MIKE SMITH

Christopher M. Dadlez has over 30 years of experience successfully leading large healthcare organizations in five different states. Chris is a dynamic executive known for vision, strategy, and innovation with a proven track record of successfully leading complex organizations.

Chris served as President and CEO of Trinity Health Of New England, a regional health system whose parent company is Trinity Health in Livonia, Michigan. On October 1, 2015, Saint Francis Care (Hartford, CT) and the Sisters of Providence Health System/Mercy Hospital (Springfield, MA) merged as one regional health system. This new organization, created under Chris’ leadership, is an integrated healthcare delivery system with five acute care hospitals, that consists of annual revenues in excess of $1.9 billion dollars, over 13,000 colleagues, and 3,000 providers, serving a population of nearly three million people in two states.

Within one year five acute care hospitals and their respective entities came together to form Trinity Health Of New England (TH Of NE). This highly complex merger and integration has produced the largest Catholic regional health system in the Northeast, connected by a common vision, mission, and heritage. 

From 2004 to 2015, Chris served as President and Chief Executive Officer, reporting to the Board of Directors, for Saint Francis Care. This integrated health care system consisted of a comprehensive, academic, tertiary care hospital and a free-standing acute-care rehabilitation hospital. In 2015, Saint Francis Care was an attractive partner for Trinity Health. With over 900 affiliated physicians, several affiliates providing long-term care, homecare and hospice; a full-service clinical laboratory; several specialty medical group practices; community based health centers; full-service dental clinical; comprehensive range of behavioral health and substance abuse treatment services with over twelve satellite medical offices throughout the Greater Hartford region, Saint Francis was a highly competitive health system and a major teaching hospital partnering with Quinnipiac and UCONN. Prior to merging with Trinity Health, Saint Francis Care had annual revenues in excess of $900 million, 5,000 colleagues, and was one of the most honored hospitals in New England for quality and patient safety receiving prestigious recognitions from organization such as Consumer Reports, Solucient, HealthGrades, CareChex and Leapfrog.

During his tenure at Saint Francis Care the following additions were made: a ten-story state of the art patient care tower which is home to a new seventy bed emergency room department, OR rooms and contemporary patient rooms; launched many innovative treatment centers such as: Joyce D. and Andrew J. Mandell Center for Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Care and Neuroscience Research; Connecticut Joint Replacement Institute; and the Comprehensive Women’s Center.

Chris has been very passionate about his goal of eliminating health care disparities in the underserved communities. On a national level, he was a member of the American Hospital Association Equity of Care Committee. He helped develop the Connecticut Hospital Association state wide collaborative on eliminating health disparities. Most notably, he is very proud of his efforts to eliminate prostate cancer in African American men in the greater Hartford area with the establishment of the Curtis D. Robinson Men’s Health Institute.

Physician relationships have always been a focus for Chris. He has worked to create strong physician alignment and partnerships. Working closely with Saint Francis Healthcare Partners on population health initiatives and innovative payor relationship models. He authored a commentary in an issue of ACHE’s Frontiers of Health Services Management titled “Population Health Management: The Intersection of Concept and Reality”, which outlined Saint Francis Care’s transformation journey to population health. He is routinely asked to present on roundtable discussions with other thought leaders focusing on pertinent issues impacting healthcare.

Chris earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology at the University of New Hampshire and his Master’s Degree in Hospital Administration at the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University. He was awarded two honorary Doctorate Degrees in Humane Letters from the University of Hartford in May 2013 and the University of Saint Joseph in May 2014.

- Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

- Board Member - American Hospital Association

- Board Member - Connecticut Hospital Association

- Member of Alliance of Independent Academic Medical Centers 

- Member - Association of American Medical Colleges

Chris and his wife,  Eileen,  are well-respected and active members of the community. They have two children, Dr. Nina Dadlez, and Gregory Dadlez and have recently welcomed a new grandson into the family. Chris and Eileen enjoy traveling and visiting their children and respective spouses.