David Benn, influential Modesto-area hospital administrator, to retire

While hospital administrators in Stanislaus County are typically recruited from outside the Central Valley, David Benn seemed to be born to manage health care facilities in the region.

Benn, who oversaw Memorial Medical Center, two other hospitals and clinics for Sutter Health in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, plans to retire in January after a 39-year career.

Benn, 61, led the decision-making and negotiations to affiliate Memorial Medical Center of Modesto with Sacramento-based Sutter in 1996. He guided development of health care facilities including the $180 million North Tower project at Memorial and had leadership roles with local organizations such as Community Hospice.

As president of Sutter’s Central Valley Region the past six years, Benn was responsible for aligning Memorial, Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, Memorial Hospital Los Banos and Sutter Gould Medical Foundation into a regional healthcare network serving 250,000 or more patients.

He became of the chief executive officer of Memorial Hospitals Association in 1994 at a time when local health care factions waged public battles.

“Back in the days when Memorial needed continuous leadership and management, he was the rock that held the whole place together,” said Harold Peterson, former chief executive officer of Community Hospice. “He provided mentorship for a lot of people who came through the hospital in management.”

In looking back on his career, Benn said he took the most pride in developing staff who went on to key positions in health care management.

“I view myself as a people person,” he said. “I feel my selection of people was really good. I did not bat one thousand but think I could spot good talent.”

When Benn started his career with Memorial Hospitals Association in 1976, the organization owned Memorial hospital at Briggsmore Avenue and Coffee Road in Modesto and had a second hospital in Ceres.

The Ripon native was born in the Ceres hospital, and his father, a physician, and mother, a nurse, were original members of Memorial Hospitals Association.

Benn, who holds a degree from University of California at Davis, said he could not pass organic chemistry to save his soul but found he thoroughly enjoyed managing health facilities.

Although a press release said he helped create the MediFlight air ambulance in the late 1970s, Benn acknowledged he worked on the effort but was quick to give the credit to a former manager, Richard Donker. Benn worked for a brief period for another healthcare group and then returned to Memorial Hospitals Association in 1985.

As the CEO of Memorial, starting in 1994, he soon recognized the hospital needed to merge with a larger organization and took that recommendation to the board of directors.

“We talked to other organizations and pretty quickly narrowed it down to Sutter as the best choice,” he said.

According to Benn, the Modesto hospital has benefited from Sutter’s expertise, insurance contracts and physician relations, and its ability to purchase supplies and equipment for less cost and finance expansion.

The seven-story North Tower project at Memorial required several years of planning and three years of construction before it was completed in 2007. It created 18 new operating rooms on two separate floors, 112 additional beds in newly furnished rooms, a two-story lobby with a glass atrium and an upscale cafeteria.

The top two floors remain shelled in for future needs. Today, Memorial is licensed for 423 beds.

Benn also set the course for growth with planning and construction of the Sutter Gould Medical Foundation clinics in Turlock and Tracy.

His community work included leadership roles with Community Hospice, Rotary, United Way of Stanislaus County and the March of Dimes.

David Thompson began working with Benn in 1994 and was promoted to chief executive officer of Sutter Tracy Community Hospital in 2006. He said Benn is a strong planner and thoughtful executive who allows management staff to grow professionally.

“He gave people the freedom to act,” Thompson said. “By doing that, it made you feel good about going to work.”

As board chairman for Community Hospice in the 1990s, Benn suggested that Peterson take the helm of the nonprofit service, even though his previous management experience was with the Tri Valley Growers cooperative.

“(The hospice) was struggling but David and the other board members were committed to making the organization successful,” Peterson recalled. “His premise was that I had managed a lot of people at Tri Valley, and they had the technical people who could handle the day-to-day operations.”

Under Peterson’s leadership for 18 years, Community Hospice raised funds for building the Alexander Cohen Hospice House in Hughson and grew into an organization with 175 employees and more than 300 volunteers. It provided services to 1,800 patients and their family members in 2012.

Sutter Health won’t find anyone to replace Benn. The nonprofit health system reorganized earlier this year, grouping its Bay Area hospitals and physician groups into one service area and combining its facilities in Stanislaus, Merced and San Joaquin counties in a second area that includes Sutter’s former Sacramento Sierra Region.

There is no longer an executive position over the Sutter facilities in Stanislaus, Merced and San Joaquin counties. Benn said retirement will give him more time to spend with his grandchildren, read some books and consider part-time work in health care.

“He has done a marvelous job and I commend him for it,” Peterson said.

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 9:00 PM with the headline "David Benn, influential Modesto-area hospital administrator, to retire."