Wayne Keathley is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Rush University System for Health and Rush University Medical Center. He was appointed to his Medical Center position in February 2020 and to his System role in June 2020. In these roles, Keathley is responsible for all operational aspects of the Rush system, including the Medical Center. He is responsible for overseeing management of the profit and loss statements for all Rush system businesses and subsidiaries.
He leads the development and implementation of the system’s strategic plan, operational improvement efforts and major capital programs, including the construction of the Medical Center’s future cancer and neurosciences center, the Joan and Paul Rubschlager Building. In addition, Keathley coordinates integrated clinical and service line programs and initiatives across all Rush locations, and he identifies and pursues new business opportunities.
Keathley initially came to Rush in May 2019 as a senior advisor to the CEO on strategy and operations, following work on global health initiatives in the Middle East, Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and China on behalf of organizations including Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. He established Baylor Global Initiatives, the global management consultancy of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and was Baylor’s associate dean for global health. He remains a member of the Baylor faculty.
Keathley previously held senior leadership positions at Baylor, including serving as the first president of Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and as the CEO of the 2014 joint venture agreement for Baylor to become a joint owner of St. Luke’s. Under his leadership, this new enterprise achieved key clinical, operating and financial milestones.
Prior to these roles, Keathley was president of Baylor College of Medicine Medical Center. He successfully recruited nationally prominent clinical leaders for key programs and developed strategic linkages between the medical school and community clinical entities.
Before his work at Baylor, Keathley was president and COO of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and executive vice president for network development for Mount Sinai Medical Center (now Mount Sinai Health System). At Mount Sinai, he achieved substantial increase in market share of complex clinical activity and grew hospital revenue from approximately $880 million to $1.4 billion over a six-year period. Under his leadership, Mount Sinai was named a U.S. News and World Report honor roll hospital for the first time.
Earlier, Keathley was executive vice president and COO for St. Peter’s Healthcare Services in Albany, New York, where he achieved the highest financial operating margin of providers in the region, and vice president of operations in Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where he established best-in-class disease management programs. He began his career in positions of increasing responsibility at The Brooklyn Hospital Center.
He attended the Columbia University School of Public Health and the Graduate School of Business in New York City, and earned a Master’s of Public Health degree there. He received his bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.