Rutland Regional Medical Center, the largest employer in Rutland County, has named a new president and CEO.
Claudio D. Fort will begin work at the hospital this spring. He succeeds Tom Huebner, who’s led the hospital since 1997 and will retire at the end of March after 28 years with RRMC.
In a statement released by the hospital, John Casella, president of RRMC’s board of directors said, “Rutland Regional Medical Center’s culture – collaboration, innovation, and community health care excellence – thrives under a unique leadership style and a special type of leader. We’re confident Claudio is that leader, today and for the future of Rutland Regional.”
According to the press release, since 2008, Fort has been president and CEO at North Country Health System in Newport, Vermont.
NCHS is a private non-profit acute care, critical access hospital, and multi-specialty group with 47 providers, and a 23-bed nursing home
Prior to joining NCHS, Fort was Chief Executive Officer at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Highland, Illinois where he led the effort for the hospital to apply for critical access designation and developed a malpractice subsidy program for independent physicians.
In the earlier part of his career, he held healthcare administrator positions with North Country Associates and Vencor/Hillhaven, both long term care and skilled nursing facility operators, and served as Vice President of Continuing & Primary Care at Inland Hospital in Waterville, Maine.
Fort earned his Master’s in Business Administration from New Hampshire College in Manchester, New Hampshire and received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and History from the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire.
Fort was born and raised in Nashua, New Hampshire, is married and has two college-aged children.
“I have known Claudio for the entire time he has been in Vermont and I believe he will be a great cultural fit for our organization,” said outgoing President and CEO Tom Huebner in a hospital press release.
“He is a warm, open, knowledgeable health care leader and I am confident that both the Rutland Regional Medical Center family and the greater Rutland community will enjoy working with him and getting to know him.”
Rutland Regional Medical Center employs 1,700 and is the largest community hospital and second largest health care facility in Vermont with a medical staff of 256 physicians.
While Fort will begin his new job in the spring in the meantime, the Rutland Regional Board has named Barbara Robinson, VP of Clinical Operations, to serve as interim CEO.