Business exec for chairman of HMO

Yossi Rosen named Sunday as new chairman of the Hadassah Medical Organization board of directors.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
YossiRosen311 (photo credit: .)
YossiRosen311
(photo credit: .)
Sources close to the Hadassah Medical Organization management welcomed the naming of Yossi Rosen on Sunday as the new chairman of its board of directors.
The HMO runs the Hadassah University Medical Centers and the professional schools of medicine, nursing and others. Rosen, chairman of the board of Israel Oil Refineries Ltd. and former chairman of Israel Chemicals Ltd., has accumulated three decades of top-tier management experience and also has solid ties to Israel’s healthcare community.
The new 15-member board will hold its first session in New York on June 10. Eight of the members are Americans and the rest Israelis.
Sources close to management said Rosen was a “very suitable candidate and has an impressive amount of business and executive experience.”
All but one of the Israeli members of the HMO board of directors resigned earlier this year over its decision not to renew the contract of organization director-general Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef beyond the end of 2010. The initial policy decision by the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America and its national president Nancy Falchuk was rescinded following intense public and intra-HMO pressure, and Mor-Yosef is expected to continue in his post for another two years.
The previous chairman of the board was Yossi Nitzani, a former head of the Government Companies Authority, who resigned over the initial decision.
Rosen has served as president of Ofer Holdings Group Ltd., as well as chairman of Reshet-Noga Ltd. (Channel 2 broadcaster). He has also served as a member of the board of directors and the executive committee of Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. and United Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank Ltd. He has a degree in business management and a BA in economics and political science.
“As we mark 100 years of providing healthcare in Israel and prepare for a second century of service, HWZOA is honored and confident that the Hadassah Medical Organization is in the capable hands of chairman Yossi Rosen and the other dedicated members of the board of directors,” said Falchuk. “We know that Yossi and his colleagues on the board share the HMO commitment to quality medical care for all, to state-of-the-art medical education and to world-class medical research.”
Commenting on his election, Rosen said, “It is with great honor and hope that I accept the trusted chairmanship of such a prestigious and world-leading medical center.”
He noted that he would be very busy, as HWZOA “is throwing its weight behind the building of the new state-of-the-art Sarah Wetsman Davidson hospital tower, [which] will greatly benefit hundreds of thousands of people in Israel.”
Rosen added that he looked forward to working with the board of directors, hospital management and Mor-Yosef, medical staff, supporters and volunteers, who, “as an exceptionally talented, committed and cohesive unit, will shape the future of the hospital.”
The appointment marks the completion of a new HMO board, following the recent appointments of Israeli members Prof. Shmuel Penchas (a former HMO director-general) Esther Dominissini (director of the National Insurance Institute) and Uri Galili. They join existing members Falchuk, Annette Sondock, Marcie Natan, Bonnie Lipton, Norma Gindes, Maureen Schulman, Judy Swartz, Dr. D. Walter Cohen, Dr. Mort Rapoport, Dr. William T. Speck and former Israel ambassador to the US Zalman Shoval.