Beth Hughes Named President of Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute
Hughes most recently served as president of MercyOne’s Western Iowa region, where she provided strategic, operational and financial direction for the health system’s region that includes MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center, physician joint-venture Dunes Surgical Hospital, three critical access hospitals, a primary care network, specialty clinics, home health, hospice, accountable care organization (ACO), joint venture cancer center, the only Level II Trauma Center in western Iowa (one of only two in the state), and MercyOne Air Care.
Cheryl Klass, MBA, BSN, RN, former executive vice president and chief nursing executive (CNE) for Kaleida Health, has been serving as interim president of BGMC/GVI following the departure of Chris Lane in March. Klass has agreed to stay on for a period of time to work with Hughes and ensure a smooth transition into the organization and the presidency role.
Based in Des Moines, Iowa, MercyOne operates 18 hospitals and 23 affiliated facilities under a joint venture between Trinity Health and Common Spirit Health. The $3 billion health system includes 3,200 beds and more than 18,000 employees and providers.
Hughes joins Kaleida Health and Western New York as a homecoming of sorts, having spent the early part of her career as administrator of the cardiac program at Millard Fillmore Hospitals – a two-hospital, 600-bed integrated system affiliated with University at Buffalo’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences – before they became part of Kaleida Health. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in music from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, and a Master of Health Administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH.
Hughes is scheduled to start on October 3.