St. Michael president is moving to another post
COO to step in as interim
Chris Karam, longtime president/CEO at CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System, is leaving his position at the hospital.
Karam, who worked at St. Michael for 22 years, will take another position in the CHRISTUS System as senior vice president of group operations and president/CEO of CHRISTUS St. Francis Cabrini Health System in Alexandria, La.
CHRISTUS St. Michael Chief Operating Officer Jason Rounds will serve as interim CEO.
Karam will have oversight of all the system’s ministries in Louisiana and Southeast Texas including St. Frances Cabrini, CHRISTUS Shreveport-Bossier Health System, CHRISTUS Southwestern Louisiana Health System and CHRISTUS Southeast Texas Health System.
St. Michael has grown remarkably under Karam’s guidance. He took over the position of CEO in 2003 after serving as the hospital’s vice president.
“CHRISTUS St. Michael has earned many impressive awards under Chris’s leadership,” said Jeff Puckett, executive vice president and chief operating officer of CHRISTUS Health. “But it’s really his heart that makes Chris an effective leader. Everyone he meets knows that Chris cares about our associates, physicians and patients like he does his own family, and I’m proud that he will
continue to serve our ministry in a broader role.”
Karam’s first job with the CHRISTUS system was at Schumpert Medical Center in Shreveport, La., in 1986. He began his career in Texarkana in 1996 at CHRISTUS St. Michael Rehabilitation Hospital and worked his way to CEO.
He has more than 35 years experience in health care, 32 of those with CHRISTUS.
Rounds has served as COO of CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System for seven years. He came to Texarkana from CHRISTUS Shreveport-Bossier, where he served as vice president and administrator from 2007-2011. He has almost 30 years of experience in health care in New Mexico, East Texas, Louisiana and Texas in finance and accounting, managed care contracting and negotiation, business planning, physician relations and administration and operations.
Rounds’ leadership has been vital in CHRISTUS St. Michael’s high patient and associate satisfaction and its operational and financial success.
“Our CHRISTUS ministries are blessed to have skilled and experienced leaders who know our system and the communities we serve and who can step in to lead effectively with minimal transition time,” Puckett said. “I’m proud of the legacy Chris and Jason have built at CHRISTUS St. Michael, and I know that Chris’s compassionate, people-driven approach will continue in Louisiana and Southeast Texas.”