Dan Parod

Hometown: Rockford, Illinois

Education: Associate’s degree in liberal arts, Rock Valley College, Rockford, Illinois, 1986; bachelor’s degree in business communication, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois, 1988; master’s degree in labor and industrial relations, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, 1991

Resume: Vice president of human resources, Rockford Health System, 2003-2008; senior vice president, Rockford Health System, 2009-2015; senior vice president and chief operating officer, MercyRockford Health System, 2015-2016; senior vice president and chief operating officer, St. Mary’s Health, 2016-2017; president and chief operating officer, St. Vincent Southern Region, 2017-present

Family: Wife Holly, daughter Megan (21), son Tyler (18)

Dan Parod was ready for a change. The Rockford, Illinois, native had been with the same health system for 23 years in his hometown and wanted a bigger, newer challenge. Parod found his answer at St. Vincent, coming in as senior vice president and chief operating officer. Now, more than two years after joining the Ascension family, Parod feels at home in Evansville.

What drew you to St. Vincent and Evansville?
I decided I wanted to learn what it was like to be a part of a very large health system. When I came to Evansville, I just knew this was a place I was going to love, and it has been. Evansville is an awesome place. The people here are great. The community is really committed and engaged. We have such great business support and leadership and right now really exciting things with Downtown. I keep saying Evansville is on a roll.

Why was health care the niche you chose for your career?
I was torn between business and helping careers like education or fundraising. To me, health care was the perfect combination of a mission where we actually help people and make a difference every day with a business component. What I love about health care is that every day we interact with people at really critical points in their life, and we’re trying to help them. The ability to touch people every day is what I absolutely love.

What was it like coming in to St. Mary’s during the transition to St. Vincent and Ascension?
The bottom line is the quality of care that is provided here. This is just a really high-quality organization. What that means is the patients who come here get high-quality care that rivals major academic centers in the country. That has helped a lot in this transition, because it is a really strong organization.

What are your goals for St. Vincent moving forward?
My goals are for us to continue the high-quality care we have provided this community for decades and to continue to find ways to grow and meet the needs of our patients close to our homes. We opened up Westside Crossing about two years ago, and about a year ago we opened up Northside Crossing. We just announced the newest project, which is the YMCA [partnership.] What we are trying to do is bring our care to regions of the community so people don’t always have to come to Washington Avenue for that care.

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