El Paso Children’s Hospital CEO resigns; new CFO will also take over as CEO
El Paso Children’s Hospital CEO Larry Duncan has resigned, hospital officials announced on Wednesday afternoon.
The hospital’s brand new Chief Financial Officer, Ray Dziesinski, was announced as Duncan’s replacement.
ABC-7 ran a series of stories in recent weeks questioning the hospital’s finances, and asking why the hospital has been unable to file its tax returns since the 2011 tax year. Read the series by clicking on the stories under Related Content to the left of this article.
The hospital has not lived up to the financial projections taxpayers were told when they approved a $120 million bond to build it.
Sam Legate, El Paso Children’s Hospital board chairman, told ABC-7 Wednesday afternoon that Duncan resigned Wednesday morning and Dziesinski was approved as the new CEO during a board meeting.
When asked if Duncan was forced out, Legate said, “I think Larry felt like it was a good time for him to leave because the organization could be handed to someone who could get the ball and go with it. There have been a number of challenges publicly. He (Larry) felt confident with the arrival of Ray Dziesinski, the hospital would be in very good hands and an opportunity for him to handoff the ball knowing it would be well received and handled well.”
Dziesinski has more than 30 years experience in healthcare and has been the CFO and vice treasurer most recently at Children’s Medical Center Dallas which does $1.2 billion in gross revenue.
El Paso Children’s Hospital does about $88 million in gross revenue.
Dziesinski recently retired at Children’s Medical Center Dallas and El Paso Children’s Hospital has been courting him for some time.
Asked if El Pasoans should be worried that the sky is falling with the CEO resigning, Legate said, “No, no, no. For me it’s very exciting because we are getting our house in order and moving forward. It’s time to move to the 2nd step. We were at adolescents and we need to mature and he’s the guy to do it. He’s had 30 years in upper management in hospitals. He’s absolutely what the organization needs. It’s awesome that we got this guy.”
Read El Paso Children’s Hospital’s full statement on the leadership change below:
CFO Ray Dziesinski will assume the post of CEO following the resignation of Larry Duncan today. “We love El Paso but are currently entertaining other opportunities. Our thanks to the El Paso Community who welcomed my family and me with such warmth and affection, “said Duncan.
“We wish to thank Larry for his part in bringing El Paso Children’s Hospital up out of the ground. There has been a lot of good work in the last two years,” said Chairman of the Board Sam Legate. “Larry Duncan took El Paso Children’s Hospital from a hole in the ground to a true separately licensed children’s hospital approved by the Joint Commission. Under his tenure we saw extremely successful recruitment of pediatric specialists to almost quadruple what El Paso had before and the recent achievement of COG (Children’s Oncology Group) status. We wish Larry and his family the very best.”
“As a Board, we are committed to making El Paso Children’s Hospital a leading children’s hospital and a recognized leader for specialized pediatric care. Ray Dziesinski brings over thirty years of health care financial management and oversight,” said Legate. “He served Children’s Medical Center in Dallas as Senior VP and CFO from 2007 to 2013 and more recently as their Chief Treasury Officer. We are confident of his ability to steer El Paso Children’s Hospital through the next stages of growth.”
