Christopher Dunleavy

Dunleavy Named Senior Vice President of Finance, CFO

Christopher Dunleavy, MBA, CPA, has been named senior vice president of Finance and chief financial officer for BWHC, effective May 2. Dunleavy currently serves as group senior vice president and chief financial officer at Vizient, Inc., the country’s largest provider of health care performance improvement and supply chain services.

“Chris is an energetic, dedicated leader with strong business acumen and partnership skills who is passionate about evolving health care delivery,” said BWHC President Betsy Nabel, MD. “He has helped health care organizations drive reimbursement and cost-reduction initiatives, and manage the challenges of health care today.”

At Vizient, Dunleavy leads operational and corporate finance, accounting, tax, treasury and audit services to support a number of solutions for hospitals, health care systems and other clients. He has more than 25 years of experience in financial management and strategic planning for health care, public accounting and service industries.

Prior to joining Vizient, he served as executive vice president and chief financial officer for USMD Holdings, Inc., which includes the USMD Health System, serving the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area with two hospitals, four cancer centers and more than 60 primary and specialty care clinics. Before joining USMD, Dunleavy served as chief financial officer for Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital.

Dunleavy earned his executive MBA from Baylor University and his BBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Arlington.

A national search has been underway for this position since last fall, when BWHC’s former CFO Michael Reney, MBA, left BWH to serve as senior vice president and chief financial officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Susan Wheeler, MBA, BWHC vice president of Finance and Revenue Cycle, served as interim chief financial officer as BWHC conducted the search.

“We look forward with great enthusiasm to Chris’s arrival to ensure that BWHC is in a position of financial strength for years to come, as financial stability is imperative to our ability to deliver our precious mission,” said Ron M. Walls, MD, executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Dunleavy will be joined in Boston by his wife, Susan, who is a communications consultant at Fidelity Investments.

Risk Management, Clinical Compliance Transition

To better align BWH’s patient safety, risk management and quality programs with BWHC’s strategic priorities, BWH Risk Management and Clinical Compliance are transitioning to BWH Quality and Safety, under the leadership of Allen Kachalia, MD, JD, chief quality officer and vice president for Quality and Safety.

Transitioning to Quality and Safety will be Susan Wante, MS, RN, director of Risk Management, and Kelly Doorley, MS, RN, director of Clinical Compliance, who will both report to Kachalia.

Through this alignment, the work of Risk Management and Clinical Compliance will be integrated into a structure that allows for both areas, along with patient safety, quality and performance improvement, to be addressed in a more efficient and coordinated fashion.

“The many successful efforts we have initiated across the continuum of care will only be improved by establishing a closer working relationship between our risk and compliance leaders and staff and our quality and safety team,” Kachalia said.

Added Stan Ashley, MD, chief medical officer: “The coming together of these areas will also help to enhance efficiencies and create an optimal structure that can build upon a culture of safety and collaboration that can permeate throughout the organization.”