The University of Vermont Health Network is losing a top executive.
Al Gobeille will resign from his post as executive vice president for operations and chief operating officer of the network at the end of May, the network announced in a press release on Friday.
His departure comes five months into the tenure of Sunny Eappen, the health network’s recently minted CEO and president.
“When I was chosen as the successor to Dr. [John] Brumsted, Al graciously offered to stay on for the transition,” Eappen said in the release. “We both feel that the transition is well underway and this is the right time for Al to move on to pursue his other business interests.”
A Shelburne resident and Burlington restaurateur, Gobeille joined the health network in 2019 following a three-year stint as secretary of human services in Gov. Phil Scott’s administration. Prior to that, Gobeille regulated Vermont’s health care industry as a founding member, and later chair, of the Green Mountain Care Board.
Gobeille, who was earning a $620,000 salary as of 2021, had taken on a public-facing role at the health network, which has faced a series of access, workforce and financial challenges during his tenure. He helped steer the network through the fallout of a cyberattack and the ongoing disruption of the pandemic. And he spearheaded the network’s annual budget presentations to the care board — occasionally contentious affairs that would find him passionately defending the embattled health care provider.
There was speculation following Brumsted’s retirement announcement that Gobeille could be in line to succeed him, but the network’s board hired Eappen, who previously served as an executive for Boston-area hospitals. Gobeille did not immediately return a call for comment on Friday.
“While this was certainly the challenge of a lifetime, it was the amazing team of people, who work hard to provide care every day, that made our work possible,” Gobeille said in a statement.
“The work of the UVM Health Network is truly inspirational and I know Sunny and the team will be successful,” he added.
The network plans to conduct a national search for Gobeille’s replacement.
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