Jeff was in the paper today!

Wesley announces its newest executive

BY JERRY SIEBENMARK
The Wichita Eagle

Wesley Medical Center has hired Jeff Sollis to replace one of its two chief operating officers, but the 29-year-old native of Murray, Utah, won't hold the COO title just yet.

Sollis, whose first day of work at Wesley was Nov. 30, will be involved in the daily operations of the 760-bed hospital.

He was hired to replace Sam Serrill, who is retiring and shared the COO title with Steve Edgar.
Hugh Tappan, Wesley's president and CEO, said that he is "restructuring responsibilities across the organization."

In that restructuring, Edgar will retain the COO title and focus a lot of his efforts in areas such as physician recruitment and business development, Tappan said, while Sollis will have more operating departments to oversee.

In Sollis' time in hospital administration, he said this is his biggest assignment yet.
"This is a large tertiary teaching facility with a lot of service-line depth," he said.

Before Wesley, Sollis was assistant administrator at North Suburban Medical Center in Thornton, Colo., in the Denver area.

But that 157-bed hospital, which is an HCA hospital like Wesley, "wasn't quite enough to prepare me for that next step" in my career, Sollis said.

He said what attracted him to the job at Wesley was not just the size of the hospital and the scope of its operations. Just as attractive was the idea of being mentored by Tappan and Edgar.

"Somebody in my role, it's key that you have a CEO and COO who are willing to be mentors," Sollis said. "For me, this is a great next step."

Sollis' wife is Rachel and they have a 4-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son. They are expecting twins in January.

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/12/09/1626662/wesley-announces-its-newest-coo.html#ixzz17jUtv188