Memorial Hospital’s CFO out, 5 top administrators demoted in more staffing shakeups

More top administration shakeups were confirmed by Memorial Hospital at Gulfport’s CEO on Wednesday, a day after the hospital system announced they had eliminated their chief medical officer and a vice president in a reorganization.

Memorial did not renew the contract for Chief Financial Officer Mark Wack, resulting in his loss of the position. CEO Kent Nicaud said in a text message that the hospital made “a decision to go in a different direction” but did not comment further.

Nicaud said the non-renewal of Wack’s contract was not related to the administration reorganization that resulted in Chas Pierce and Mark Gilbert losing their jobs. Pierce was the vice president of systems development and Gilbert was the CMO.

Additionally, five top senior staff members were demoted and given title changes.

Memorial’s two chief administrative officers will now be vice presidents, and three senior directors will now just be directors, Nicaud said.

Angie Juzang, vice president of marketing for the hospital, declined to confirm the names of any of the personnel affected or say if their pay would be cut.

At 4 p.m. Wednesday, April LaFontaine was listed on the employee directory page as chief administrative officer and Kevin Holland was listed as chief administrative officer of Memorial Hospital in Stone County.

Wack’s name no longer appears on the directory.

David White, chairman of Memorial Hospital’s Board of Trustees, told the Sun Herald on Tuesday that the hospital had experienced a “rough year financially” and the layoffs were part of necessary cutbacks.

This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 4:53 PM.