WILLIAM C. SCHOENHARD, FACHE, ELECTED CHAIRMAN-ELECT OF AMERICAN COLLEGE OF HEALTHCARE EXECUTIVES

CHICAGO, March 12, 2005—William C. Schoenhard, FACHE, executive vice president and chief operating officer for SSM Health Care, St. Louis, has been elected Chairman-Elect of the American College of Healthcare Executives, an international professional society of 30,000 healthcare executives.

Schoenhard took office today at the Council of Regents Meeting during ACHE’s 48th Congress on Healthcare Management at the Hilton Chicago. As Chairman-Elect, he will serve the first part of a three-year term in ACHE’s consecutive chairmanship offices: Chairman-Elect, Chairman, and Immediate Past-Chairman.

Board certified in healthcare management and an ACHE Fellow, Schoenhard had been serving as an ACHE Governor since 2002. Prior to that, he was the ACHE Regent for the Missouri – Gateway Area from 1997 to 2001.

Schoenhard has been executive vice president and chief operating officer of SSM Health Care since 1986. SSMHC is one of the largest Catholic healthcare systems in the United States; it owns, operates, and manages 20 hospitals and three nursing homes in the states of Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma. In 2002, SSMHC became the first healthcare recipient of the nation’s premier award for performance excellence in quality achievement—the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Before his current position, Schoenhard served in several positions within SSMHC, including executive director of St. Joseph Health Center, St. Charles, MO, and St. Joseph Hospital West, Lake St. Louis, MO; executive director of Arcadia Valley Hospital, Pilot Knob, MO; and associate executive director of St. Mary’s Health Center, St. Louis. Prior to joining SSMHC, Schoenhard served as vice president and director of General Services at Deaconess Hospital in St. Louis.

He is a past chairman of the Missouri Hospital Association and serves on the boards of directors of the American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board, Mid America Transplant Services, Lindenwood University, and Greater St. Louis Area Boy Scouts of America. In 2003, Governor Bob Holden of Missouri appointed Schoenhard to the Missouri Commission on Patient Safety.

As a U.S. Navy officer, Schoenhard served in the Philippines and Vietnam as damage control officer on the destroyer tender USS Samuel Gompers.

Schoenhard received his master’s degree with honors in healthcare administration from Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and his bachelor’s degree in public administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

CONTACT: Douglas A. Klegon, Ph.D., (312) 424-9420

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