ONEIDA, N.Y. — Oneida Health says its president and CEO, Gene Morreale, retired on Friday after 15 years of service as the organization’s top executive.
His planned retirement — which Oneida Health first announced last fall — marks the end of a tenure in which he guided “unprecedented growth while positioning the organization to achieve national recognition for patient safety and experience in the greater Oneida region,” Oneida Health contended in a Friday news release.
Since his appointment in 2007, Morreale has worked to bring the latest technology to Oneida Health, the organization said. From the implementation of da Vinci robotic surgery to advanced imaging including PET/CT, 3 Tesla MRI, and 3D mammography, to a linear accelerator for radiation oncology, today, Oneida Health provides technology that is often only thought to exist within larger city health-care systems, it added.
Along with his leadership team, Morreale has also overseen efforts to modernize the hospital that involved significant renovation work. The targeted areas include the operating room, intensive-care unit, post anesthesia-care unit, the hospital’s main entrance, medical-surgical unit, emergency department, radiology department, and the development of a wound-care center.
Campus additions include the construction of both the medical and radiation-oncology buildings; the Gorman Imaging Center; and most recently, a new women’s health building, which is due to open this summer, Oneida Health said.
“I couldn’t be prouder of all we have accomplished during my tenure as president and CEO,” Morreale said. “All of the success we have experienced would not have been possible without the teamwork and support of the board of trustees, senior leaders, medical providers, and staff. I sincerely thank all of those who have helped make Oneida Health the exceptional organization that it is today. I leave knowing that the future of health care in Oneida is very bright.”
The Oneida Health board of trustees began the search for a new CEO last fall. It’s working with executive search firm WittKieffer, which placed 55 CEOs into U.S. hospitals in 2020. The firm expects to name the next president and CEO of Oneida Health in early April with a start date in the late summer/early fall.
Charles Gijanto will serve as interim president and CEO of Oneida Health during the transition. He has more than 32 years of health-care leadership experience and has served as an interim CEO at several hospitals since retiring in 2015.
