After announcing the resignation of their CEO, United Hospital District is already on the lookout for a replacement.

At the UHD board meeting held last Tuesday, the UHD?Incorporated board chair person, Melanie Humburg, spoke about the resignation of Jeff Lang.

“We looked into the option of hiring an interim CEO,” Humburg said. “And, we decided that’s how we wanted to proceed.”

Lang submitted his resignation at the end of last month, stating he is accepting a CEO position with the UP?Health System – Portage in Hancock, Mich. where he will begin on March 9.

“We met with a consulting firm who identified a gentleman who is interested and qualified for the position,” Humburg said. Humburg added that they have not yet signed a contract with the interested individual, so they could not release his name at the time of the UHD meeting.

“If we do sign with him, we hope to have the interim here in the next few weeks,”?she said. “Ideally there would be a two or three day overlap with Jeff.”

The UHDI board hopes that by bringing an interim in before Lang’s last day, he would have a chance to shadow and pick up where Lang would be leaving off.

Humburg added they also hope to work with a consulting firm when they search for a permanent CEO to replace Lang.

“I am keeping a detailed record of what I am doing, so I?can leave that for the next person,”?Lang told the board.

He added that he has been working on tying up loose ends before he goes, including the transition of forming the new UHDI?board.

“It’s been a big transition and there are still a few minor items that couldn’t occur until after the transition,” Lang said.

However, UHDI?has hit a milestone as a transaction has been processed under the new ownership.

“So, our change of ownership is occurring appropriately,”?Lang added.

Although, there are many changes still taking place which will also be including a new CEO, UHD continues to transition smoothly.

“I can’t communicate how much work went into all of this,”?Lang said.

Humburg told the UHD board that continuing on, one of the main focuses of the UHDI board will be communication.

“We really want to work on communication with UHD, the staff and with the public in general,”?she said. “That is really going to be a key component.”

The search for Lang’s permanent replacement will continue; however, as said before, UHDI is uncertain of the timeline of that process.