George Vecchione, CEO of Lifespan, announced Friday he will step down at the end of 2012.
Lifespan, the largest private employer in the state, is a consortium of five hospitals in Rhode Island — including Rhode Island Hospital, Hasbro Children's Hospital, Miriam Hospital and Bradley Hospital, which are all teaching schools for Alpert Medical School.
Vecchione became CEO in 1998. During his tenure, Vecchione revamped affiliate hospitals' finances and added 2,000 new full time positions, according to a company press release.
Vecchione has been "very, very effective" at Lifespan, said Edward Wing, dean of medicine and biological sciences.
"He's also been someone who's put a lot of resources into research and education," Wing said.
In 2007, Vecchione earned the highest salary of any New England health care executive, nearly $3 million, according to a 2009 article in the Providence Phoenix. He received around $9.3 million in 2009, though Lifespan told WRNI that most of that came from his retirement fund.
The board of directors for Lifespan is set to begin a national search for a new CEO. Wing said he was involved in the selection process for the new president of Care New England Health System and expects to have some input on the Lifespan search.
"I hope he continues many of the things that George did," Wing said of Vecchione's successor.
A Lifespan representative declined to comment for this article.
