James W. Donovan James W. Donovan will serve as president and CEO of both St. Andrews and Miles Health Care centers beginning in June.

The St. Andrews/Miles Board of Trustees is pleased to announce a new President and CEO has accepted the leadership role for both organizations.

James W. Donovan, who is currently serving as the Associate Vice President of Medical Affairs at Maine Medical Center, will take on his new role in June.

With more than 27 years of experience as a health care executive, Donovan has held top health care positions in Maine, including President and CEO of Brighton Medical Center in Portland and President and CEO of the Maine Partners Health Plan, a managed care organization which was owned jointly by Maine Medical Center and Anthem.

During his 10-year term as CEO of Brighton Medical Center, Donovan's efforts created a sound clinical and financial base for the organization. His cooperative approach to providing health care led to the development and implementation of a full merger of programs, services and clinical staff between Brighton and Maine Medical Center. That plan was implemented without employee layoffs and with an annual savings to the community of more than $5,000,000.

Donovan's success in helping to bring Brighton and Maine Medical Center together in the 1990s was an important consideration for the St. Andrews/Miles Board of Trustees.

"Our board, along with the leadership and administration of MaineHealth, are committed to providing affordable, accessible, and high quality health care services in Lincoln County," commented Board Chair Phil Lathrop. "All of our research has shown that Miles and St. Andrews can provide the best and most cost-effective care by working together instead of competing with one another. When our new, joint board was formed in January, we made the search for a new CEO who could help us work together our top priority," he said.

With the assistance of the executive search firm Witt/Kieffer, the new CEO was carefully selected by the Miles/St. Andrews Board of Trustees Search Committee using a nationwide executive search process. "Our search firm reviewed many applications from both internal and external candidates," Board Vice Chair Pete Mundy said. "Of these, nine candidates were chosen for detailed interviews. The medical staff and senior managers from both Miles and St. Andrews were also active participants in the final interviewing process. I know that many board members were especially pleased with the extraordinary professional references we received about Jim. His extensive experience, hard work, professionalism, and kindness are well known by physicians and health care professionals throughout Maine," Mundy said.

"St. Andrews and Miles are great institutions, with a statewide reputation for high quality, personal care," Donovan said. "I'm honored, and consider this a great opportunity to work with the employees and medical staffs of these fine organizations. I believe there are great opportunities to broaden the scope of health care services available in Lincoln County, and do it in a cost-effective way," he said.

While St. Andrews and Miles now share the same board of trustees, and will soon share a chief executive, they will continue providing services to their communities as separate and distinct organizations. "I consider it a privilege to have known and worked with Jim for so many years," commented MaineHealth CEO Bill Caron, "and I can tell you that he cares about the communities he serves. He was one of the original architects of the MaineHealth system when he and Don McDowell joined Brighton and Maine Medical Center. Throughout all his efforts, his number one consideration was doing whatever it takes to provide the best care for his community, and we're delighted he's accepted this new position," Caron added.