Beaufort Memorial president, CEO Toomey to step down at end of 2016
The president and chief executive officer of Beaufort Memorial Hospital will leave his post at the end of the year, he announced in a news release Thursday.
President and CEO Rick Toomey announced his resignation to the executive committee of the hospital's board of trustees at a meeting earlier this week. Toomey, who joined the hospital in November 2007, will stay with the hospital through the end of 2016 to help the board find his replacement, the release said.
"I have thoroughly enjoyed my eight-plus years working as the leader of this incredible organization," Toomey said in the release. "It has been an honor to work with the medical staff, employees, volunteers and leaders of Beaufort Memorial, and I could not be prouder of the work we've accomplished together during my tenure."
Hired as the late David Brown's successor, Toomey joined the hospital after 18 years as vice president and president of Nash Health Care Systems in Rocky Mount, N.C. Becoming CEO of a hospital fulfilled a lifelong dream to run a hospital and follow in the footsteps of his father, who ran the Greenville Hospital System, Toomey said in 2007.
Under Toomey's leadership, the hospital has renovated and expanded both the emergency center and ICU unit at the hospital; created a robotic surgery program; developed an interventional cardiology center; and opened a wound care center, women's imaging center, and a joint replacement center, the release said.
Toomey steps down as Beaufort Memorial Physician Providers continues to grow and plans for a renovation and expansion of the Collins Birthing Center are implemented.
While he could point to any one of those accomplishments as his proudest work, Toomey said Thursday the working relationships he built with the hospital's employees and medical staff were the most important. Those relationships made it easier to work with employees as the hospital continued to improve processes and efficiency, he said.
A Greenville native, Toomey is a graduate of Duke University and the Medical University of South Carolina, where he was inducted in MUSC's College of Health Professions Hall of Fame.
Toomey said he felt the timing was right to step down from his position as he enters his 60s. Although he is still focused on running the hospital for the next 11 months, he said he'll use the period to begin thinking about his next step after decades in the healthcare industry.
The release did not indicate if Toomey would look to find a new position elsewhere, but board of trustees chairman Terry Murray's statement hinted Toomey wasn't fully retiring.
"We understand his desire to pursue other opportunities at this point in his career and are thankful that we will enjoy one more year with him while we begin the process of working together to find his replacement," she said in the release. "Rick's integrity, compassion and dedication to our patients have been unwavering. His shoes will, no doubt, be hard to fill."
Toomey has some ideas on what his next position will be, such as a return to consulting hospitals or teaching graduate courses down the line, but for now his options were open and his focus on Beaufort Memorial, he said.
Toomey said in the release that he and his wife, Dr. Linda Hawes, plan to stay in the Beaufort area after he steps down. Hawes is a board-certified nephrologist who works as a hospitalist at Beaufort Memorial.
Even if a job pulls him from the area, he won't leave the area permanently, he said.
"Beaufort is going to be our home, where we live for a long time," he said. "If a job possibly takes me to another location, it will be temporary... This will be the place I retire."
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This story was originally published January 14, 2016 at 9:46 AM with the headline "Beaufort Memorial president, CEO Toomey to step down at end of 2016."