Three key Columbus Regional executives take promotions elsewhere

Three key Columbus Regional Health executives have recently resigned to accept promotions with other hospital organizations.

Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel L.M. “Tripp” Layfield III, Director of Corporate Finance Meredith Bass and Executive Vice President and President of Northside Medical Center Stan Hickson have all submitted resignations to President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Hill.

It is “with a heavy heart, I have accepted the resignations,” Hill said in a memo to the organization’s nearly 3,000 employees.

Layfield, who has the deepest ties to Columbus of the three, has accepted a job with Renown Health, a $1.2 billion health-care system based in Reno, Nevada, where he will be executive vice president and legal counsel.

Bass, who has been with Columbus Regional for six years serving in various jobs in the finance and accounting departments, will be going to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in her hometown of Marietta, where she will be vice president of hospital financial operations.

Hickson, who joined the Columbus Regional leadership team in January 2015, will be going to Mountain States Health Alliance in Johnson City, Tenn., where he will be CEO of the Northeast Market that includes Johnston Memorial Hospital, Russel County, and Smith County Hospitals in Virginia.

The departures come as the Columbus Regional Board of Directors has made a decision to explore potential alignments or partnerships with other health-care companies. The timing is coincidental, Hill said.

“The fact that all three of these executives had probably been involved in their job searches for months,” Hill said. “...The more successful you are, the more valuable your people are. I am not surprised that all three of these individuals have been recruited by other organizations because they all three are very talented. ... I love them all and wish they would stay, but frankly, they got great opportunities.”

Layfield has been with Columbus Regional for 14 years and said the decision for he and his wife, Kara, to leave Columbus was extremely difficult.

“The opportunity that has been given to me is an amazing opportunity,” Layfield said. “It’s a career-altering move. And it was an agonizing decision. The decision of Reno was a no-brainer because it is a bigger version of Columbus Regional. The downside is I have to leave home.”

Columbus Regional announced late Wednesday the following promotions:

▪  Ryan Chandler has been promoted to lead Columbus Regional’s Hospital Operations division. In his new role, he will oversee the operations of both Midtown Medical Center and Northside Medical Center.

▪  Laura Drew has been promoted from senior vice president of Quality and Clinical Transformation to be the senior vice president of Operations and Quality.

▪  Doug Colburn has been promoted from vice president of Operations at Midtown Medical Center to senior vice president of Operations for Midtown and Columbus Regional.

▪  Cary Burcham has been promoted from vice president and chief nursing officer of Northside to senior vice president and chief nursing officer for Columbus Regional Health’s nursing services.

▪  Holly Lehmberg has been promoted from interim chief nursing officer at Midtown Medical Center to the Assistant chief nursing officer at Midtown.

▪  Allen Holladay has been promoted from director of decision support services to vice president of finance for Columbus Regional.

This story was originally published May 5, 2016 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Three key Columbus Regional executives take promotions elsewhere."