Fort Greene

Brooklyn Hospital Center’s interim CEO to take over on March 1

Jonathan Weld to serve during search for Dr. Becker’s replacement

February 27, 2015 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Jonathan M. Weld. Photo courtesy of The Brooklyn Hospital Center
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A trustee of The Brooklyn Hospital Center, Jonathan M. Weld, will be taking over as interim president and chief executive officer of the hospital on Sunday, March 1.

Weld will serve while the board continues its search for a successor to departing CEO Dr. Richard B. Becker.

Weld made it clear that the position was just temporary. “I am pleased to assume leadership, though for a short period, of this great institution, Brooklyn’s first and preeminent hospital,” Mr. Weld said in a statement.

The Brooklyn Hospital Center (TBHC), an affiliate of The Mount Sinai Hospital, is located in Fort Greene.

Weld was chairman of TBHC’s board of trustees from 2003 to 2010 and will take a leave of absence from his trustee position while serving as acting CEO.

Weld has lived in Brooklyn since the 1960s and is president of St. Ann’s School, chair of the Strategic Planning Committee at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and chairman of the board of The Evergreens Cemetery in Bushwick.

“We are very fortunate that Jon is willing to take on this role,” Carlos Naudon, chairman of the board, said in a statement. “Jon’s extensive ties to Brooklyn and his long association with the hospital and the health care industry make him an ideal fit to lead the hospital through this transition in leadership.”

Dr. Becker, who ran the Fort Greene facility for roughly seven years, had campaigned to double the size of the emergency department at TBHC. With the closure of Long Island College Hospital (LICH), delays at ERs across Brooklyn and long waits for admission have become the norm.

A TBHC spokesperson told the Brooklyn Eagle in January that the renovation of the hospital’s emergency department “will be a core responsibility of the incoming hospital CEO.”

“The ED has seen a slight increase in volume since LICH’s closure, but we’ve got the space to accommodate the increase,” he added.

TBHC said Dr. Becker and Mr. Weld will overlap for a short period to ensure a smooth transition.

Weld has been affiliated with corporate law firm Shearman and Sterling since 1967. He became a partner in 1976 and was made Of Counsel at the firm in 2007.

Dr. Becker is resigning to become the CEO of New Found Health, a hospital and healthcare company affiliated with private equity firm Blue Wolf Capital Partners.

TBHC and Blue Wolf were partners in a controversial bid to develop the LICH site in Cobble Hill. That bid was eventually won by Fortis Property Group.

 

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