St. Vincent CEO to be group executive officer for CHI

Published: September 17, 2014

The president and CEO of CHI St. Vincent Health System in Little Rock has been named to a new position within Catholic Health Initiatives.

Peter Banko will become the senior vice president and group executive officer of the organization’s east/southeast division as well as chief integration officer. He will oversee CHI St. Vincent, CHI Memorial in Chattanooga, Tenn., CHI St. Joseph Health in Reading, Pa., and Saint Clare’s Health System, Denville, N.J.

Banko will remain in Little Rock and continue his current position at St. Vincent Health System.

Banko, a member of Christ the King Church in Little Rock, also will direct the transition process for Memorial Health System of East Texas, which will become part of Houston-based CHI St. Luke’s Health over the next several months and will assume responsibility for the CHI national integration team.

He begins his new role Sept. 22 and replaces M. Elizabeth “Beth” Obrien, who left CHI last month for an executive position with PeaceHealth in Washington.

Before being named the top executive at St. Vincent in 2007, Banko, who has more than three decades of experience in health care, served for four years as chief operating officer and vice president of CHRISTUS Spohn Health System, Corpus Christi, Texas. He also served for three years as senior vice president for PhyAmerica Physician Group, Durham, N.C., a privately held, $1.5 billion health care organization that included a large primary care physician group and the nation’s largest emergency medicine revenue cycle company.

Earlier, he held multiple leadership positions at Saint Clare’s Health System in Denville, N.J.