By By BETTY MITCHELL GRAY
Staff Writer
Susan Gerard, who has overseen the operations of Beaufort Regional Health System since June, was named Thursday as BRHS president and chief executive officer.
Gerard’s appointment was unanimously approved by the BRHS Board of Commissioners and the Beaufort County Medical Center Board of Trustees at a called meeting of the two boards Thursday.
Gerard had been serving as acting president and CEO of the health system since the resignation of former president and CEO Bill Bedsole in June.
The move elevating Gerard to a permanent position was made to bring stability to the organization and to give its employees a distinct chain of command, said Alice Mills Sadler, chairwoman of the two boards, in an interview after the meeting.
Since June, Gerard had served in the dual roles of acting CEO and administrator of the health system’s affiliated medical practices.
Gerard has been given administrative authority to hire a new medical-practice administrator, Sadler said.
The move will also protect Gerard, who has been performing the dual roles with only an amendment to her old contract, Mills Sadler said.
A committee comprised of herself, board Vice Chairman Brenda Peacock and board members Grace Bonner and Hood Richardson was appointed to negotiate a new contract with Gerard and present it to the two boards at a meeting later this month, Sadler said.
Richardson, who also serves as a member of the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners, agreed that the move will bring stability to hospital governance.
“For the employees of the hospital, this brings a lot of stability,” he said following the vote. “I’m asking them to help Susan … and asking for their loyalty to her. She will do a good job.”
“She has done a good job,” Sadler said.
In other business, the board unanimously approved a resolution designating Gerard as a trustee of its employee pension plan held by Putnam Investments, replacing Bedsole and indicating that the name of its second trustee was changed by marriage to Sandra P. “Penny” Coltrain.
This action was taken to give Gerard and Coltrain the power to authorize employees to make withdrawals from their pension funds, the board was told.