Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) has named its next president and chief executive officer, Dr. Matt Hanley. Hanley will assume the role in April. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, having served in various leadership positions across nationally recognized health systems.
Hanley’s experience ranges from emergency medicine to executive leadership. He began his career as an emergency medicine physician at Centra Health in Lynchburg, Virginia. From there, he moved into clinical leadership roles at Centra Health and Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina. He eventually served as Atrium’s chief medical officer.
In 2018, Hanley joined SSM Health, a not-for-profit faith-based health system with 23 hospitals located in four states. He served as SSM’s chief clinical officer and later interim president of Wisconsin operations which included responsibility for seven hospitals, 100 care locations, 14,000 employees and 1,000 providers. Most recently, Hanley was the Market President for Navvis Healthcare in St. Louis, Missouri. Navvis is a company dedicated to assisting health care systems in their transition to value-based care.
Spence Price, Chair of NGHS’ Board of Trustees said they are confident in their choice of Hanley after conducting a national search. “We all knew the CEO position would be very attractive based on NGHS’ history of excellence, strong market position and rich culture – and Matt was selected after an exhaustive national search that yielded dozens of impressive candidates,” said Price.
Hanley expressed his excitement to join NGHS, saying “Words can’t explain how blessed I feel to join NGHS, an organization with a passion for excellence and a tradition of caring for the communities it serves.” He looks forward to working with current CEO Carol Burrell to ensure a seamless transition.
Hanley will officially take over the role from current CEO Carol Burrell in April. Burrell announced her plans to retire earlier this year and agreed to stay on until her successor was named and ready to take over. She joined NGHS in 1999, and has led the growth of the organization from one hospital to five, as well as the addition of the Georgia Heart Institute and Northeast Georgia Physicians Group.
Under Burrell’s leadership, NGHS’ annual impact on the state and local economy grew from $1 billion in 2011 to $7.5 billion in 2022.
