.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
After 13 years at Iowa Health – Des Moines, most recently as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Iowa Methodist Medical Center and Iowa Lutheran Hospital, David Stark will move to Chicago to become the chief executive of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. His last day at Iowa Health is Jan. 23.

Stark, 37, has become a young leader in the Des Moines community, helping move Iowa Health’s new West Des Moines hospital forward and serving in a variety of roles with nonprofit organizations, including on the board of United Way of Central Iowa and as past-chair of the American Heart Association’s Heart Ball Gala.

Here are a few thoughts on his departure:

What led you to this new position?

It’s a wonderful opportunity for me to take the next step in my career to become the president and chief executive of an organization. That has been a career goal of mine. The second reason is Lutheran General is a wonderful organization and the people that I’ll be working for there are actually the people that hired me here at Iowa Health – Des Moines when I started 13 years ago, so it’s a bit of a reunion of sorts.

Do you have some set goals as soon as you get there?

One is position relationships will be an important first step – to begin developing those and growing those – and second, they are in the process of completing a large bed tower addition, which will come on line mid-2009.

What’s your greatest accomplishment while you’ve been here?

I think the success that we’ve had in patient satisfaction I’m most proud of because that’s been the most meaningful to me and that’s bigger than any of the physical projects we’ve done.

What will you miss most about Des Moines?

We’ve developed such good relationships here with people. Not just our kids and the family and the school, but the people I’ve come to know here in this organization I will certainly miss a great deal. That’s the hard part of saying goodbye.