Jan. 16, 2008 Jacksonville, FL – St. Vincent's HealthCare has promoted five of its senior leaders to new positions. Karen Darnell, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, is now the health system's Chief Nursing Officer. Michele Hilliard, Director of Physician Relations and Recruitment, is now Vice President for Physician and Business Development. Bill Mayher, Corporate Responsibility Officer, is now Vice President for Corporate Compliance. David Meyer, Director of Business Development, is now Vice President for Strategic Planning. In addition, Ascension Health promoted Ann Carey, Director of Information Systems at St. Vincent's to Chief Information Officer and Vice President within St. Vincent's HealthCare. By agreement, Ascension Health provides Information Services to St. Vincent's HealthCare.

"We're becoming a true hospital system," says Scott Whalen, Ph.D., CEO of St. Vincent's HealthCare. "These changes to our senior management structure will help us more efficiently run our growing organization and promote key individuals who are performing the important work we place significant emphasis on."

As the health system's Chief Nursing Officer, Darnell will be responsible for all nurses and nursing practices across the organization. "Nursing is a difficult, but exhilarating profession," she says. "People enter it for the noblest of reasons. We're not making widgets. We are saving peoples lives, or bringing new ones into the world or ushering ones out when it's their time. What we do makes a difference, that's why I became a nurse."

Darnell first joined SVMC in 1980 as head nurse for the hospital's neurosurgical unit. In 1983 she moved to Virginia and became Director of Critical Care and Cardiology for a two-hospital system. In 2000 she rejoined St. Vincent's HealthCare as the Director of Cardiovascular Services. In 2003, she was named Vice President of Clinical Service Lines. In 2007 she was named Chief Nursing Office for SVMC. "St. Vincent's was named one of the top 50 hospitals for cardiology three out of four years under Karen's leadership," Whalen says. "Under her tenure, cardiology patient satisfaction rose to our five-star level, and we've had some of the best outcomes in the country. In addition, in the time she's served as Chief Nursing Officer, one of our ICU's has won the prestigious Beacon award, one of only about 100 in the nation to receive this distinction for excellence."

Darnell holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Lynchburg College Graduate School of Business, in Lynchburg, Va. and a Bachelor of Science degree from Lynchburg College. Her nursing diploma is from the Virginia Baptist Hospital School of Nursing in Lynchburg, Va. Darnell is certified in Advanced Nursing Administration and Critical Care Nursing. Last year she earned the premier credential in healthcare management – a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE).

As Vice President of Physician and Business Development, Hilliard will be responsible for continued physician recruitment to the health system and acting as a liaison between physicians and health system administration. In addition, she will take the lead in developing new business strategies. "With more of our strategic plans dependent on physician relationships, it's important to have someone at the senior management level who has that as a focus," Whalen says. "Michele has the skills needed to act as the voice for both sides in order to reach agreement on how to practice."

Hilliard joined St. Vincent's HealthCare in 1990 as a manger of an ambulatory care practice. She was promoted to Operation Improvement Coordinator, assisting with day to day operations of all ambulatory practices. She later served as a manger in Information Technology and as Director of Operations for the primary care network.

"In 2000, the hospital wanted to become more proactive with physician recruiting and meeting the needs from a hospital perspective," Hilliard says. "I was asked to start the recruitment program." As Director of Physician Relations and Recruitment, she helped develop a cardiology practice in Waycross, Ga., St. Vincent's Spine & Brain Institute and First Coast Primary Care, a network of internal medicine and primary care practices in the Jacksonville area.

Before joining SVHCs, Hilliard managed a Jacksonville obstetrics and gynecology office practice. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.

As Vice President for Corporate Compliance, Mayher will continue to be responsible for the organization's corporate responsibility program, which entails promoting ethical and honest business practices, detecting and preventing ethical violations and making sure the organization is in compliance with government regulations and laws for programs including Medicare, Medicaid and the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Elevating the role to a vice president acknowledges the importance of this function within the growing health system. "This was an appropriate next step for our compliance program," Whalen says. "And it certainly shows St. Vincent's commitment to compliance and doing things the right way."

Mayher joined SVHC in 1996 as a financial analyst in the reimbursement division of the Finance Department. In 2000 he became the Manager of Budgeting and Financial Planning. In 2003 he began to serve as the Corporate Responsibility Officer and Chief Privacy Officer. "The challenges will be the same, they'll just get bigger," Mayher says. "We'll have a lot more associates, and we're adding diverse types of providers – First Coast Primary Care, St. Luke's Hospital, managing Charlton Memorial Hospital, and a hospital in Clay County sometime. As we continue to grow, I think it's important to make sure the compliance program has a high visibility within the organization."

Mayher holds a Master of Health Services Administration degree from the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Ill. and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Accounting from the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga. He is a Certified Public Accountant, certified in Health Care Compliance and an adjunct professor at Webster University's Master of Health Administration and Master of Business Administration Programs.

As Vice President of Strategic Planning, Meyer will be responsible for strategic planning regarding market growth and development of new programs, new clinical equipment and technologies to foster the achievement of St. Vincent's Mission and Vision. "As we expand our mission of spiritually centered, holistic care to improve the health of individuals and communities, we must anticipate and carefully evaluate new opportunities," Whalen says. "Decisions we make today will have impact on what we do and how we do it for decades. Hence, planning is critical in order for us to fulfill our mission well into the future."

Meyer joined St. Vincent's HealthCare as an information systems analyst in 1998. In 2000 he became Director of Planning and Business Development. He has prepared comprehensive service line strategic plans and financial analyses for the Spine and Brain Institute, the Gary and Nancy Chartrand Heart and Vascular Center, the Mary Virginia Terry Cancer Center and other key clinical services. He coordinated the Certificate of Need filings to acquire St. Luke's Hospital and has served as Director of St. Vincent's St. Luke's Hospital Transition Team. In addition, he coordinated the Certificate of Need filings for a St. Vincent's HealthCare hospital in Clay County. "Our strategy is pretty aggressive," Meyer says. "Where do we place primary care practices? Where do we have specialists? Do we look at additional facilities? If so, what services go into them? There's an array of tasks that go into answering those questions."

Meyer holds a dual Bachelor's degree in Marketing and Business Administration from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla. He also holds a Master of Health Administration degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla. He is an adjunct professor at the University of North Florida's College of Health and College of Business and is a diplomate with the American College of Healthcare Executives.

As Chief Information Officer, Ann Carey will provide vision, strategy, and leadership for planning and implementing information technology initiatives that support St. Vincent's objectives, goals and mission. She will be responsible for the management of all information and communications systems and projects, including voice, data and imaging. "This is a well-deserved recognition of Ann's work for our health system," Whalen says. "We appreciate all the work she has done preparing to take a hospital live with information systems when we assume operations of St. Luke's Hospital on April 12."

Carey was an information systems clinical analyst with Riverside Hospital when SVHC bought the facility in 1991 and brought her on staff as a systems director. Over the past 20 years she has held information services responsibilities at various times for all operations of the health system, including start up enterprises, clinical operations and financial systems. In 2006 she became Information Systems Director with Ascension Health Information Systems when Ascension Health began providing information systems functions for its many member hospitals.

Carey holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Carroll College in Waukesha, Wis., and is a member of the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).