Steele to step down as Geisinger CEO next year

Geisinger Health System has launched the search for a successor to CEO Dr. Glenn Steele.

Steele, who took on the role at Geisinger in 2001, will stay on through the end of the system's fiscal year in June 2015. In the meantime, Geisinger will conduct a search for the Danville, Pa.-based integrated health system's new CEO with the help of executive search consulting firm Spencer Stuart.

“This is a planned and expected process to ensure that we take the time necessary to identify Geisinger's next leader,” William Alexander, board chair, said in a news release. “Dr. Steele has done an incredible job of leading and growing the health system, as well as expanding innovative healthcare services for Geisinger's patients and members.”

Before arriving at Geisinger in March 2001, Steele worked for the University of Chicago as a professor in the department of surgery, VP for medical affairs and dean of the division of biological sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and past chair of the American Board of Surgery.

When he vacates his role as CEO next year, Steele will continue to serve as chairman of xG Health Solutions, an independently operated venture launched in 2013 by Geisinger to help healthcare organizations create value and improve quality. Leveraging Geisinger intellectual property and expertise, xG Health Solutions offers its clients consulting, interpretation and reporting of population health data analytics, patient- and population-focused care management, health information technology optimization, and third-party administration services.

Steele has been named to Modern Healthcare's list of the 50 Most Influential Physician Executives five times (2007, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014) and has also made the list of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare five times (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013).

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