Sparks and Summit CEO Resigns

by Paul Gatling ([email protected]) 128 views 

Charles Stewart, announced as CEO of Sparks Health System in Fort Smith and Summit Medical Center in Van Buren last September, has resigned.

Stewart resigned from the job Tuesday, according to an email from Sparks and Summit marketing director Donna Bragg. No reason was given.

“We appreciate his contributions to our health system and wish him well in his future endeavors,” Bragg wrote. “Our work to identify a new CEO will begin immediately, and it will include input from our Board of Trustees and medical staff leadership.

Stewart, an Alabama native, was most recently the CEO of Health Management Associates Inc. hospitals Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center and Twin Rivers Medical Center in Missouri for the past two years.

In July, it was announced Community Health Systems Inc. of Franklin, Tenn., would acquire HMA in a deal worth $3.9 billion.

Stewart had 30 years of experience in hospital management, which includes administrative and executive positions at hospital systems in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and North Carolina.