A former San Jose hospital executive is the new head of Gilroy’s St. Louise Regional Hospital, which includes De Paul Health Center in Morgan Hill.
Jordan Herget, 44, has been named president and CEO of St. Louise and O’Conner Hospital in San Jose.
Both medical facilities are part of the nonprofit, non-religious Verity Health System.
VHS parent, BlueMountain Capital Management, took over management of the six-hospital operation from the Daughters of Charity Health System in a deal reached in December 2015.
Two previous suitors backed out of offers to take over the financially troubled Catholic hospital chain as residents worried for more than two years for the future of South County’s only major medical facility.
“I am honored to accept the role of chief executive officer for O’Connor Hospital and St. Louise Regional Hospital, both highly respected in the communities they serve,” Herget said in a Nov. 14 press release.
“My first priority will be to get to know the physicians, nurses, staff and volunteers at each hospital. Ultimately, my main goal will be to identify ways in which we can work together to ensure the hospitals continue to thrive for generations to come.”
Herget has 16 years of hospital executive experience. He comes to Verity from the for-profit Hospital Corporation of America’s Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose where he was chief operating officer since 2012.
Verity chief operating officer B. Joseph Badalian said in a press release that Herget has the skills and experience “to position O’Connor and St. Louise for success. His background includes program alignment and development, collaboration with unions, patient satisfaction improvement, and capital investment, all of which are vital to the successful turnaround and revitalization of both hospitals.
“Best of all,” he added, “Jordan can hit the ground running. Having lived and worked in the South Bay area for a number of years, he has an in-depth understanding of the local healthcare market that will enable him to have an immediate impact.”
In his new post, the Calgary, Canada, native will oversee 1,400 employees and 358 beds in San Jose and 460 employees and 93 beds in Gilroy and Morgan Hill, where St. Louise runs De Paul Health Center, an urgent care facility.
In a Nov. 16 interview, Herget said he will split his time between offices in San Jose and Gilroy and plans to make himself available to the staff and community and “build the hospital’s volume.”
He described his management style as being visible and transparent, “to be open and ask questions and to be communicative.”
The latter will include getting to know the staff by name, hosting town hall meetings with residents and being “a diligent member of the communities,” Herget said.
“We have an opportunity here to provide a great service to the communities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy,” He said.
Having lived in the area, he said, he watched as Daughters of Charity looked for a buyer for its ailing hospitals.
“What I have been really impressed with and part of the reason I wanted to join St. Louise and Verity is the commitment Verity has made to the hospital,” he said.
He cited the hospital foundation’s emergency room renovation project at St. Louise and the foundation board’s growth as positive signs for the future.
Herget is a graduate of Brigham Young University and earned a Master’s degree in health finance and management from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
He holds Advanced Lean Training Certification from the Virginia Mason Institute and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Herget and his wife have three teenage children and live in San Jose.
He started his career as a senior consultant with Ernst & Young in Walnut Creek where, he said, one of his first assignments was to work with the Daughters of Charity and Catholic Healthcare West.
Herget joined HCA in 1999 at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, then was COO of Alaska Regional Hospital and Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. Before joining Good Samaritan, he was CEO of Oklahoma University Medical Center-Edmond for two years.
In addition to St. Louise, O’Connor and De Paul, the Verity Health system includes St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, Seton Medical Center in Daly City and Seton Coastside in Moss Beach.
