Michael Riordan to become CEO of University of Chicago Hospitals

June 11, 2001

Michael C. Riordan has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Chicago Hospitals and Health System , effective July 1, 2001. Riordan has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the University of Chicago Hospitals and Health System since May, 2000. Prior to coming to Chicago, he was the Chief Operating Officer for Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. He also held the position of Senior Associate Administrator for Emory and Crawford Long Hospitals.

He replaces Ralph W. Muller, who served as President of the University of Chicago Hospitals since they first became a separate corporation, distinct from the University, in 1986. Muller announced his decision to step down in March.

"Mike was someone who had proven leadership skills, knew health care and hospital management inside and out, and was very well acquainted with our hospital, having run the operations side for more than a year," said Paula Wolff, chair of the Hospitals' board of trustees. "He was also someone who quickly impressed us as a team builder, a person who could bring together very different groups and form them into durable and highly functional partnerships."

Riordan, 42, was born and raised in New Jersey. He received his bachelor of arts degree in liberal arts and English from Columbia University, in New York, in 1980, and completed his master's degree in education and psychology from Columbia in 1981. He coached football and taught for a brief time before joining the United States Marine Corps, where he served from 1981 to 1985.

Following his service in the Marine Corps, Riordan attended Georgia Institute of Technology and was a graduate assistant assigned to Nursing Services at Crawford Long Hospital, Atlanta. He graduated with a master's degree in health systems in 1986 and subsequently served in progressively more responsible operations management roles at Crawford Long until he was asked to become the chief operating officer at Emory University Hospital System in 1995. After five years at Emory he was recruited to the University of Chicago in May 2000.

"The history of health care is one of continual change," said Riordan. "This is a time of formidable challenges and remarkable opportunities, and this is an institution that has not only risen to the challenge but has repeatedly led the way. That's a history that I'm proud to be part of and excited to help move forward."

Muller is leaving the University of Chicago Hospitals near the top of the surveys of major national hospitals. It is the only Illinois hospital ever to be listed by U.S.News & World Report as one of the "Best of the Best " hospitals in the United States, an honor that has become almost routine for UCH.

The Hospitals have seen dramatic growth since 1985, including increased patient activity coupled with rising patient-satisfaction. Net worth has increased by a factor of five. The Hospitals' complex has also expanded with construction of several new facilities, including the award-winning, 500,000-square-foot Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine in 1996. Construction of the $130 million University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital will begin this summer.

Muller is joining the Health Care Policy Programme at the King's Fund, an internationally known health care policy institute in London. He was also recently appointed to the U.S. Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a 17-member panel that recommends Medicare policy to Congress and the President.