Interim St. John’s leader named permanent CEO
About five months after the top executive of the St. John’s hospitals in Oxnard and Camarillo resigned, their owner, Dignity Health, has announced a familiar face as their new leader.
Barry Wolfman, who brings more than 30 years of hospital operations and health care management experience, has been appointed president and CEO of Dignity Health’s St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard and St. John’s Hospital in Camarillo, Dignity said Feb. 17.
Wolfman has been the interim president of those hospitals since Nov. 1, after former CEO Darren Lee resigned.
In Dignity’s news release, Wolfman said he is “excited for the opportunity to continue leading St. John’s hospitals” and “humbled by the opportunity to lead and create a vision for both hospitals that enhances the delivery of care in communities we serve, well into the future.”
Before his interim role at St. John’s, Wolfman was instrumental in elevating the George Washington University Hospital to operate more effectively in the competitive market of Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, according to Dignity.
Wolfman has worked in academic, for-profit, and faith-based nonprofit health systems. He has held regional senior executive roles for Kaiser Permanente and Tenet Healthcare, and served as CEO for Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.
Wolfman also has served as an international consultant with Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand, providing leadership development and exploration of two joint ventures for personalized genomic medicine.
Both St. John’s Regional Medical Center and St. John’s Hospital Camarillo are part of the Dignity Health Central Coast service area. The nonprofit chain also owns hospitals in Santa Maria, Arroyo Grande and San Luis Obispo.
