BENNINGTON, Vt. — Thomas A. Dee is retiring this year after 16 years at the helm of Southwestern Vermont Health Care.

 

Dee has had a significant impact on the Southern Vermont medical center, overseeing its affiliation with Dartmouth Health, expanding access to care services through telehealth and offices in outlying communities, and steering the new $31 million emergency room expansion to fruition last year. 

 

The CEO and president of the health care system said he plans to retire at the end of 2025 and a search committee has been formed to seek his replacement.

 

"It is with mixed emotions that I take this next step in my life," Dee said. "After 45 years in healthcare leadership, I can honestly say that my time at Southwestern Vermont Health Care has been some of the most formative, fulfilling and, at times, humbling work in my career. SVHC has an amazing team of individuals, who care deeply about the patients and families we serve."

 

Tom Green, chair of the Board of Trustees will co-chair the executive search committee, along with other key leaders at SVHC and Dartmouth Health.

 

"Tom Dee's extraordinary leadership has been transformative and has catapulted our community hospital into one with a statewide and national spotlight that has five consecutive recognitions as a Magnet Hospital for Nursing Excellence and the American Hospital Association's Rural Hospital Leadership Award," said Green. "He has always taken a hands-on approach to enhancing patient care and experience, while consistently supporting the superb providers, nurses and staff that make it all possible. While Tom leaves big shoes to fill, he has built a highly talented leadership team and is leaving SVHC in a strong position for our next leader."

 

Dee led SVHC through its initial affiliation with what was then known as Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health in 2012, and the integration with the Dartmouth Health system in 2023. He also guided Southwestern Vermont Medical Center through massive transformations, including the building of the new emergency department and front entrance, as well as impending plans for a new cancer center and an inpatient adolescent mental health unit. He has also played a key role in economic development in Bennington, specifically with the redevelopment plans for the former Southern Vermont College campus and the downtown Putnam project.

 

"Under Tom's leadership, SVMC has grown from a trusted community hospital that residents of southern Vermont and their neighbors in New York and Massachusetts had relied on for over a century, to a national model of excellence in rural health-care delivery," said Dr. Joanne M. Conroy, CEO and president of Dartmouth Health.  

 

"Since joining our system nearly two years ago, SVMC has not only been strengthened by all the resources available to it as a Dartmouth Health member, but Dartmouth Health itself has been strengthened by SVMC's commitment to quality care and innovation — so much of which comes from Tom leading the hospital. I extend my heartfelt congratulations and gratitude, on behalf of all of Dartmouth Health, to my colleague and friend Tom Dee, whose vision over the last 16 years has and will continue to benefit us all."

 

Other members of the search committee include: Former Trustee Chair Kathy Fisher, Trustee officers Stephen Kelly and Dimitri Garder, Dartmouth Health Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Edward J. Merrens, Dartmouth Health Chief Strategy Officer Stephen J. Leblanc, SVMC Trustee and former chief nursing officer Carol Conroy, and SVMC past trustee and medical staff president, Dr. Themarge Small.

 

Dee, who plans to remain in the Bennington area, said he has the utmost confidence in the search process ahead.

 

"I have always seen myself as a temporary steward of a great institution that has served this community for more than 100 years," Dee said. "The leadership we have in place, along with our trustees, clinical and support teams, will ensure SVHC's mission continues for another century."