CRESTVIEW — North Okaloosa Medical Center Chief Executive Officer David Fuller resigned Tuesday. No reason was given for his departure.
A brief statement from Alicia Booker, the hospital’s director of Marketing and Community Relations, said Fuller will be replaced by Jeff Reece, who will serve as interim CEO.
Reece was most recently CEO of Chesterfield General Hospital in Cheraw, S.C., Booker’s statement said.
Reece will assume his new duties on Monday. A search committee is being constituted to seek a permanent CEO.
“Members of the board, medical staff and administration will be involved in the selection of the right candidate to serve the needs of our patients and community,” Booker stated.
“We appreciate (Fuller's) contributions to our organization and wish him well with his future endeavors,” Booker’s statement read.
Mayor David Cadle, a member of the hospital board, said he was unaware of Fuller’s impending resignation, which took hospital staffers and city leaders by surprise.
“The news came as a surprise to me,” Cadle said. “We appreciated Mr. Fuller and his service to our community.”
Cadle said he learned of Fuller’s resignation Tuesday afternoon in a conference call with senior officials at Community Health Systems, NOMC’s Franklin, Tenn.-based parent company.
He said CHS officials told him Fuller’s resignation was not related to recent news reports of high NOMC billing rates.
Fuller assumed the helm of the community hospital upon the reassignment of former CEO David Sanders to Fannin Regional Hospital in Blue Ridge, Ga., in August 2010.
Before moving to Crestview in December 2010, Fuller was CEO at Southampton Memorial Hospital in Franklin, Va.
Several calls to Fuller’s office and mobile phone seeking comment were not returned.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: North Okaloosa Medical Center board member: CEO's resignation 'a surprise'