January 10, 2014

Dr. Pladson to retire from CentraCare at end of 2014

 Terry Pladson, MD, has announced that he will retire as president and CEO of CentraCare Health on Dec. 31, 2014.  Pladson graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School and joined Internal Medicine Associates of St. Cloud as a pulmonologist in 1978. That clinic later merged with the St. Cloud Internists Clinic to form the St. Cloud Clinic of Internal Medicine (SCCIM). Pladson became president of SCCIM in 1990. Five years later, SCCIM and St. Cloud Hospital merged to form CentraCare Health System. Pladson and hospital president John Frobenius were CentraCare co-presidents until Frobenius retired at the end of 2002. Since that time, Pladson, who earned an MBA from the University of St. Thomas in 1999, has been sole CentraCare president.

 CentraCare Health has grown from one hospital, one clinic and one senior living campus into an organization of more than 8,000 employees operating six hospitals, nursing homes and senior apartments in six communities, and 17 clinics across the region. CentraCare also operates numerous specialty services, including the CentraCare Heart & Vascular Center, Coborn Cancer Center and the CentraCare Kidney Program. CentraCare serves all who seek care with compassion, dignity and respect, while seeking to enhance individual and community health.

“I intend to do my best to make the next 12 months a year of progress toward achieving CentraCare Health’s vision of being the leader in Minnesota for quality, safety, service and value,” Pladson said.

Gene Windfeldt, chair of the CentraCare Health Board of Directors, praised Pladson: “Dr. Pladson has been an inspiration to the board and the entire organization through his commitment to the CentraCare mission, ‘to improve the health of every patient every day.’ He has been the right person at the right time for the CentraCare organization.”

CentraCare Health will work with an executive search firm to conduct a nationwide search for Pladson’s replacement.