Sentara COO resigns to run Ohio health system

Mike Gentry, Norfolk-based Sentara Healthcare Inc.’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, is leaving the health care system to become CEO of Kettering Health in Ohio, Sentara announced Wednesday.

Gentry has been with Sentara since 2008 and has been EVP and COO since 2016. Before he joined Sentara, he was president and CEO of Florida Hospital Memorial System for eight years. Before that, he spent a decade at North Carolina-based Park Ridge Hospital as its president and CEO.

“Mike has been an invaluable member of our team, providing exceptional leadership with a focus on our consumers and quality care in our communities. His contributions to our organization, the health care industry at large and the commonwealth of Virginia have been numerous,” Sentara Healthcare President and CEO Dennis Matheis said in a statement.  “We are grateful for his dedication and hard work during his time with us. He will be greatly missed.”

Gentry’s last day is July 1. He will start his new role in Ohio July 3. Kettering, which hired Gentry after a five-month search, has 14,000 employees, 1,800 physicians, more than 120 outpatient facilities and 15 medical centers.

“It has been an honor to be a member of the Sentara team for the past 15 years and I send my sincere thanks for the opportunity to work with wonderful colleagues who share a common mission of improving health every day,” Gentry said in a statement.

Sentara has 12 hospitals in Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina and has about 30,000 employees.