Anthony Spezia, longtime president and CEO of Knoxville, Tenn.-based Covenant Health, will step down in April.
The not-for-profit nine-hospital system announced Friday that Spezia would retire after leading Covenant for over 15 years. He will become CEO emeritus. Jim VanderSteeg, executive VP of operations, will take his place as president and CEO.
Spezia, 66, began working at Covenant in 1996 and became president and CEO in 2000. During that time, Covenant acquired four hospitals and invested over $1.2 billion on facilities and technology, including the construction of three replacement community hospitals and improvement projects at three other hospitals.