Dr. John Agwunobi resigns from health post at Wal-Mart, and other news

After nearly seven years as senior VP and president of health and wellness at Wal-Mart Stores, Dr. John Agwunobi resigned from the position this month.

Agwunobi, a pediatrician, joined Wal-Mart in September 2007 after leaving his roles as assistant secretary for health at HHS and as an admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. He had also previously served for five years as Florida's secretary of health.

As Wal-Mart's top physician, Agwunobi was responsible for oversight of Wal-Mart's health and wellness business unit, which includes pharmacies, vision centers and healthcare clinics in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Labeed Diab, who had been serving as senior VP of Wal-Mart's Midwest division, stepped into the health and wellness leadership role this month following Agwunobi's departure. Diab, a registered pharmacist, has been with Wal-Mart since 2009 after serving as regional VP of Aramark Corp.'s healthcare division.

Banner Health, Phoenix, created a new senior VP and chief strategy and marketing officer role this month, appointing Jeffrey Nardoci to the position.

Effective April 14, Nardoci, 53, joined the health system from publicly traded Solta Medical, a maker of medical devices for aesthetic applications, where he served since 2009 as corporate officer, VP of worldwide marketing and general manager of surgical specialties. His earlier experience includes executive positions with Bausch & Lomb, Nabisco and Xerox Corp.

Nardoci will oversee vice presidents of branding, public relations, service excellence, and strategy and planning. The not-for-profit health system includes 23 acute-care hospitals across seven states.

Gaylon Stockman has joined not-for-profit healthcare system Lifespan, Providence, R.I., as chief information security officer. Stockman, 51, will direct development, implementation and oversight of the system's information technology security infrastructure. He comes to Lifespan from UnityPoint Health in Des Moines, Iowa, where he was corporate information security officer. He also taught as an adjunct professor at William Penn University, Oskaloosa, Iowa, with a focus on business leadership, programming, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and information security.

Michael Dorsey will serve as interim CEO of Carondelet Health, Kansas City, Mo. He replaces Fleury Yelvington, who resigned from the executive position in March.

Dorsey, 58, who has more than30 years of healthcare leadership experience, served as the two-hospital system's COO and as CEO of its St. Joseph Medical Center for nearly five years. He will continue to guide daily operations at St. Joseph, but will add St. Mary's Medical Center in Blue Springs, Mo., to his responsibilities.

Dennis Knox is now CEO at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, Calif. Knox, 57, has more than 33 years of experience in healthcare administration. Most recently, he worked for Integrated Healthcare Holdings as CEO of Western Medical Center Anaheim (Calif.), a major safety net hospital. Before that, he served as corporate director of physician alignment at Universal Health Services, King of Prussia, Pa., and spent 11 years as an executive with Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston.

Also at Antelope Valley, Paul Brydon has been named CFO. Brydon, 64, had served as interim CFO at the hospital. Previously, he was CFO at a number of hospitals, including Northridge (Calif.) Hospital, Verdugo Hills Hospital, Glendale, Calif., as well as executive-level positions at Resurrection Health in Chicago, Catholic Healthcare West in San Francisco, and Bank of America.