Kathleen (Kathy) Morimoto
St. Francis Healthcare System has selected HMSA vice-president Kathleen (Kathy) Morimoto as president and CEO of St. Francis Healthcare System. She began Dec.18.
Howard Lee, chairman of the St. Francis Healthcare System Board of Directors made the announcement to Healthcare System employees in a Dec. 5 letter. He said the selection came after an extensive local and national executive search.
Lee thanked Melissa Ah Ho-Mauga, St. Francis vice president of client services, who served as interim CEO for the past year. She stepped in after the unexpected death of CEO Jerry Correa on Oct. 27, 2022.
“Kathy has a decade of healthcare leadership experience in Hawaii,” said Lee. “Most recently, she was vice president of clinical integration and community health at HMSA, focusing on improving access to affordable care and addressing health disparities for HMSA members.”
Morimoto said she was “honored to join the St. Francis Healthcare System team.”
“I am humbled to be a part of the 140-year legacy of caring that began with the Sisters of St. Francis, and share a deep sense of responsibility and compassion for our kupuna,” she said.
Morimoto also served in leadership roles at The Queen’s Health System and The Queen’s Medical Center. Her roles ranged from building systemwide strategy and expansion of acute and outpatient services to West Oahu and North Hawaii, to hospital administration in general medicine, behavioral health and patient flow.
Kathy began her career as an audit and consulting manager with Arthur Andersen LLP and its successor firm, KMH LLP. She received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and later earned her CPA designation.
She currently serves as a trustee of the Mid-Pacific Institute and a board member of Kupu. She and her husband, David, have two daughters.
