UnityPoint Health announced two key executive leadership positions today, with the appointment of Clay Holderman as president and CEO of UnityPoint Health, and Dr. Sanjeeb Khatua as the next president and CEO of UnityPoint Clinic. 

Holderman is currently executive vice president and chief operating officer of Presbyterian Healthcare Services, a private, not-for-profit, integrated health care system in New Mexico and that state’s largest provider of health care. He will join UnityPoint Health in his new roles in mid-February. 

Throughout his two decades of health care leadership, he has been involved in new program development, hospital consolidation, new hospital conception and construction, and health system performance improvement. He began his career as a physician recruiter and has more than two decades of experience in investor-owned and not-for-profit health care leadership. 

“Clay Holderman is a leader who believes in making a positive and lasting impact on the lives of those we are privileged to care for,” said Randy Easton, chair of the UnityPoint Health board of directors. “It was quickly evident Clay has that unique combination of a values-oriented mindset coupled with a transformative vision for the future.”

UnityPoint Health, the nation’s 13th-largest U.S. nonprofit health system with operations across Iowa, western Illinois and southern Wisconsin, began a national executive search after Kevin Vermeer announced his decision to step down on April 30 to pursue other opportunities. Sue Thompson, senior vice president of Integration and Optimization and CEO of UnityPoint Accountable Care, has been interim president and CEO since May 1.  

Holderman has a Master of Business Administration degree from Colorado State University and an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University. He completed a fellowship in health system leadership from the Health Management Academy’s GE Fellows Program. He is involved in numerous community, health-care and charitable organizations in New Mexico.

Khatua, UnityPoint Clinic’s new leader, was selected by a committee of leaders and physicians based on his leadership experience, passion for medical group practice and ability to integrate with a health system vision and strategy, UnityPoint Health said in a release. 

He succeeds Dr. David Williams, who moved to the role of chief clinical officer of UnityPoint Health. Dr. Patricia Newland has served as interim president and CEO of UnityPoint Clinic since May, and will serve until January when Khatua officially starts.

Khatua currently holds multiple leadership roles at Edward Elmhurst Health, a $1.5 billion integrated health delivery system located in the western suburbs of Chicago. Those positions include executive vice president, chief physician executive, and president of Edward Health Ventures, a physician and ambulatory network. 

A board-certified physician, Khatua earned his medical degree from Medical University of Silesia in Poland and completed his family medicine residency in Hinsdale, Ill. He received a Master of Public Health degree from Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, Calif., in 2012 and an MBA in health care management from Loyola University in Chicago in 2015.

“Dr. Khatua is an innovative, transformational thinker with a proven track record for achieving and executing on operational and financial key performance indicators while improving quality and outcomes,” said Dr. Andrea White, chair of the UnityPoint Clinic board of directors. “His commitment to strong partnerships between physicians and health system leadership will be an incredible asset to UnityPoint Clinic, and we also deeply appreciate his enthusiasm for a values-driven culture.”

Khatua will be based in West Des Moines. He and his wife, a physical therapist, have two children.