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PeaceHealth Leadership

Members of PeaceHealth’s Executive Leadership Team embrace a leadership model fully rooted in our Mission and Values and in our heritage as a Catholic health care ministry. This model guides our leaders in every aspect of their work and oversight responsibilities.  It challenges us to relentlessly pursue improvements in patient outcomes and service to patients and families while awakening joy, meaning and purpose in the human spirit.

 

Alan Yordy
President and Chief Mission Officer

Alan began his health care career in PeaceHealth's Oregon Region the early 1980s. He left in 1990 to join Samaritan Health Services in Oregon’s Linn and Benton Counties as CEO of Mid-Valley Healthcare. Alan returned to PeaceHealth in 1999 as Chief Executive Officer of the Oregon Region. He took on his current systemwide leadership role in 2005. Alan holds two master’s degrees from the University of Oregon, the most recent of which is a master’s in business administration. He is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

 

Peter Adler
Senior Vice President for Strategy, Innovation and Development

Peter has served as PeaceHealth's chief strategy officer since joining the health system in 2006. He is responsible for systemwide planning, growth and development. He also has operating oversight of PeaceHealth Laboratories, Medical Group Development and System Communications and serves as CEO of Health Ventures, the PeaceHealth subsidiary responsible joint ventures and partnerships. Previously he spent 25 years leading large, integrated health systems in Boston and Seattle. Peter has a master’s degree in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Elaine Dunda
Senior Vice President for Shared Services and Vice President of Quality and Patient Safety

Elaine joined PeaceHealth in 1975 as Director of Health Records, Medical Staff Services, Quality and Utilization Review at what was then Sacred Heart General Hospital in Eugene. She became an Assistant Administrator in 1982 and, in 1999, a Regional Vice President, where she served until being named to her current system-level position. Elaine has a master’s degree in healthcare administration from the University of Oregon. She is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

 

 

Stu Hennessey
General Counsel and Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs

Stu has served as PeaceHealth’s senior legal counsel since he joined the system in 1989. Previously he spent 11 years in a private law practice in Seattle following four years of service in the United States Navy. Stu received his JD degree from Columbia University Law School. He is a member of the Washington Bar Association.

 

 

Carol Aaron
Senior Vice President for Culture and People

Carol joined PeaceHealth in 2010.  Previously she was the Vice President of Labor and Employee Relations at the St. Joseph Health System in California, a Catholic-based system. Under her leadership, SJHS received the international Gallup Great Workplace Award three consecutive years for having highly engaged employees.  Carol has a master’s degree in Human Resources and Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco.  Carol expresses it was the strong mission and core values of PeaceHealth that led her to this position.

 

 

Josiah “Sy” Johnson
Lower Columbia Region Chief Executive Officer/Chief Mission Officer

Sy joined PeaceHealth in 2002 as its Chief Financial Officer. After five years, he was named the Chief Operating Officer, where he served until transitioning into his current role in 2008. Prior to joining PeaceHealth, Sy was with the Seattle office of Arthur Anderson in Audit and Business Advisory Services. He is a Certified Public Accountant and has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Rick Kincade, MD
Senior Vice President for Medical Group Practice Development

Rick joined PeaceHealth Medical Group in Eugene, Oregon, as a family practice physician in 1993. He soon took on medical group and regional leadership roles and was named to his current system-level executive position in 2009. Rick completed his medical education at the University of California at Davis. He is board-certified in family practice and continues to see patients at his practice in Eugene.

 

 

Nancy Steiger
Whatcom Region Chief Executive Officer/Chief Mission Officer

Nancy has led PeaceHealth’s operations in northwestern Washington since 2007. Previously she spent five years as CEO of San Mateo Medical Center following service as COO at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital/St. Joseph Health System, both in northern California. She received her master’s degree in nursing at the University of California, San Francisco. Nancy is the author of Self-Care Nursing: Theory and Practice.

Kevin Walstrom
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Kevin rejoined PeaceHealth in 2010 after previously working for the organization from 1987 through 2001. In 1998 he left to assume the CFO duties for Providence’s Holy Family Hospital and later grew to provide the financial management of Providence’s largest service area and its flagship hospital, Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital, in Spokane, Washington. His expertise and mission-driven financial leadership have helped to build two of the strongest faith-based regional health systems in our country.

 

Thomas (Tom) Reitinger
Oregon Region Chief Executive Officer/Chief Mission Officer

Tom, whose career has spanned more than 40 years of service, principally in Catholic health care systems, understands how important the mission and values are to patients and caregivers.

Tom’s career history recently includes: President and CEO of Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Ill., a 515-bed tertiary care hospital; President and CEO of Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa, a 650-bed acute care, not-for-profit Catholic hospital founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1893; President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Milwaukee, a not-for-profit Catholic Hospital sponsored by Wheaton Franciscan Services; and has served in numerous other interim CEO assignments within Catholic health care organizations.

Tom’s focus is on the future and on how best to position PeaceHealth Oregon Region to meet the challenges and changes on the horizon.

 


Joseph M. Kortum
President and Chief Executive Officer, Southwest Washington Health System

Mr. Kortum assumed his present position in January 2011, after affiliation with the PeaceHealth System. Previously, Mr. Kortum served as the President/Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Washington Medical Center beginning in May 2003. In addition, he served eleven years at Northern Arizona, including eight years as President and Chief Executive Officer of Northern Arizona Healthcare. Mr. Kortum also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Flagstaff Medical Center for three years, and Chief Operating Officer of Mercy Medical Center in Redding, California for six years. Mr. Kortum holds a Masters in Hospital and Healthcare Administration from St. Louis University, and a Bachelor of Arts, Psychology from St. Louis University. Mr. Kortum is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and a member of the governing boards of Washington State Hospital Association and Southwest Washington Hospital Council. He is also a past Chairman of the Arizona Hospital Association, and a past President United Way of Northern Arizona.