the end of the year. He held the role since 2011.
Week of March 24
>Providence Clinical Network (PCN), part of the Providence family of organizations, announced the appointment of Sam Bajaj as the new chief operating officer, effective March 31, 2025.
Bajaj brings over 17 years of extensive healthcare leadership experience across diverse care settings to PCN. "His strategic vision and operational excellence are poised to drive efficiency and innovation within our ambulatory care services, benefitting our patients, physicians, APPs, and caregivers alike," the organization said.
Most recently, Bajaj served as the COO of Optum California, where he managed a $7 billion P&L and held accountability for financial performance, growth, access, care quality, and patient experience. While at Optum, key areas of impact included teammate engagement and the integration of operations across six legacy care delivery organizations. Bajaj’s experience also includes significant leadership roles at Kaiser Permanente, where he oversaw hospital and health plan operations in the San Jose area, and his early career as a federal prosecutor at the United States Federal Trade Commission.
Week of March 17
> Cone Health, a nonprofit health system with four acute care hospitals and over 13,000 employees that's now part of Kaiser Permanente's Risant Health, announced President and CEO Mary Jo Cagle, M.D., will be departing the role "due to a serious family health matter," effective May 31.
Cagle was the system's first woman and first physician CEO, having been named to the role in 2021. Prior to that she held roles as chief operating officer and chief clinical officer with the organization.
Cone Health's announcement of Cagle's decision credited the physician-executive with prioritizing value-based care and navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It has been a joy and privilege to lead this system. I’m incredibly proud of all we’ve accomplished to increase access to care, enhance patient safety and care quality,” Cagle said in the announcement. “The future is bright as Cone Health leverages new approaches, capabilities and data to make proactive wellness care affordable and accessible for all.”
While a nationwide search for Cagle's permanent replacement has been launched, Bernard Sherry will be serving as interim CEO starting June 1.
Sherry has been acting as the system's interim chief operating officer since December, with Cone Health noting that a permanent chief operating officer "is expected to be named in the weeks ahead." He has more than 30 years in senior leadership roles at community-based and multi-hospital systems, and most recently served as CEO and Ministry Market Executive for Ascension Wisconsin.
> Manatt Health, the legal and consulting healthcare group of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, continues to add heavyweight talent to its team. Mandy Cohen, M.D., former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Vin Gupta, M.D., former Chief Medical Officer at Amazon Health, has joined the group. Cohen will serve as National Advisor and Gupta is serving as Managing Director.
Manatt said the addition of Cohen and Gupta will fortify the firm’s consulting and legal offerings for clients across state government, life sciences, digital health, health systems and health purchasers. The new hires also will grow Manatt’s capabilities in public health and strategic communication.
Cohen, also a former Secretary of Health and Human Services for North Carolina, brings her extensive government and health sector leadership experience to Manatt. "I want to continue affecting positive change and use everything I’ve learned over the course of my career to help make our world a healthier, safer place, especially as our clients navigate the new frontier of AI and changes at the federal and state levels,” she said in a statement.
Gupta, a public health leader and technologist who serves as a medical analyst for NBC News, will lead a diverse portfolio across health innovation at Manatt. “The collaboration, entrepreneurial spirit and focus on scaled impact made Manatt an ideal fit,” he said.
“Organizations across the spectrum of health are facing unprecedented challenges, which afford new opportunities for real change, whether it is in medical education, hospital-at-home or public health communications. The Manatt team is world class, and I am thrilled to get to work on helping to solve some of the country’s biggest problems in health care.”
> Foodsmart, a nutrition telehealth company, appointed Kurt Knight to the role of Chief Executive Officer. Previously Amwell’s COO, Knight built the company’s national provider group, managed all aspects of clinical operations and client delivery, and helped drive innovative partnerships with government, health systems, and national payers. He was instrumental in the acquisition and integration of four digital health companies, significantly strengthening the company's market position and expanding access to virtual care.
Knight will lead the company’s next phase of growth and his experience scaling Amwell’s digital health platform to serve millions of patients and over 100,000 providers will be key as Foodsmart grows its foodcare service, the company said.
Founder Jason Langheier, M.D. is transitioning to Chief Science Officer. "Through his thoughtfulness, sustained work ethic, and team-based approach, Kurt has been one of the key people that has fundamentally enabled the virtual care industry at scale. We are lucky to have a values-driven leader like Kurt – with a background in nutrition, and a shared vision for foodcare – bring his deep experience to our next phase of growth and impact,” Langheier said.
>Providence announced the appointment of Cherodeep (Chero) Goswami, as chief information officer. He will be starting his role on May 12.
>Qventus announced its appointment of Jeff Evans, former CEO and President of CAE Healthcare, as its Chief Commercial Officer following its $105 million Series D funding round in January, led by KKR .
> Culina Health, a virtual nutrition care company that partners with major insurers and Medicare to serve patients in all 50 states, will announce its appointment of Jane Mentz as Chief Operating Officer — marking a key milestone as the company’s first C-suite hire since its inception.
>TailorCare, a leader in specialty value-based care solutions, has appointed Steve Tutewohl as Chief Operating Officer.
>Neil Meltzer, president and CEO of LifeBridge Health, has announced his plan to retire following more than 12 years at the helm of one of Maryland’s leading health systems and more than 37 years of dedicated service to the organization. The LifeBridge Health Board of Directors is launching a national search for Meltzer’s successor to ensure a smooth leadership transition.
Week of March 10
> WellSpan Health promoted Patricia Donley, RN, DNP to the role of WellSpan senior vice president and chief nursing executive for the health system. In this role, Donley will oversee the integration of new models of nursing care and work to strengthen nursing innovation and research across the system, guiding key nursing initiatives to achieve sustainable advancements.
Donley has been a part of WellSpan for more than three decades, starting as a candy striper volunteer assisting nurses at WellSpan Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon. Over the years she rose through the ranks to most recently serving as hospital president, and system vice president. Prior to that, she served as vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer for the hospital.
Week of March 3
> AdhereHealth, a company that works to improve medication adherence and value-based care solutions, restructured its C-suite. Kempton Presley has taken over as CEO. Patrick McNulty was appointed president and chief operating officer, and Chandra Osborn, Ph.D., was tapped as chief experience officer.
> Virtual applied behavioral analysis therapy provider AnswersNow has hired four industry leaders. Kristen Peterson will be vice president of clinical care delivery; Mason Davis will become senior vice president of K-12 partnerships; Tracey Sheahan is now head of revenue cycle management; and Wayne Li is vice president of care operations.
> Factor 7 Medical, a medtech commercialization advisory firm, has tapped five new hires: Justin Rowland as managing partner of sales and marketing; Brogan McGuire as managing partner of product development; Matt Otten as partner of regulatory and quality; Kim Frazier as partner of capital formation; and Michael Cooper as partner of product management and operations.
> Aaron Timm has been tapped as CEO of Openwater, the open-source medtech company delivering portable diagnostic and therapeutic devices at a fraction of typical costs.
> Healthcare cloud-based software company Inovalon has welcomed Adam Kansler as its new CEO.
> Wells Fargo Healthcare Banking announced it has promoted John Teasley to the newly created role of middle market segment market executive.