Shore Health System announced that Kenneth D. Kozel, FACHE, has been named the new President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Shore Health System (SHS) based in Easton, Maryland. SHS is a member of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS).

Kozel has 23 years of healthcare experience, including most recently as President of the two hospitals that comprise Upper Chesapeake Health (UCH) in Harford County, Maryland. During more than eight years in executive leadership at Upper Chesapeake Health, Kozel has helped guide the organization through multiple major projects resulting in improved patient safety and an enhanced environment of care, including a $35 million patient tower expansion and infrastructure renovations for Upper Chesapeake’s two hospitals.

As Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Upper Chesapeake Health System, Kozel has overseen the daily hospital operations of a combined 301-bed organization with revenues exceeding $325 million. Under his leadership, Upper Chesapeake Health received the 2008 Maryland Performance Excellence Award – Gold Medal, the Maryland equivalent of the national Baldridge Award for quality. Kozel served as a key member of the Upper Chesapeake strategic planning team that was responsible for developing plans essential for the affiliation and planned merger of UCH and UMMS.

“We are very pleased that Ken will be joining Shore Health System. He has a track record of working well with physicians, the healthcare team and communities to expand services, programs and facilities. His invaluable experience with Maryland healthcare, with its particular regulatory environment and with the blending of hospitals into a unified system of care will serve our region and Shore Health System very well,” explains John W. Dillon, Chairman of the Shore Health System Board of Directors and co-chair of the search committee with University of Maryland Medical System CEO Robert Chrencik.

Kozel holds a Master of Business Administration degree and Master of Science in Business degree from the Johns Hopkins University. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology from the University of Maryland at Baltimore and worked in progressively expanding roles at Johns Hopkins Hospital for nearly 10 years before joining UCH in 1997.

He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, has been a Board member of the Maryland Association of Healthcare Executives and has served on the Council on Clinical and Quality Issues for the Maryland Hospital Association. He served as Chairman of the Board and a member of the Foundation Board for The Association for Retarded Citizens, Northern Chesapeake Region. He is married and has two children.

Kozel, who will begin his new role as President and CEO of Shore Health System by October 3, says that he looks forward to joining the team at Shore. “This is a very exciting time for me, to be joining an organization that has so many accomplishments and a statewide reputation for clinical quality and excellence,” Kozel says. “Shore is on the threshold of many exciting achievements, including a new regional medical center, and I look forward to working with the physicians, Boards, the executive team, our partners at Chester River Health and UMMS, volunteers, the employees and the community to help bring the Board’s vision to life.”