In parting ways with chief executive Kevin Rogols, Johnston Health leaders say they wanted a fresh perspective as the hospital rides out the economic storm.

Meanwhile, the hospital's chief financial officer has said he no longer plans to leave.

Hospital board chairman Ralph Stewart Jr. said board members were unsure Rogols was the right leader for the coming years.

"We have got to a point with the finances and everything that's going downhill," Stewart said. "We just thought we needed a new set of eyes; the board lost confidence a little bit in his leadership going forward in that respect."

Stewart said he asked Quorom Health Resources, the private company that manages the hospital, to begin the search for a new CEO. The hospital's board did not formally vote to fire Rogols, but, as required by law, Stewart contacted each board member before taking action, he said.

"It was pretty well unanimous," he said. "I took action with the support of the board."

Rogols, who arrived in June 2006, ably led the hospital through a period of expansion, but changing times called for a new perspective, Stewart said.

"I think it's always good to have a new set of eyes," he said, comparing the change with the leadership changes many large companies made during the recession.

Ruth Marler, chief operating officer, will be the temporary CEO while QHR and the hospital board search for Rogol's replacement.

QHR will gather 30 to 40 candidates, meet with 10 top prospects, then allow the hospital board to pick a new CEO from a slate of three or four finalists, Stewart said. A new CEO would likely begin work by the first of next year, he said.

QHR is looking for a new position for Rogols and will likely continue to employ him, Stewart said. "Kevin is a good guy," he said. "He'll land on his feet, no doubt about that."

Finance office

As one replacement search begins, the hospital board has called off another. Chief financial officer Stephen Sawyer had announced his resignation in the middle of September but now plans to stay on board indefinitely.

In a news release last month, Sawyer explained that his wife, D.J., was homesick for Newberry, S.C., where Sawyer was CFO for another hospital for three years before coming to Johnston County. But in the weeks since, the hospital board asked him to stay on, and the family's friends reached out to D.J. to make her feel more at home in Johnston, Sawyer said

"She didn't realize that a lot of people were hoping she wouldn't leave," he said.

Now, the Sawyers plan to continue building a new home in Pine Level.