Egon Zehnder Retained by Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health
January 14, 2022 – The board of trustees of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health has tapped Egon Zehnder to lead a national search to find the next chief executive officer of Jefferson. The search comes after Stephen K. Klasko announced his retirement last year. “Egon Zehnder is the world’s largest privately held leadership advisory firm,” Jefferson said in a statement. “The firm has a distinguished history of successful health system and higher education executive searches.” Jefferson’s board of trustees’ chair Patricia D. Wellenbach said: “After a thorough review process of professional search firms, I’m thrilled that Egon Zehnder is taking on this critical charge. We are seeking a visionary who will build on Jefferson’s extensive work to reimagine healthcare, higher education and research, and I believe Egon Zehnder is well-positioned to recruit this type of leader. It’s also important that the next leader of Jefferson shares the board’s commitment to advancing health equity and making key innovations in health care delivery and higher education.”
The search, which is expected to take eight to 10 months to complete, will be headed by Leslie McNamara, co-vice chair of the Jefferson board of trustees. She is joined on the CEO search committee by Robert Adelson, Drew Morrisroe, John Silvestri, Michael Sneed and Ramona Rogers-Windsor.
Retired partner of Ernst & Young and emeritus board trustee H. Richard Haverstick was appointed as interim president and CEO on Jan. 1. He was appointed to the Thomas Jefferson University board of trustees in 2013, and was integral to the unification of the Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital the following year.
Jefferson, located in the greater Philadelphia region and Southern New Jersey, has more 42,000 employees. Thomas Jefferson University, home of Sidney Kimmel Medical College and the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce, dates back to 1824 and today comprises 10 colleges and four schools offering 160 undergraduate and graduate programs across a variety of academic programs to more than 8,200 students. Jefferson Health serves patients through millions of encounters each year at 18 hospitals and over 50 outpatient and urgent care locations throughout the region.
Egon Zehnder’s public and social sector practice works in partnership with its clients to advise governmental, NGO, non-profit, civic and academic institutions on finding top leadership. Each client and mandate is bespoke, with its engagements covering executive search, leadership assessment and development, team effectiveness, succession planning as well as organizational change management consulting. Egon Zehnder is the fourth largest search firm globally as ranked by Hunt Scanlon Media. The firm currently has 525 consultants across 63 offices and 37 countries.
Recent Search
Last year, Egon Zehnder assisted The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation in the recruitment of Miyo Yamashita as president and chief executive officer. “Miyo will make an incredible contribution to our foundation and we are so pleased to have her on board,” said Janice Fukakusa, board chair of the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. “She accepts the appointment at an exciting time for the foundation, which has done tremendous work supporting ground-breaking cancer research, education, and clinical care. I want to thank our entire team for their efforts over the past year, with special thanks to our COO Meaghan Stovel McKnight, who has ensured that we have not missed a beat. Cancer has not stopped, so neither have we.”
The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation is Canada’s largest cancer charity, dedicated to raising funds for Princess Margaret Cancer Center, one of world’s top five cancer research centers known for its game-changing scientific achievements and exceptional patient treatment and care. Through philanthropy, events, its world-leading home lottery program, and commercialization initiatives, they make possible the critical funding required to accelerate cancer research, education and clinical care.
Related: Societe Generale Turns to Egon Zehnder to Find Next CEO
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
