Newswise — Sharon Riley, a former executive at medical centers in Maryland and Nebraska, has been named president of St. Paul and Zale Lipshy University Hospitals.

Ms. Riley's appointment, effective Sept. 1, was announced by Dr. John McConnell, executive vice president for health system affairs at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Ms. Riley will also carry the title of UT Southwestern vice president for university hospitals.

"Sharon is the ideal person to take the university hospitals to the next level," Dr. McConnell said. "Her experience in both academic and community hospitals as well as her reputation for operational excellence and physician relationships make her a perfect fit."

In her most recent capacity (2000-2003), Ms. Riley was chief operating officer of Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, Md., which includes a 230-bed acute care hospital, 70-bed women and children's hospital, four ambulatory sites and seven diagnostic centers. Ms. Riley planned and implemented moving the acute care hospital from an outdated, downtown location to a state-of-the-art $72 million facility, consolidating operations on a new campus. Anne Arundel has annual revenues of $300 million and 2,200 full-time employees.

Ms. Riley served as chief operating officer of the University of Nebraska Medical Center (1996-1998) and vice president of Nebraska Health System (1998-2000). Nebraska Health System, which includes the university medical center, is a 731-bed system with annual revenues of $620 million and 4,300 employees.

She holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in health administration from the University of Iowa.

A photo to go with this release can be downloaded at:http://www3.utsouthwestern.edu/home_pages/news/riley.jpg

The cutline reads:Sharon Riley has been named president of St. Paul and Zale Lipshy University Hospitals.