Advocate Aurora Health is going from two CEOs to one, a little more than a year after the system’s creation through a merger.
Jim Skogsbergh will serve as its president and CEO, effective immediately, Advocate Aurora announced Wednesday.
Skogsbergh, 61, had been running the 28-hospital system with co-CEO Nick Turkal since it was formed last year through the merger of Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin. Prior to the merger, Skogsbergh served as president and CEO of Advocate.
Skogsbergh said he and Turkal approached the board to suggest that the system move to one CEO. He said the two worked well together but felt having two CEOs was no longer necessary. They were both interested in the job of sole CEO, he said.
“Nick and I both believed strongly then, and believe today, that a co-CEO model was absolutely necessary to launch Advocate Aurora Health,” Skogsbergh told the Tribune. “I’d say maybe six months ago we’d had a series of conversations and that led to the two of us speaking to the board and saying that what was necessary to launch Advocate Aurora Health might not be necessary to lead it into the future.”
Board Chair Joanne Disch said in a news release the board made the decision after “a thorough review with the assistance of an independent advisor.”
Turkal will help with the transition and then depart, according to the news release. “We have formed an incredible organization dedicated to serving our patients and community, and I have full confidence that Advocate Aurora Health is well-positioned for the future under Jim’s leadership," he said in the news release.
The announcement Wednesday came just months after the system offered early retirement buyouts to as many as 300 management employees. About 200 people took the buyouts, Skogsbergh said. The system has about 70,000 employees in Illinois and Wisconsin.
The system also decided not to offer annual bonuses this year to workers. Skogsbergh said the Illinois side of the system had offered those bonuses for most of the last 18 years but decided to pause the program this year to “think it through” after the merger.
Still, Skogsbergh said finances were not behind the system’s decision to drop to one CEO. The system is actually ahead of its financial plan for the year, he said.
He said Wednesday that the move to one CEO will not change the system’s strategy or direction.
Advocate Aurora is one of the 10 largest not-for-profit, integrated health systems in the country.
lschencker@chicagotribune.com
