NJHA Installs Steve Littleson as Chairman at 98th Annual Meeting

On Jan 25, 2017

Steven G. Littleson, FACHE, of Fair Haven, president of the hospital services division and chief operating officer of Hackensack Meridian Health, today was installed as chairman of the Board of the Princeton-based New Jersey Hospital Association, the state’s oldest and largest hospital and healthcare advocacy organization. The chairman’s official installation, as well as the appointment of new Board officers and members, was held during NJHA’s 98th Annual Meeting at the Hyatt Regency Princeton.

Littleson thanked departing Chairman Leslie D. Hirsch, FACHE, of Denville, president of Saint Peter’s Healthcare System, for his leadership of the Board over the course of two years.

In his remarks, Littleson also acknowledged that the coming year will bring an inundation of challenges to the healthcare field.

“As fast as our industry has been changing in the last couple of years, it is hard to imagine the pace of change getting any faster. But it has to. In fact, the challenge to all of us is that this year –2017— may well be a year of unprecedented change in our industry,” Littleson told the more than 400 attendees. “My motto for 2017 is ‘All In’… None of us can improve the health of the people of New Jersey by going it alone.”

He addressed the upcoming departure of NJHA President and CEO Betsy Ryan, “a passionate champion for both patients and healthcare providers,” as well as the strategic planning process the association is undertaking to better represent the breadth and scope of its membership.

Prior to being named president of hospital services for the combined Hackensack Meridian system, Littleson served as the executive vice president of Meridian Health and president of the Meridian Hospitals Corporation.  Before that, he was president of Jersey Shore Medical Center for 16 years beginning in 1998, shortly after Meridian Health was formed. Prior to that, Littleson was the president and chief executive officer of Southern Ocean County Health System (now Southern Ocean Medical Center) from 1992 to 1998. He began his healthcare career with Sentara Hampton General Hospital in Hampton, Va.

Under Littleson as board chair, the following officers also were appointed to the NJHA Board:

• Chair-elect Amy B. Mansue, of Hightstown, president of Southern Region, RWJBarnabas Health
• Vice Chairman Joseph W. Devine, FACHE, of Sewell, president and CEO of Kennedy Health
• Treasurer Kevin J. Slavin, of Hackettstown, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Healthcare System
• Secretary Douglas A. Struyk, CPA, LNHA, of Wayne, president and CEO of Christian Health Care Center, and
• Immediate Past Chair Leslie D. Hirsch, FACHE, of Denville, president of Saint Peter’s Healthcare System.

The following healthcare leaders also were appointed as new board members:

Phillip J. Driscoll, Jr., FACHE, of Belle Mead, CEO of Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation Kessler Saddle Brook; Frank A Ghinassi, PhD, of Princeton, president and CEO of Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care; John N. Kastanis, MBA, FACHE, president and CEO of University Hospital; Michael S. Kotzen, of Cherry Hill, executive vice president of population health management of Virtua; Patricia Elder Ostaszewski, MS, CRRN, LNHA, of Brick, CEO of HEALTHSOUTH Rehabilitation Hospital of Toms River (Ex-officio); and Joseph Costabile, MD, of Marlton, president of The Medical Society of New Jersey (Ex-officio).

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