Valence Health names Andrew Eckert CEO, and other newsmakers

Chicago-based Valence Health, a major provider of clinical-integration, population-health and value-based care services, has tapped R. Andrew Eckert as its next CEO.

Eckert, 54, comes to Valence after serving as CEO of health information-technology firm TriZetto Corp. He'll replace Phil Kamp, who has served as CEO since he co-founded Valence in 1996. Kamp will now serve as chief strategy officer, helping clients develop value-based strategies and assisting the company in developing new products and services. Valence co-founder Todd Stockard will remain the company's president, with responsibility for leading operations.

Before TriZetto, Eckert was CEO of several private and public companies, all of which have been acquired or merged into other companies, including Eclipsys Corp., now part of Allscripts; medical-device maker ADAC Laboratories, now owned by Royal Philips Electronics; and CRC Health Group, now owned by Acadia Healthcare Co., a Franklin, Tenn.-based behavioral-health provider.

Will Cook has been named as the next president and CEO of University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora.

Cook, 42, will take over for John Harney, who retired at the end of June. He'll start his new role in September, joining the hospital from the UPMC system in Pittsburgh, where he currently serves as senior VP of its health services division, COO of physician services and president of UPMC Mercy.

Before joining UPMC, Cook held various leadership roles at Johns Hopkins Health System for five years, leading operations at Johns Hopkins Singapore International Medical Centre, and serving as emergency medicine administrator at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore.

Jeffrey Rivest, longtime president and CEO of Baltimore-based University of Maryland Medical Center, will retire later this summer.

Rivest, 62, will step down after leading the University of Maryland Medical System's flagship hospital for 11 years. He'll be replaced

in the interim by John Ashworth, the system's senior VP for network development, effective Aug. 29.

Before joining UMMC, Rivest was executive VP and COO at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, after serving as the organization's senior VP for clinical and ambulatory services.

Ashworth, the incoming interim CEO, has previously served as the medical center's president and CEO, and director of its R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center.

Dr. Bruce Perler was elected president of the Society for Vascular Surgery at the Chicago-based group's annual meeting in June.

Perler, 65, will lead the 5,300-member organization, overseeing four governing councils, 26 committees and 400 members. He is a professor of vascular surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

In addition to his faculty position, Perler is vice chairman of clinical operations and financial affairs for the surgery department at John Hopkins Hospital, and chief emeritus of its division of vascular surgery and endovascular therapy.

Perler is also co-editor of the Journal of Vascular Surgery and co-editor of Rutherford's Vascular Surgery textbook.