Living Legends: J. KNOX SINGLETON

Back in 1983, when Singleton took a job as executive vice president for operations at Fairfax Hospital Association, he expected to stay only a few years. But a year later, he was made president of the three-hospital system, which he transformed into Inova Health System, now a $4 billion regional health provider with five hospitals and 20,000 employees.

Retired from Inova in 2018, Singleton is now CEO of Opportunity Scholars, a Winchester nonprofit he co-founded to help area low-income college students pursue postsecondary education and employment. Education is important in his family: Singleton’s wife is Shenandoah University President Tracy Fitzsimmons, and he serves as executive-in- residence at the university’s business school. He also serves on the boards of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges and Winchester Rescue Mission.

Singleton chairs Healthcare Realty Trust Inc., a publicly traded medical real estate firm that acquired Health Trust of America in 2022. He holds a business degree from the University of North Carolina and a master’s degree in health and hospital administration from Duke University.

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