July 13 - Bernie Brown, recently retired president and CEO of PROMINA Health System, has been named as the first Robinson Executive-in-Residence in the Robinson College of Business. Effective this fall, he will work closely with graduate students and lecture in the graduate program in the College's Institute of Health Administration. In addition, he will work with the Institute and the Center for Health Services Research to establish collaborative relationships with health services and business organizations, governmental entities, and professional associations, as well as executive leadership issues in the health administration field.
The PROMINA Health System, formed in 1994, has been ranked as one of the leading integrated health systems in the U.S. and includes four local integrated health delivery systems in metropolitan Atlanta: Gwinnett, Piedmont, Southern Regional and DeKalb Health Systems. PROMINA includes eight hospitals and 2000 associated physicians. It is one of the largest non-profit health care delivery systems in the country, with an annual budget exceeding $1.2 billion and approximately 15,000 employees and associates.
Brown's extensive career includes administrative experience in several hospitals, including the University of Alabama Hospitals, North Carolina Memorial Hospital, Memorial Hospital (Gulfport, Miss.) and University Hospital in Augusta. He was president of the Kennestone Regional Health Care System for 22 years prior to the formation in 1993 of the Northwest Georgia Health System, Inc., which he also headed.
Brown received a M.B.A in Health Administration from George Washington University and a B.S. in Business and Economics from Valdosta State University. He currently serves on the Board of Advisors for the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (AHCE) and served two terms on the ACHE Council of Regents. He is past chairman of the Georgia Hospital Association and Voluntary Hospitals of America - Georgia, and is a past member of the House of Delegates of the American Hospital Association. He served on the board of directors of Blue Cross Blue Shield for 20 years.
Brown has been named as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians, and has been active in many national, regional, state and local health-related organizations. In addition, he has served on professional editorial boards and had numerous articles published in state, regional and national professional periodicals and journals. He also has received many honors and awards from healthcare and civic organizations for his work in the community.
The J. Mack Robinson College of Business is one of the nation's top business schools. The College's part-time MBA program has been listed in the top ten by U.S.News & World Report for the past six years and is currently ranked as the nation's best program at a public university. In addition, the magazine lists many of the College's undergraduate and graduate programs among the nation's best. Forbes magazine list the Robinson College in the top ten for return on investment for regional schools, and Business Week ranks the College's Executive MBA program among the top leading 20 schools in the nation.
