Wake Forest Baptist Begins CEO Search

November 2, 2007

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has launched its search for a chief executive officer for the Medical Center.
A 10-member committee has been formed to conduct the search, brought about by the decision to restructure the Medical Center, the largest employer in the Piedmont Triad with more than 11,000 employees. An integrated organizational structure was announced in March with one CEO for the entire Medical Center.

The search committee is chaired by Steve Robertson of Mocksville, chairman of the board of trustees of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, and Don Flow of Winston-Salem, a director of Wake Forest University Health Sciences.
The committee is composed of members of the governing boards, medical faculty and hospital employees. Murray Greason of Winston-Salem, Graham Denton of Charlotte, Roger Cothran of Cornelius, and Bill Warden of Wilkesboro are from the governing boards. Lori Brown, the administrator of Brenner Children’s Hospital and Ron Small, vice president for quality outcomes are from Baptist Hospital. Anthony Atala, M.D., chair of the Department of Urology, and Patricia Adams, M.D., chief of professional services, represent the medical faculty.
Two advisory committees have been formed to give input and insight to the selection progress. Members are physicians and hospital administrators.
“We are confident that with this process in place, there will be opportunity for input from all constituencies within the Medical Center,” said Robertson. “The result will be an extraordinary leader who will take the organization to a higher level of greatness,” Flow added.
The committee has hired Spencer Stuart, one of the world’s leading executive search consulting firms, to assist in the search. Spencer Stuart operates 51 offices in 27 countries and conducted nearly 5,000 assignments last year.
The committee is impressed with the experience that Spencer Stuart has in the health care field, said Robertson and Flow. The firm has handled more than 400 senior-level executive and board director searches in the health care field in the past three years.
Under the reorganization, a single overarching Medical Center governing body has the responsibility and authority to develop a unified vision and joint strategy and implement a coordinated plan. “The new structure will prepare the Medical Center for a distinguished future in a changing health care environment,” said Robertson, who also is chairman of the board of directors of the Medical Center.
N.C. Baptist Hospital and WFU Health Sciences will remain separate organizations, and there will be no change in names or transfers of assets. The overall organization will continue to be referred to as Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

# # #
Media Contacts: Mark Wright, mwright@wfubmc.edu, at (336) 716-3382, and Bonnie Davis, bdavis@wfubmc.edu, (336) 716-4587.

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university’s School of Medicine. The system comprises 1,154 acute care, psychiatric, rehabilitation and long-term care beds and is consistently ranked as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report.


Media Relations