Feb. 13, 2023

Sanford Health and Fairview Health Services have announced what a combined leadership team would look like under their merged organization.

The executive team includes representatives from both systems. Upon completion of the merger the team would be:

• Dr. Sameer Badlani, chief digital officer — currently executive vice president and chief digital officer, Fairview Health Services.
• Joe Gaylord, chief financial officer — currently executive vice president and CFO, Fairview.
• Jennifer Grennan, chief legal and regulatory officer — currently executive vice president and chief administrative officer, Sanford Health.
• Matt Hocks, chief operating officer — currently COO, Sanford.
• Andrea Mokros, chief external affairs officer — currently executive vice president, chief public affairs officer, Fairview.
• Dr. Taj Mustapha, chief clinical officer — currently chief equity strategy officer, M Health University of Minnesota Medical Center, associate and assistant professor.
• Nathan Peterson, chief strategy officer — currently executive vice president, chief strategy and development officer, Sanford.
• Laura Reed, chief human resources officer — currently chief nurse executive and COO, Fairview.
• John Snyder, president and CEO, Sanford Health Plan — currently president, Sanford Health Plan.

In addition to the system executive leadership team, the combined organization would use a regional leadership structure as Sanford currently does.

Sanford CEO Bill Gassen would serve as the CEO of the combined system after working with Fairview’s CEO James Hereford as co-CEO for one year after the merger closes.

“Leaders from Sanford Health and Fairview Health Services have been thoughtfully preparing plans to guide the integration of our two systems once we are approved to do so by all necessary regulatory bodies. This early planning is critical to ensuring our combined organization continues supporting our patients, people and communities from day one, without disruption,” the systems said in a statement.

The announcement comes on the same day Sanford and Fairview sent a letter to Minnesota legislators detailing their agreement to merge and agreeing to a two-month delay in finalizing the merger. For that story, click below.

Sanford Health details plans for capital investment, Denny Sanford estate to Minnesota legislators