Valley General gets new CEO

Valley General Hospital has hired a new CEO.

Eric Jensen, who will take the position Jan. 30, is currently the CEO of the non-profit Regional Hospital for Respiratory and Complex Care in South Seattle. He has held that position since 2008.

Prior to that, he was CEO of Kittitas Valley Community Hospital in Ellensburg. He served there for 13 years, working with a medical staff of 70 physicians, both in inpatient and clinical settings.

For 12 of those 13 years, the hospital operated without losses. He was recruited away from that job by Regional Hospital in Seattle, a job he took to be closer to family, he said at the time.

From 1988-1995, Jensen was CEO of Forks Community Hospital, where he helped establish a general surgery practice at the hospital, as well as a women’s rural health clinic. He also helped complete an addition and renovation project there, and assisted in the creation of a telemedicine clinic linked to Virginia Mason Medical Center.

He is a past member of the board of directors of the Washington State Hospital Association, past president of the Northwest Hospital Council, a past member of the Governor’s EMS and Trauma Steering Committee, and a past chair of the WSHA Rural Committee.

He has been active in United Way, Hospice Friends and Rotary International.

He graduated from the University of Washington, and earned his master’s degree in Hospital Administration from Tulane University in New Orleans.

Jensen takes the place of Mike Liepman, who resigned in April of last year in order to take a job in Mount Vernon.

Since Liepman’s departure, the hospital has been under the leadership of interim CEO Michael Fraser.