Teri Fontenot, Woman's Hospital president and CEO, will retire in late summer, the organization announced Friday.
Her retirement will cap a 23-year tenure leading the Baton Rouge, La., hospital, which has grown to become the largest birthing hospital and neonatal intensive care unit in the state.
"New perspectives and leadership will allow Woman's to further develop unique opportunities to fulfill its mission to improve the health of women and infants.," Fontenot said in prepared remarks.
Woman's Hospital has hired executive search firm Korn Ferry and Fontenot will stay with the organization until a successor is appointed.
Under Fontenot's tenure, the not-for-profit independent hospital completed a $340 million replacement campus in 2012 and recently formed a strategic partnership with Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center to open a specialized breast and gynecologic cancer facility. The Birth Center of Baton Rouge recently moved to Woman's campus to bolster the hospital's obstetrical service.
Fontenot was elected chair of the American Hospital Association in 2012. She also had a six-year term on the Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health for the National Institutes of Health and was chair of the board of the Louisiana Hospital Association.
"She has led the organization in growing beyond its original Baton Rouge roots, reaching throughout the state and region with breast and gynecologic cancer care and specialized obstetrical services," Dr. Renee Harris, Woman's Hospital Foundation board chair, said in prepared remarks.
Woman's Hospital reported $24.95 million in operating income on operating revenue of $295.57 million in 2018, up from a $15.05 million operating loss on $294.58 million of operating revenue in 2017. The 2017 loss stemmed from a loss on extinguishment of debt.
Fontenot was on Modern Healthcare's Top 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare in 2011 and 2012 and has been a near-perennial presence on Top 25 Women Leaders.
