Get to know our new President and CEO

Hello! My name's Michael Hartke, and I'm the new President and CEO of St. Charles Health System. I'll be taking this column over from Dr. Steve Gordon, who did a tremendous job leading St. Charles through some challenging times and exciting growth over the past four years. I appreciate all he did, and I'm honored to follow him and blessed to call him a friend.

I'm new to the role, but not new to the organization. I joined St. Charles 15 months ago as Chief Operating Officer, and I've spent that time getting to know the place inside and out - learning the history, visiting the facilities, understanding the operations and, most importantly, getting to know the people who make it all happen.

As with any organization, it's the people who matter most. At St. Charles, the people are our patients, who are at the center of everything we do, and also our caregivers, who come to work every day committed to providing the best possible care for those patients and the communities of Central Oregon. This health system, as you may know, has been steadfastly serving the region for 108 years! That's a long history of compassion and care that we get to build on each and every day.

Speaking of history, let me take this opportunity to tell you a bit about myself. I grew up in a rural part of central Illinois and spent my summers farming. That environment and that work instilled in me two important things that have stayed with me ever since: A strong work ethic, and an understanding that when you're working, there will be things that are within your control - your mindset, your routine, your preparation - and things that aren't. On a farm, the weather is outside your control, and focusing on it isn't going to change it. Instead, I learned to focus on the things I can control and to work hard at controlling the controllable.

When it was time to go to college, I attended Northern Illinois University, where I had the opportunity to not only play basketball for the Huskies, but also to be part of a team working together toward a common goal. Throughout my career, I've seen many teams exceed expectations by working closely and cohesively together to maximize their individual talents for the good of the whole. That's the thing I love most about being on a team - working with others to achieve more than I could achieve on my own - and it's something I've carried with me throughout my career.

I got more than an education at NIU, by the way. That's where I met my wife Amy, who played volleyball for the Huskies. We met while getting our ankles taped before practice - not very romantic, I know, but it was the beginning of a relationship that enriches my life to this day. Amy is awesome, to put it simply, and she has been so supportive of my professional journey. Together, we have three sons; they're all wonderful human beings, and we're incredibly proud of them.

After earning my undergraduate degree, I attended Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, which offers a team-based learning environment that really brought what I'd learned through basketball into the workplace. It was there, I think, where I truly absorbed the leadership traits I value most today: Being able to gather the right type of talent, to motivate people and to bring out the very best in a team in order to get the work done that needs to be done.

That's what I've been doing over the past 25 years in various roles, from executive director of a complex and multi-specialty physician group to president of a 500-bed hospital that was part of a health system with more than 20 clinics. As my roles have changed, I've maintained my love of community-based health care, where you don't just care for the community, you do so as a pillar of the community - as a good neighbor, an economic driver, a civic leader, a cultural mainstay and so on.

That's a big responsibility, and one I take seriously. Don't be mistaken - I like to joke around and have fun, especially in the beautiful outdoors we enjoy here in Central Oregon. But when it's time to work, I believe that "hope" is not a strategy, "soon" is not a timeline and excellence is not an accident. Excellence happens as the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skillful execution and a vision to see the obstacles as opportunities.

Every health care organization has obstacles, and St. Charles is no different. My hope is that you will see our caregivers working together and with intentionality, using those obstacles as opportunities to do what we need to do, which is to be excellent for the communities we serve - to be excellent for you.

I'm excited to be in this position and to lead an organization that is so deeply integrated into Central Oregon and has enjoyed so much support from the community. I'm grateful for every single caregiver and provider who works in our hospitals and clinics. And I'm grateful for the patients and families who trust us to care for them.

Thank you for reading, and for caring about what's happening at St. Charles.

Sincerely,
Michael