Seattle Children's Hospital appoints new general counsel, and other newsmakers

Lisa Hayward has been appointed senior VP and general counsel of Seattle Children's Hospital.

Hayward, 48, is a partner at Seattle-based law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, where she has worked with health systems, hospitals and multispecialty physician groups. She will join Seattle Children's on Jan. 4, replacing Jeff Sconyers, who retired this year.

At Davis Wright Tremaine, Hayward has helped providers develop accountable care organizations and clinically integrated networks.

Community Health Systems recently announced the retirement of two corporate officers.

William Hussey, president of CHS' Division VI, and J. Gary Seay, the system's chief information officer, will retire at year-end. Franklin, Tenn.-based CHS comprises nearly 200 hospitals across the country.

Hussey, 66, oversees hospital operations in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. He joined CHS as a group assistant VP in June 2001 and was named division president in 2007.

During his time with CHS, Hussey oversaw several acquisitions and worked on the system's integration team after the acquisition of Triad Hospitals in 2007 and Health Management Associates in 2014.

Seay, 61, joined CHS in 1997. Before that, he served in various leadership roles at Humana, Cigna Corp. and Equicor, an HMO that was acquired by Cigna in 1990.

Dr. William Jackson Jr. has been appointed chief medical officer and executive VP of Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System.

Jackson, 43, will start his new role on Dec. 1. Erlanger is an academic medical system affiliated with the University of Tennessee College Of Medicine Chattanooga and includes a single hospital spread across five campuses.

Most recently, Jackson served as CMO at Inova Alexandria (Va.) Hospital and associate system CMO for clinical effectiveness at Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health System, the hospital's parent.

Anita Adams has been named COO at Kettering (Ohio) Medical Center.

Adams has been a healthcare leader in the Dayton, Ohio, area since 2003. She most recently served as system VP of respiratory care for Dayton-based Premier Health and VP of operations at the system's Good Samaritan Hospital.

A respiratory therapist by training, Adams continues to serve on the respiratory advisory board of Kettering College, which offers nursing and allied health degrees.

The Federation of American Hospitals, the lobby for for-profit hospitals and health systems, has appointed two VPs of legislation.

Katie Wise, 30, will join the federation on Nov. 9. The Washington-based organization has more than 1,000 members.

Wise previously served as legislative director for Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), while also serving as associate staff on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Srinu Sonti, 40, joined the federation in October, after working in policy and politics for more than a decade.

Sonti most recently served as health policy adviser to Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), where he worked on healthcare finance. Previously, he worked at the Center for American Progress and the Democratic Policy and Communications Center. Sonti also worked for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).