WakeMed sets leadership team as CEO search begins
A week after parting ways with longtime Chief Executive Officer Dr. Bill Atkinson, WakeMed said Wednesday that it plans to hire a search firm to identify an interim CEO while also conducting a nationwide search for a permanent successor.
Tom Gettinger, the hospital system's executive vice president and chief operating officer, will serve in a supervisory role during the search for an interim CEO, officials said. Former Duke Raleigh Hospital CEO Doug Vinsel, a former chief operating officer at WakeMed, has agreed to act as a consultant and to advise the interim CEO.
“Finding an exceptional CEO to lead WakeMed into the next generation is our top priority as we continue to navigate this era of health care reform,” WakeMed Chairman William McBride said in a statement.
The board also adopted its 2013-14 budget, projecting a "breakeven operating margin" and a net income of $19.1 million from operations and investments.
"We anticipate the next couple of years to be both challenging and filled with opportunities for health systems across North Carolina and the country, and WakeMed is no exception,” Mike DeVaughn, executive vice president and chief financial officer of the hospital system, said in a statement. "This budget ... will require all members of the WakeMed family to work together and maintain a keen focus on our priorities."
Atkinson, who led WakeMed for the last decade, left the system last Thursday, citing "differences in the future direction of the organization." Sources familiar with the board's decision to split with Atkinson said various factors played into its decision, including a federal investigation into fraudulent Medicaid billing practices, growing financial losses and the perception that he was unable to communicate and listen effectively.
