St. Joseph Mercy Oakland hospital CEO to retire next June

Jack Weiner, CEO of St. Joseph Mercy Oakland hospital in Pontiac, Mich., has announced his plan to retire next June.

Weiner, 67, has led St. Joseph Mercy Oakland for 12 years, through turbulent economic times and the opening of a $300 million campus improvement project and a high-tech patient tower. He's known for his advocacy of technology to improve patient care.

He previously was CEO of St. Joseph Mercy Macomb (Mich.) hospital. He also was an executive at St. Mary's Health Care, Grand Rapids, Mich., and CEO of Northeastern Hospital in Philadelphia.

Elliot Health System, Manchester, N.H., has appointed two VPs.

Rob Glew, 44, was appointed VP of professional and support services. He's been with Elliot since 2010, when he was named director of pharmacy services.

Nicholas Zaharias, 53, was named VP of the Mary & John Elliot Charitable Foundation, which provides financial support to the system. Most recently he was VP for philanthropy and marketing at Lawrence (Mass.) General Hospital.

Dr. Roy Smythe has been named CMO at Valence Health, a Chicago-based provider of population-health consulting services and software tools.

Smythe, 55, oversees the firm's clinical strategy and more than a dozen physicians, 100 nurses and other clinicians employed by the company. He replaces Carole Black, who has transitioned to a role in the company's advisory services and consulting division.

Before joining Valence, Smythe was CMO at Avia, a provider-led healthcare startup incubator based in Chicago, and HX360, a joint venture of Avia and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, offering technology solutions and services.

Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health Plan has named Kirk Zimmer as its next CEO.

Zimmer, 55, will replace Ruth Krystopolski on Dec. 1. She left the job for another role in the insurer's parent company, Sanford Health, a 24-hospital rural health system.

Most recently, Zimmer was CEO of DakotaCare, another Sioux Falls-based insurer. He joined the company in 1988 and served as CFO, COO and senior VP before becoming CEO in 2005.

Jose Almeida has been named chairman and CEO of Baxter International, a large medical products company based in Deerfield, Ill. He begins his new role at the start of next year.

Almeida, 53, immediately joined the company as an executive officer to ensure a smooth transition. He replaces Robert Parkinson Jr., who is retiring after over a decade as CEO.

Since 2012, Almeida had been chairman, president and CEO of Covidien. He became a director in 2011 and had served as president of Covidien's medical-device business, which accounts for about two-thirds of the company's annual revenue.