St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, N.Y., has named Kathryn Howe Ruscitto as its thirteenth president and CEO. Ms. Ruscitto has worked with St. Joseph's since 2001 as senior vice president for strategic development and governmental affairs. She was named executive vice president in 2009 and has since led a multi-million dollar renovation project and spearheaded the hospital's involvement in a Syracuse revitalization project.
Prior to joining St. Joseph's, Ms. Ruscitto worked as senior vice president of strategy for Loretto, the largest provider of eldercare services in upstate New York. There, she helped implement the hospital's Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly, which provides an alternative to institutional care for eligible senior patients. She was appointed administrator for human services for New York's Onondaga County in 1988 and oversaw the development of an emergency communications center for the county. She was also instrumental in the reform of the Department of Social Services and Children's Division, including the development of a plan that helped lower the county's infant mortality rate.
Commenting on Ms. Ruscitto's appointment to St. Joseph's, Sister Patricia Burkard, general minister of the Sisters of St. Francis, said, "We have long known Kathryn Ruscitto and recognize her as someone competent in healthcare administration and aware of its present day challenges, while at the same time imbued with the mission of compassionate care begun by the Sisters of St. Francis in 1869."
Ms. Ruscitto will be the first woman who is not a nun to hold the position of president and CEO. "The sisters were in leadership positions long before any of the rest of us," she said about the St. Francis sisters who came before her. "I stand on the shoulders of some great women in this institution and men."
Ms. Ruscitto received her master's degree in public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.
Read more on notable hospital leaders:
-Hospital Leader to Know: Jeff Brickman of Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center
-Hospital Leader to Know: Richard Umbdenstock of the AHA
Prior to joining St. Joseph's, Ms. Ruscitto worked as senior vice president of strategy for Loretto, the largest provider of eldercare services in upstate New York. There, she helped implement the hospital's Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly, which provides an alternative to institutional care for eligible senior patients. She was appointed administrator for human services for New York's Onondaga County in 1988 and oversaw the development of an emergency communications center for the county. She was also instrumental in the reform of the Department of Social Services and Children's Division, including the development of a plan that helped lower the county's infant mortality rate.
Commenting on Ms. Ruscitto's appointment to St. Joseph's, Sister Patricia Burkard, general minister of the Sisters of St. Francis, said, "We have long known Kathryn Ruscitto and recognize her as someone competent in healthcare administration and aware of its present day challenges, while at the same time imbued with the mission of compassionate care begun by the Sisters of St. Francis in 1869."
Ms. Ruscitto will be the first woman who is not a nun to hold the position of president and CEO. "The sisters were in leadership positions long before any of the rest of us," she said about the St. Francis sisters who came before her. "I stand on the shoulders of some great women in this institution and men."
Ms. Ruscitto received her master's degree in public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.
Read more on notable hospital leaders:
-Hospital Leader to Know: Jeff Brickman of Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center
-Hospital Leader to Know: Richard Umbdenstock of the AHA