The 11-hospital Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston has named Charles "Chuck" D. Stokes, M.H.A., to succeed the retiring Dale St. Arnold as chief operating officer, effective in early September.
Stokes, 54, comes to Memorial Hermann from North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC), where he has served as President since 2005. During his tenure, the hospital earned the prestigious Baldrige award for quality. NMMC is the flagship facility for the North Mississippi Health System, which serves 24 counties in north Mississippi, northwest Alabama and portions of Tennessee.
A registered nurse, Stokes began his career in critical care at the University of Mississippi in 1978 and was named to his first chief operating officer role in 1989 at the four-hospital Christus Schumpert Health System in Louisiana, where he spent seven years. He went on to serve as executive vice president and system operations officer at St. Vincent Health System in Little Rock from 1996 to 1999 before being named executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief nurse executive at Huntsville Hospital System in Alabama.
Stokes completed a bachelor of science in Nursing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and later earned a master's degree in Hospital and Health Administration from the University of Alabama, Birmingham. He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.
He and his wife Judy have three adult children.
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