Hoag board seats chair

Alicia Robinson

Finding a new chief executive for Hoag Hospital is Richard M.

Ortwein’s most pressing task as the newly elected chairman of the

hospital’s board of directors.

Ortwein, 63, is a founder and partner at Focus Real Estate, an

Irvine development company, and a past chairman of the Orange County

branch of the American Red Cross. He takes Hoag’s reins from Dick

Allen, who chaired the board for the past six years and brought

Ortwein onto the board in 2000.

“I joined the board initially because of my background in the real

estate area,” said Ortwein, who was president of the Koll Development

Co. for 20 years. That expertise helped him as chairman of the

board’s facilities design and construction committee.

The board is overseeing a more than $1 billion

capital-improvements program that includes a women’s pavilion set to

open in 2005 and a future heart institute. But the biggest job facing

Ortwein is hiring a new chief executive, he said.

Chief Executive Michael Stevens plans to retire in 2005 after 30

years with the hospital. The search for a replacement is already

underway, but Stevens’ shoes will be hard to fill, Ortwein said.

“A number of people have suggested to us that it’s kind of like

trying to replace Michael Jordan on the Bulls,” Ortwein said.

“There’s not a lot of Michael Jordans that come along.”

Ortwein also praised Allen’s work as board chairman.

“Dick has done a great deal to reconfigure our board from being

more of a review board to being a very involved board,” Ortwein said.

Hoag officials are glad Allen will remain on the board as Ortwein

takes over the chairmanship, because both men have been assets to the

hospital, marketing vice president Debra Legan said.

“It’s a very smooth transition in leadership,” she said.

In the near future board members will focus on completion of the

women’s pavilion and how to best use the space freed up when it

opens.

“That was the largest project the hospital’s ever done, and it

will be brought in ahead of schedule and under budget, and we’re very

pleased with that,” Ortwein said.

Serving on the board can be time-consuming, but Ortwein finds it

rewarding.

“It’s such a positive environment,” he said. “It’s such a

patient-centered environment that you can’t help but feel good if you

make even a small contribution.”

Other recent changes to the 19-member board were the replacement

of retiring member Gary Gray with new member John Benner, the

election of Robert W. Evans as vice chairman, Max W. Hampton as

secretary and Hank S. Adler as treasurer. Board officers are

reelected every year, but the chairman generally serves a five-year

term.