The California Hospital Association (CHA) and its members are seeking a highly skilled, relational, and courageous leader to serve as the next President and Chief Executive Officer (President). This is a pivotal opportunity to guide the Association and staff through one of the most complex and consequential periods in healthcare. This leader will succeed the current President, Carmela Coyle, who is retiring in early 2027 after a 44-year career in health care policy and advocacy and nearly 10 years of leadership at CHA.
CHA has a national reputation for association excellence. It is seen as an important statewide advocate for hospitals, health systems, and the communities and patients they serve as well as a respected voice for state hospital interests in Washington, D.C. As one of the largest healthcare trade associations in the nation, CHA represents more than 400 hospitals and health systems in California. CHA serves its members and the hospital field in an incredibly complex and dynamic environment, within a unique federated structure that includes regional hospital associations. The President serves to ensure CHA’s core focus and outcomes remain anchored in advocacy and policy, and that CHA’s work with and among members, legislators, the governor, and other stakeholders is collaborative, efficient, respectful, reliable, thought-provoking, thorough, innovative, strategic, and service-obsessed.
Reporting to the California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems and CHA Board of Trustees, the President will be joining CHA at one of the most important and dynamic times in its history as it seeks to address both the acute pending challenges created by the passage of H.R. 1/ OBBBA and the chronic challenges related to California’s political environment, systemic underfunding of Medi-Cal, uncompensated care, unfunded legislative and regulatory mandates, an aging population, workforce shortages, disparities in care delivery, and rising healthcare costs. CHA will require strong, savvy leadership to mitigate or avert potentially massive reductions in federal and state funding and to simultaneously seek opportunities amid dynamic market forces, groundbreaking technological innovations, and constant federal and state political and regulatory changes.
In an industry that experiences constant change, the President must be a superb leader and communicator and understand regional and organizational differences to garner trust and alignment among the membership. Engaging, listening, and coalescing member leaders in policy discussions and initiatives will be critical to success. Building authentic, strategic relationships across a broad spectrum of members – each with aligned but distinct missions – will be essential to unifying and advancing the Association’s collective voice and continued impact.
The successful candidate will be a strategic executive with healthcare industry relevance and credibility, capable of bringing together a large representative Board, member organizations, association partners, key elected and appointed officials, and other key stakeholders to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives. The President must be passionate about and energized by the current challenges and complexity of healthcare and work collaboratively with member organizations to cultivate trusting, effective relationships with elected officials and key stakeholders. Forging collaborative relationships with the American Hospital Association and other partner associations and organizations is essential. They must be a highly visible, innovative, and deeply engaged leader, providing a clear, consistent, bold, and influential voice for all California hospitals and health systems and the patients and communities they serve. This opportunity represents a career-defining, compelling call for a courageous, skilled leader who is motivated to advance the interests of CHA members and advocate for accessible, quality healthcare for Californians in the context of these unprecedented times.
Confidential expressions of interest, nominations, and applications are welcomed and can be directed to the WittKieffer search consultants, Donna Padilla, Michelle Johnson, Paul Bohne, and Angela Raphael via email at [email protected] , or confidentially inquire or apply for this position using the buttons below.
The base salary will be in the $900,000 – $1,200,000 range based on experience and qualifications. Additionally, CHA offers a competitive executive compensation program, including incentive compensation, deferred compensation, and basic and supplemental benefits.