Ron Loving, second from left, speaks to trustees of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Hospital Authority during a Monday meeting held to discuss the transition plan for outgoing CEO Jim Brexler. The trustees voted to accept Brexler’s resignation and agreed to continue negotiating a possible severance.Costly departures
Since 1998, Erlanger Health System has agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to top executives after they resign or were ousted.Skip Reeder, Erlanger CEO from November 1994 to March 1998, was paid $518,000 after he resigned as hospital head.Dennis Pettigrew, CEO from October 1998 to February 2003, was paid $131,000 in a court settlement from a lawsuit he filed after he was fired.
Jim Brexler is seen in this file photo.Erlanger hospital’s board of trustees rejected a severance package worth about $727,000 in salary and benefits for outgoing CEO Jim Brexler Monday, but the board voted unanimously to accept his resignation.
Now board members, who deadlocked in a 4-4 vote on the severance, must decide if they want to revisit the issue of severance for the seven-year CEO, board Chairman Ronald Loving said after Monday’s meeting.
Brexler’s resignation is effective Dec. 31. The hospital announced Brexler’s resignation Nov. 17, but the board did not officially vote to accept it until Monday.
On Nov. 29, the board appointed Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson, chief operating officer of the hospital, as the temporary president and CEO.