Dive Brief:
- Houston’s Memorial Hermann Health System tapped long-time board member and businesswoman Deborah Cannon to be its first chair-elect.
- Cannon will replace current board chairman Will Williams, beginning in January 2017. In the meantime, she will shadow Williams in his job.
- As chairwoman, Cannon will oversee southeast Texas’ largest nonprofit health system, with 13 hospitals and a number of specialty programs and services.
Dive Insight:
Until April 2015, Cannon served as CEO of the Houston Zoo, overseeing more than $125 million in capital investments, the Houston Business Journal reported. She previously served as president of Bank of America for the Houston region, which includes 10 midwestern and southwestern states.
Cannon’s record with capital improvement should prove an asset as she guides the Houston Hermann system through a series of expansions and renovations that are underway. During her 11 years on the board, she cultivated working relationships with the health system’s doctors and pushed for greater accountability by embracing a zero harm initiative, according to a release.
Memorial Hermann CEO Dan Wolterman is due to retire this summer. The system’s Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center is the main teaching hospital for the University of Texas medical school in Houston.