PORT ANGELES — Eric Lewis will lead Olympic Medical Center into 2007 and perhaps beyond, hospital commissioners announced Thursday.
Lewis, currently chief financial officer at OMC, will become interim CEO when Administrator Mike Glenn leaves for a post in Olympia on Dec. 1.
Lewis, 44, of Sequim, has worked eight years at OMC following a post at Stevens Hospital in Edmonds and private accounting practice in Seattle.
Glenn will become associate administrator at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.
His resignation startled some commissioners when he announced it Oct. 18.
Not so his replacement.
Speculation immediately centered on Lewis as Glenn’s successor.
Even before commissioners gathered behind closed doors to discuss Lewis’ promotion Wednesday night, commission President Arlene Engel remarked how Glenn and Lewis had worked “shoulder to shoulder” to guide OMC through a period of multi-dimensional expansion.
Defer search
Engel said Thursday that the board would defer searching outside for a permanent CEO until Lewis had served several months in the position.
“I’ve had so many calls and so many e-mails asking why the board is considering a search when we have so much talent in house,” she said.
Engel expressed confidence in Lewis’ people skills as well as his financial acumen.
“We know that he’s very capable, but we want the community to come to that acceptance as well.”
She said the board has set a six-month limit to talk with members of the medical profession, chambers of commerce, business people and hospital supporters before it begins searching for other applicants.
“We could go out sooner,” she said. “It will depend on the reaction of the local community.
“This is not a hasty decision. This is one we’ll be deliberating on.”
Engel will negotiate with Lewis for a contract commissioners will consider at their Nov. 15 meeting, where she said public input will be welcome.
People also may comment through the OMC Web site, www.olympicmedical.org, or by phoning the commissioners’ administrative secretary, Gay Lynn Iseri, at 360-417-7705.