News Releases

Olson Elected Missouri Hospital Association Chair

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, January 5, 2011 - Gary Olson, president and CEO of St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo., will serve as the 2011 chair of the Missouri Hospital Association Board of Trustees. His one-year term as chair began Jan. 1.

As chair, Olson's duties include overseeing and directing activities of the MHA Board of Trustees, acting as a day-to-day adviser to MHA and testifying before committees of the Missouri General Assembly and Congress. He also will lead a Missouri delegation to Washington, D.C. twice during the year and will act as a state and national spokesperson for Missouri's hospitals.

A permanent trustee of MHA's board, Olson served as chair-elect in 2010 and has served as a board member of MHA's Management Services Corporation since 2009. In addition, he has served on MHA's Community Benefit Reporting Task Force, Finance and Budget Committee, Investment Committee and Workforce Advisory Committee. He served as president of the St. Louis Metropolitan Hospital Council in 2004 and is a 2002 recipient of MHA's Visionary Leadership Award.

Olson was appointed president and CEO of St. Luke's Hospital in 1999 after serving as executive vice president from 1986 to 1999 and senior vice president from 1983 to 1986. He joined St. Luke's as associate administrator in 1978. Before joining St. Luke's, he served as assistant administrator at Lafayette Home Hospital in Lafayette, Ind.

Olson earned a bachelor's degree from Illinois State University in Normal, Ill. and a master's degree in health care administration from Washington University in St. Louis. In 2008, Olson received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Maryville University in St. Louis. He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

The Missouri Hospital Association is a not-for-profit association in Jefferson City that represents 151 Missouri hospitals. In addition to representation and advocacy on behalf of its membership, the association offers continuing education programs on current health care topics and seeks to educate the public, as well as legislative representatives, about health care issues.