Virtua CEO Rich Miller to Retire December 2017

Virtua President and CEO Richard P. Miller has announced his plan to retire at the end of 2017 after leading the organization for 21 years. Virtua’s Board of Trustees announced that it has begun a search for his successor to ensure a seamless leadership transition.

Miller’s decision to retire caps a remarkable career of continuous service to Virtua, and its predecessor West Jersey Health System. Virtua’s current Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Dennis Flanagan, noted that Miller led the way for Virtua to transition from a group of community hospitals into a highly-respected regional healthcare provider.

“It was Rich’s leadership,” said Flanagan, “that helped create Virtua from the merger of the West Jersey Health System and Memorial Health Alliance in 1998. Since then, Virtua has become a leader in the region delivering quality healthcare and bringing innovative programs and services to the communities it serves. He has built an outstanding leadership team that will continue to fulfill the organization’s mission.”

Incoming Chairman of the Board David Kindlick noted that “Miller is a visionary who saw the need to shift hospital based services to an outpatient setting to increase convenience and reduce costs for patients before other providers. He led the way in introducing wellness services as part of a health system’s offerings and recognized the benefit early on of adding fitness centers, weight loss programs and urgent care centers to Virtua’s continuum of care.”

“I’ve been privileged to lead one of the region’s greatest healthcare teams,” said Miller, “with people who are dedicated to compassionate healing and outstanding customer service. The time has come for me to pass the baton to the next generation of leaders, and I will take great pride in watching the organization continue to fulfill its mission of helping people be well, get well and stay well.”

Miller joined the West Jersey Health System in 1986 as Vice President of Finance. During his tenure at West Jersey, he served as Executive Director of the Berlin Hospital, Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer, and Senior Vice President of Hospital Affairs before being named President and CEO in 1996.

Miller played a key role in the formation of Virtua in 1998 at which time he was named President and CEO for the new health system. At the time, he committed to evolving the health system from average to award winning, the results which have been demonstrated by awards for quality and patient safety by US News & Health Report, Leapfrog Group, and countless other organizations as well as considerable growth in market share, making Virtua the largest health system in southern New Jersey.

During his tenure, he oversaw the transition of a Camden inpatient facility into a vibrant outpatient center providing much needed primary and specialty healthcare and social services to Camden residents. In 2011, he opened one of the region’s first new hospitals in 20 years despite a declining economy. At a time when many hospitals in the state are struggling, Virtua earned an AA- credit rating from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s, making it the first health system in New Jersey to receive such a high credit rating.

In addition to ensuring high quality and financial stability, Miller was also the moving force behind a culture that focused on creating an outstanding customer experience, achieved by investing in employees and hiring for values. As a result, Virtua has been named a Best Place to Work by the Philadelphia Business Journal for the last 10 years.

Miller has been recognized nationally with appointments to the Leadership Advisory Council of the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare (CTH) and to the Governing Council of Healthcare Executives for the American Hospital Association. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and served as a trustee of the National Quality Forum.

Miller serves on the Operating Committee of the Board of Select Greater Philadelphia. He has served on the Board of the University of the Sciences of Philadelphia, was chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Hospital Association, a member of the Governor's Committee on Benchmarking for Quality and Efficiency, and the NJ Healthcare Access Study Commission. He is a past chairman of the board for the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey. 

Among his many honors, Miller was named Human Resources CEO of the Year by HR Department of the Year Awards. He received the CEO IT Achievement Award from Modern Healthcare magazine, was named Healthcare CEO of the Year by the Philadelphia Business Journal, Lean Six Sigma National CEO of the Year, Distinguished Citizen of the Year by Boy Scouts of America, and received the New Jersey Business Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award from New Jersey Junior Achievement. Goodwill honored him with the Helms Award for spreading goodwill through leadership and philanthropic involvement. He has been named among The 100 Most Powerful People in New Jersey Business by NJBIZ magazine, one of the 50 Most Powerful People in Health Care by NJBIZ, a "Person to Watch" by Philadelphia Magazine, and recognized nationally on the list of “291 Hospital and Health System Leaders to Know” by Becker’s Hospital Review.

A graduate of Mount St. Mary's College, Miller earned his MBA from Southern Illinois University. 

 

January 11, 2017