News Releases

Leadership Transition at St. Vincent’s Medical Center

Leadership Transition at St. Vincent’s Medical Center

After serving since July 1, 2017 as Health System President and CEO of St. Vincent’s Health Services in Bridgeport, Connecticut, part of Ascension, Vicki Briggs has decided to return to East Texas to serve as Chief Executive Officer of UT Health Tyler in Tyler, Texas. She previously had served as CEO of Longview Regional Medical Center in Longview, Texas, from 1998-2005. Prior to assuming leadership of St. Vincent’s, Briggs had served as Chief Operating Officer since 2016. She has helped lead the transformation of St. Vincent’s as it navigates the rapidly changing healthcare environment.

Dawn Rudolph will step in to lead St. Vincent’s beginning March 23, 2018. Rudolph has served as Chief Experience Officer for Saint Thomas Health in Nashville, also part of Ascension, since 2013. She previously served as President and CEO of Saint Thomas West Hospital, after joining Saint Thomas in 2010. Before moving to Nashville, she served as Chief Executive Officer of St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

As Chief Experience Officer, Rudolph has focused on operationalizing patient, physician and family experience strategies across all Ascension Tennessee facilities. This includes monitoring patient satisfaction scores, providing tools to address improvement opportunities, and creating policies and procedures to ensure a consistent, yet distinctive experience for all who enter a Saint Thomas Health facility.

“Dawn is looking forward to getting to know the associates, leaders and physicians at St. Vincent’s and supporting their work to provide compassionate, personalized care to members of the Bridgeport community, especially people living in poverty and those most vulnerable,” said Karen Springer, President, Healthcare Operations, Ascension Healthcare, a division of Ascension.

Rudolph received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Indiana University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University. Active in various community organizations, she served as the 2012 chair for the Nashville chapter of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women movement to fight heart disease in women, board member of Make – A – Wish Foundation and member of Nashville Chamber CEO Champions for Academies of Nashville – Metro Nashville Public Schools. She is also a diplomat for the American College of Healthcare Executives.

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