Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Watsonville Community Hospital Watsonville, CA
About the Opportunity
Are you a visionary healthcare leader who wants to make a tangible impact? The Board of Directors is seeking a motivated and energetic Interim Chief Executive Officer to partner in the ongoing effort to create a hospital that delivers the highest quality healthcare to the residents of the Pajaro Valley.
Step away from corporate bureaucracy. Step into a community where your leadership directly shapes local healthcare.
Rooted in the heart of a vibrant agricultural community, our 106 bed acute care facility has proudly served local families and farmworkers for generations.
While we are currently navigating a season of financial challenges, we view this as a unique opportunity for an innovative leader to help stabilize our operations, optimize resources, and secure a thriving, sustainable future for our patients.
Here, you will steer a vital regional hub of 700 dedicated staff members while enjoying an enviable coastal and country lifestyle.
Why Join Us?
- Make a Tangible Impact: Your leadership will directly preserve access to critical, high-quality healthcare for a tight-knit and resilient farming community.
- Community Connection: We are looking for a visible, hands-on leader who values building strong, personal relationships with our patients, local leaders, and dedicated staff.
- Cultural Alignment: With a large portion of our patients and workforce being Spanish-speaking, bi-cultural and bi-lingual communication skills (English/Spanish) are highly valued to ensure welcoming, culturally sensitive care.
- Unmatched Lifestyle: Balance a high-impact executive career with world-class recreation and geographic beauty.
What You’ll Do
- Drive Strategic Vision: Partner with the Board to expand services, recruit top-tier talent, and navigate the rural healthcare landscape.
- Champion Patient Care: Ensure our region receives safe, high-quality, and accessible care close to home.
- Empower a Robust Team: Inspire and cultivate a culture of transparency, collaboration, and high morale across our entire workforce.
- Engage the Community: Act as the face of the hospital, building strong relationships with local leaders and regional partners.
The Best of All Worlds
Imagine living in a place that pairs the safety, warmth, and tight-knit connection of a small town with effortless access to world-class amenities.
- Outdoor Paradise: Spend your weekends hiking scenic trails or relaxing on pristine beaches.
- Wine & Culture: Enjoy a backyard that borders premier wine country and gourmet culinary scenes.
- Metropolitan Access: Retreat to your peaceful rural haven after a quick drive to nearby big-city perks.
Ideal Qualifications
- Experience: 7-10 years of progressive executive leadership experience in a hospital or healthcare system.
- Proven experience in hospital administration or senior healthcare leadership.
- Demonstrated success in financial turnaround, revenue cycle management, and grant acquisition.
- A deep appreciation for rural healthcare dynamics and the specific needs of agricultural populations.
- Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree preferred (e.g., Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Public Administration); or equivalent hospital leadership experience.
- Rural Success: Proven track record of navigating the unique operational realities of mid-sized regional facilities.
Ready to Make a Difference?
Join us in our mission to provide exceptional care to our community.
View the full job description below and apply in confidence at the link.
About the District:
Having delivered major strategic plan initiatives, expanded access to care through its local clinic system, significantly improved quality and safety performance, and secured meaningful state support since assuming ownership of Watsonville Community Hospital in 2022, the Pajaro Valley Health Care District is in prime position for a dynamic leader to guide the hospital into the next chapter of its 130-year history serving the Pajaro Valley.
The organization is made up of four connected entities working together in service of the same mission:
Pajaro Valley Health Care District (PVHCD or “the District”) is a California special district responsible for public accountability, long-term stewardship, strategic direction, and the broader health care mission of the District.
Pajaro Valley Health Care District Hospital Corporation (PVHCDHC, Watsonville Community Hospital, WCH or “the Hospital Corporation”) oversees the operations of Watsonville Community Hospital, a 106-bed acute care hospital that has served generations of Pajaro Valley families.
Watsonville Community Hospital Foundation (“the Foundation”) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports the mission of the District and Hospital Corporation through philanthropy, community partnerships, and continued investment in the future of local health care.
Coastal Healthcare is the District’s clinic system, providing comprehensive, patient-centered health care in Watsonville through primary care and specialty services, including orthopedics, gastroenterology, bariatric surgery, urology, general surgery, nephrology, cardiology, and related outpatient care.
The District and Hospital Corporation are governed by a “mirror” Board of Directors, with the same five-member Board overseeing both the entities, ensuring that public accountability, hospital operations, and community stewardship remain aligned. The Foundation is governed by an independent Board of Directors approved by the District Board.
General Position Summary:
The Chief Executive Officer oversees the planning and management of current operations, future growth, and program development for Watsonville Community Hospital and the broader Pajaro Valley Health Care District. The Strategic Plan serves as the guiding resource for the CEO to ensure that Watsonville Community Hospital provides high-quality care that is responsive to the community’s health care needs, advances the hospital’s mission, and remains consistent with its values.
The CEO provides strategic leadership over all aspects of the District to ensure the organization meets the needs of the community it serves and positions Watsonville Community Hospital for future success. The CEO must keep the Board of Directors informed on issues and matters of public policy, as well as specific matters related to the operations, performance, and direction of the organization.
To ensure the continued provision of high-quality services, the CEO must develop positive, trust-based working relationships with the Medical Staff, grounded in effective communication, collaboration, and mutual respect. The CEO must also be visible throughout the organization and open to the concerns of staff, physicians, patients, their families, the community at large, the Foundation, donors, and partners.
The Board expects the CEO to work actively to increase the community’s trust in Watsonville Community Hospital, develop strong relationships with community leaders, and work closely with hospital leadership, the Medical Staff, and community physicians to strengthen the organization and support its long-term success.
Essential Functions:
Core Competencies:
- Champion of health equity, remains fearless in doing the right thing for patients and embraces the Mission, Vision, and Values as the central focus of all decisions.
- Intellectually capable of managing the complexities of leading this growing hospital, has the business and financial acumen to analyze, comprehend, and implement innovative solutions for the delivery of healthcare that lead to short and long-term success.
- Leads the organization by approaching challenges as opportunities for improvement with courage and integrity. Assures that the organization is honest, transparent and respectful of everyone. Listens and communicates clearly in order to function effectively in every setting. Routinely make rounds throughout the hospital in order to interact with staff and physicians.
- Serves as leader of Watsonville Community Hospital externally. Communicates with the public, partners and stakeholders frequently to keep them informed and to grow support for Watsonville Community Hospital.
Delivery of Healthcare Services
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- Has overall responsibility for the design, delivery, promotion, quality improvement and risk management of all the hospital’s healthcare programs and services.
- Ensures that quality and patient safety are top priorities at every level in the organization, that all policies and practices effectively support safe patient care and yield the highest level of patient satisfaction.
- Provides robust operational leadership for the hospital, diagnosing and correcting inefficiencies, strengthening systems and workflows, and ensuring key projects remain on schedule.
- Assures that the hospital complies with local, state and federal laws and regulations as they apply to the operation of the hospital.
Community and Public Relations
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- Ensures that the hospital and its mission, programs, and essential services are consistently presented in a strongly, positive light to relevant stakeholders including patients, physicians, employees, community members and donors.
- Maintains a strong relationship with Federal, State, and local elected representatives.
- Understands that as the ‘face’ of Watsonville Community Hospital the CEO will be actively involved in the community through service organization membership, speaking engagements, community forums, educational offerings and other opportunities to communicate Watsonville Community Hospital’s Mission, Vision, and Values.
Board Administration and Support
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- Maintains open, and effective communication with members of both the District and Hospital Boards.
- Ensures that comprehensive orientation and continuing education opportunities are available to the Board
- Ensures that the strategic plan is articulated internally and externally, and effectively delegates key activities to ensure timely execution of strategic plan initiatives.
- Prepares and submits reports on operations, finances, capital needs, and other matters as requested to the Board of Directors.
Medical Staff
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- Leads the efforts to support our physicians/providers through recruiting, education and medical staff development.
- Recognizes the ongoing strength and success of the hospital relies heavily on the strength and success of our medical staff and engages them in efforts related to quality improvement, patient safety and patient experience.
- Participates in issues surrounding ethics and quality. Collaborates with the Chief of Staff related to the leadership of physician/providers.
- Also participates in contracting for services provided to WCH for ER coverage and in house services such as Anesthesia, Pathology, Radiology, and others.
District CEO
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- Serves as the CEO of the District and Hospital.
- Supports the District Board of Directors by overseeing operations of the Medical Group associated with the District.
- Prepares long term strategic plans, collaborates with community partners within the District and the region to create a robust healthcare infrastructure that improve community and individual health outcomes.
