The CEO of UF Health, which is the parent company of The Villages hospital, has resigned.
Ed Jimenez has resigned from the top post with UF Health.
UF Health has announced that James J. Kelly Jr., senior vice president and chief financial officer for UF Health Shands, has been named interim CEO.
Jimenez was appointed CEO of UF Health Shands in 2014 after first joining the hospital system in 2010 as chief operating officer. Jimenez was at the helm in 2021 when a ransomware attack froze up the computers at UF Health-The Villages Hospital and UF Health-Leesburg Hospital. The attack, which Jimenez attempted to dismiss as a glitch, caused major headaches for Villagers who attempted to access medical care through the hospitals. The attack set the hospitals back to the stone age, with medical staffers reverting to pen and paper as modern technology was widely unavailable. Jimenez chose to stay mum on the topic and would not go on the record to provide an explanation of what was occurring.
It was announced in December 2019, that UF Health was acquiring Central Florida Health, including The Villages Regional Hospital and Leesburg Medical Center.
The interim CEO has worked for the hospital system since 2012.
Kelly earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the State University of New York at Albany. Before joining UF Health, Kelly worked as corporate controller for Partners HealthCare System in Boston.