Berlin, Vt. – Barre native and national quality expert Anna T. Noonan, BSN, MS, RN, has been appointed president and chief operating officer for The University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC). Following a rigorous national search, she emerged as the successful candidate and will start in the role July 24.
Since 2004, Noonan has served as vice president of the Jeffords Institute for Quality and Operational Effectiveness at The University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) in Burlington. She has concurrently served as vice president of quality management for CVMC since 2012. In both roles, Noonan focuses on accelerating clinical outcomes, improving operational efficiency and promoting population health strategies.
She has been employed by UVMMC, previously Fletcher Allen Health Care, for 35 years in a variety of clinical and leadership roles.
“Anna’s exceptional leadership at the Jeffords Institute ensures patients receive the highest quality care available, and she’ll undoubtedly continue that tradition of excellence and continuous improvement at CVMC,” said Dr. John Brumsted, president and chief executive officer for The University of Vermont Health Network, and CEO of The University of Vermont Medical Center.
Noonan will report directly to Brumsted and CVMC’s Board of Trustees, chaired by Michael Dellipriscoli.
“Anna’s considerable experience, as a nurse, quality executive and senior health care administrator, is the kind of expert knowledge needed to lead CVMC through a rapidly changing health care environment,” Dellipriscoli said. “We’re thrilled to welcome her to CVMC in this new capacity.”
“Leading at CVMC is a good fit professionally and culturally,” Noonan said. “The staff at CVMC is a phenomenal group – principle-based, hard-working and committed. Their values are my values.”
Under Noonan’s leadership, significant accomplishments of the Jeffords Institute include:
- Collaborating to design quality improvements that resulted in a 5 percent reduction in congestive heart failure readmissions;
- Providing strategic leadership to secure $30 million in graduate medical education funding for UVMMC;
- Receiving 2015’s Humanitarian Award from the Patient Safety Movement Foundation for efforts to reduce preventable patient deaths;
- Earning national recognition for designing and sustaining performance in healthcare-associated infection prevention practices and strategies;
- Contributing to efforts which earned a 2014 Partnership for Prevention Award from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, and The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America;
- Implementing systems which earned UVMMC top 20 quality, safety and efficiency rankings among 110 academic centers nationwide for six consecutive years.
In her new role, Noonan envisions CVMC building stronger local connections.
“This new role is a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the community in a broader sense,” she said. “Serving in this role in central Vermont really is like coming home again.”
Noonan began her professional career as a registered nurse, earning degrees from The University of Vermont (UVM). She completed a master’s degree in executive leadership and administration from Champlain College.
Noonan has deep roots in central Vermont. Her father, Luigi “Gino” Tempesta, was a sculptor in Barre’s granite industry. Born in Barre, her first job, at age 16, was as a nurse’s aide on CVMC’s medical-surgical unit.
“My first real paycheck came from CVMC, so I feel like I have come full circle,” Noonan said.