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OHSU executive to take Asante helm on June 21 By SUSAN JAY Asante Health System, the region's largest employer, has a new chief. Roy Vinyard II, 43, has been chief administrative officer at Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital and Doernbecher Children's Hospital since 1994. He has been responsible for 4,000 employees and gross revenues estimated at $450 million. A native of St. Louis, he's also worked at the University of Kansas Hospital and Cox Health Systems in Springfield, Mo. The Asante board announced Vinyard's hiring Monday; he'll start June 21. His starting salary is $235,000, which is comparable to that of CEOs and presidents of health-care systems the same size as Asante, said Skip Patterson, Asante board president. Former Asante CEO Jon Mitchell announced his resignation Feb. 1. He was hired in 1992. Vinyard was selected out of a group of three candidates. "It was his openness, honesty and integrity and his open communication style that made the difference with the board," Patterson said. Vinyard's talents, skills and achievements matched with the qualities community leaders, physicians and employees said they wanted in a leader during community focus groups held by Asante in February. Those qualities included the ability to forge partnerships, communicate effectively and be a visionary. Today's hospitals and health systems have to partner and collaborate more with their rivals to keep costs under control, Vinyard said. At the same time, they have to remain competitive. "You just can't afford to do everything on your own," he said. Creating partnerships and strong relationships is part of the everyday job of most health administrators, Vinyard said. For example, as CAO with OHSU, Vinyard worked with Legacy Emanuel Hospital on drawing the trauma boundaries in Portland for the two level-one trauma hospitals. He has also worked extensively with Kaiser in Portland, which sends its pediatric patients to Doernbecher. Locally, Vinyard said, it "would be wonderful" if Asante and Providence Medford Medical Center could jointly run open-heart surgery services. The two are in discussion about it. Vinyard said he wasn't looking for another job, but was asked if he might be interested in the CEO spot at Asante. He was already familiar with Asante because of its partnership with OHSU. Patterson said Asante hired a local executive recruiter, Joe Barbano, to help with the search. The more Vinyard saw and learned, especially after meeting Asante employees and managers, the more he was interested in the position, he said. "I think the ability to build upon a great institution is an opportunity that doesn't come around every day," Vinyard said. His greatest skill, he said, is as a communicator at all levels. He believes in sharing information with employees and the community -- whether the news is good or bad -- and in involving many people in decision-making. He suspects he will be spending a lot of time in Grants Pass to strengthen the relationship between Three Rivers Community Hospital and Rogue Valley Medical Center, which need to be seen as equal partners, he said. He'll start his job, he said, by asking a lot of questions and listening, so he can fulfill his role in creating a vision for the future of Asante. He moves here with his wife, Dina, and their three sons, ages 11, 7 and 16 months. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA