By Tracey Drury – Reporter, Buffalo Business First
Jul 28, 2022
Yet another Western New York hospital will see a change in leadership.
Mary LaRowe will retire as president/CEO Aug. 1 from Brooks-TLC Hospital System after a six-year stint as president of the Chautauqua County system. Her successor will be Ken Morris, who has served as vice president of operations since joining the system in 2018.
Prior to joining Brooks-TLC, Morris was director of North Texas Division of Neuroscience and Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Healthcare System in Dallas, Texas. He has 20 years' experience in health care.
Brooks-TLC, which includes a 65-bed hospital in Dunkirk and several outpatient facilities, operates on an annual budget of about $53 million. A plan has been in the works for several years to build a replacement hospital in Fredonia.
LaRowe had planned to retire this spring but remained in place while a search was conducted for a new president at Upper Allegheny Health System, the parent of Olean General Hospital and Bradford Regional Medical Center in Pennsylvania. LaRowe served as interim CEO there from July 2021 through May following last summer’s resignation by then-president/CEO Jeff Zewe.
Dr. Jill Owens, chief medical officer, was named president in May at Upper Allegheny Health, a $176 million health system and division of Kaleida Health.
LaRowe's retirement caps a 36-year career in the New York health care industry, including prior posts as president of Westfield Memorial Hospital and St. James Mercy Hospital in Hornell. She also spent several years leading the Western New York Healthcare Association, a trade group for hospitals.
Morris' appointment is the next in a series of leadership decisions for Kaleida: Don Hughes was named Kaleida's new CEO two weeks ago, and Beth Hughes will join Buffalo General Medical Center and the Gates Vascular Institute as president in October.