Impactful Leaders Podcast | Mapping a Path Forward: Steve Gordon, M.D.
Every healthcare leader faces intractable problems. The key to solving them, notes Dr. Steve Gordon, CEO of St. Charles Health System of Bend, Oregon, is...
Every healthcare leader faces intractable problems. The key to solving them, notes Dr. Steve Gordon, CEO of St. Charles Health System of Bend, Oregon, is creating a simple map to chart a course forward. Providing direction gives an organization a vision and optimism for what’s ahead. Dr. Gordon used this philosophy to orchestrate a remarkable turnaround at St. Charles and believes it is the key to progress in challenging leadership situations. “When you’re lost, any map will do,” he says.
In this Impactful Leaders episode, WittKieffer Senior Partner Elaina Spitaels-Genser talks with Dr. Gordon about the seemingly impossible challenges he faced coming into an organization that was losing not just money but scores of employees, and how he mapped out a step-by-step reversal of fortunes.
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Steve Gordon, MD, MPP, FACP
President and Chief Executive Officer
St. Charles Health System
Bend, Oregon
Steve has more than three decades of diverse experience as a physician, educator, executive, strategist, and board member. He has served in progressive leadership roles with medical groups, hospitals, integrated delivery systems, payers, and the public sector, complementing an earlier career in clinical medicine and post-graduate education. More recently, Steve worked nationally as a senior management and strategy consultant in addition to serving on the Board of Directors of St. Charles.
Steve was appointed President and CEO of St. Charles Health System in February 2023, after serving in the role on an interim basis since 2022. Steve trained as an internist and primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital after graduating from Harvard Medical School and Harvard College. He also earned a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Outside of healthcare, he was for many years a trustee and board chair for the Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon.
Steve has three sons and enjoys cycling, skiing, and cooking. St. Charles Health System, Inc., headquartered in Bend, Oregon, provides a full range of high-quality health care services within a 32,000-square mile area in Central and Eastern Oregon. The system owns and operates hospitals in Bend, Madras, Prineville and Redmond. It also owns family care clinics in Bend, Madras, Prineville, Redmond, La Pine and Sisters. St. Charles is a private, not-for-profit Oregon corporation and is the largest employer in Central Oregon with more than 4,500 caregivers. In addition, there are more than 350 active medical staff members and nearly 200 visiting medical staff members who partner with the health system to provide a wide range of care and service to our communities.
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