Premier Health CEO Mary Boosalis to retire in 2022

She was the first woman to lead the influential Dayton health system.

Credit: WillJonesPhoto

Credit: WillJonesPhoto

Premier Health CEO Mary Boosalis will retire in early 2022, after leading the Dayton health system and one of the region’s largest employers through a pandemic, a hospital closure, the opioid crisis, and years of dramatic changes in the health care field.

The Board of Trustees of Premier Health announced Monday that Boosalis plans to retire around the end of the first quarter of next year. She’s been with the health system for 35 years.

As leader of Premier, she is in charge of a system of five hospital locations: Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton with additional inpatient sites at Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville and Miami Valley Hospital North in Englewood; Atrium Medical Center in Middletown; and Upper Valley Medical Center in Miami County. Premier also has a large network of physicians and other outpatient services. More than 13,000 people work for the company, making it one of the largest employers in the region.

The Board of Trustees will conduct a national search for Boosalis’ replacement.

“Mary has done an exceptional job, leading Premier through some of the most challenging times in the history of our community and in the health system’s 130 years, all with the highest standard of ethics,” Anita Moore, chair of the Premier Health Board of Trustees, said.

It’s time to retire, said Boosalis, who joined Miami Valley Hospital in 1986. She’s looking forward to being with her family and pursuing other activities that have long been on her list of retirement goals.

In 2016, Boosalis was working as the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Premier Health when she was named as the replacement for retiring CEO James Pancoast.

Boosalis was the first woman to be named to the CEO role at the Dayton health system.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from California State University at Fresno, and has a background as a critical care nurse. Boosalis also has a master’s degree in health services administration from Arizona State University College of Business.

In addition, she is the chair of the University of Dayton board and a past member of the Sinclair Community College board. Boosalis will complete her 12-year stint as a board member on June 30.

“Certainly, the University of Dayton has been blessed by Mary, given her strong leadership of our Board of Trustees as the first female chair, the comprehensive partnership between UD and Premier that has enabled our navigation of the pandemic and more, and the anchor institution work we do together in greater Dayton,” Eric Spina, president of the University of Dayton, said.

Boosalis is continuing to lead Premier through the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the hospital has navigated everything from national supply shortages, to patient surges to vaccine distribution.

She was also at the helm with Premier Health when its board made the controversial decision to close Good Samaritan Hospital after 85 years. The move sparked protests, and a still-pending civil rights complaint over whether the closure violates the civil rights of Black residents served by the hospital.

Boosalis’ retirement announcement stated that the decision “was the most difficult of her career and was done knowing that quality healthcare would continue to be available for northwest Dayton residents, along with those residing in many other communities, at Miami Valley Hospital and other nearby clinical facilities and providers.”

Boosalis was leading during many of the company’s major projects and initiatives, such as:

  • the expansion of Miami Valley Hospital’s main campus with the construction of the Heart and Vascular Tower;
  • the construction Rehabilitation Institute of Ohio that opened across the street from Miami Valley Hospital in 2020;
  • joining the M.D. Anderson Physician Network;
  • the opening of the new OneFifteen addiction treatment campus, by joining as a partner with Verily and others on the project;
  • she was also an integral part of the strategic vision and development of the Miami Valley Hospital South campus. The campus expansions include a 170,000-square-foot addition that opened in 2018.
  • Additionally, Premier is a project partner on influential neighborhood development projects such as the future onMain neighborhood on the former Montgomery County fairgrounds and the future Phoenix Next redevelopment of the former Good Samaritan site.

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