JOEL WERNICK
President and CEO
Phoebe Putney Health System
417 Third Avenue
Albany, Georgia 31701
www.phoebeputney.com

Joel Wernick is the President/CEO of not for profit Phoebe Putney Health System located in Albany, Georgia. Phoebe is the region's largest employer and includes Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, a 450-bed tertiary care teaching- hospital and Phoebe Worth Medical Center, a critical access rural hospital. The System also manages the Southwest Georgia Regional Medical Center, Georgia's first critical access hospital, located in Cuthbert, Georgia. Phoebe oversees the Southwest Georgia Family Medicine Residency and is the site for the Medical College of Georgia's first satellite clinical campus.

Mr. Wernick is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is director of the Voluntary Hospitals of America (VHA). Other leadership positions include the board of VHA-Georgia, the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals and is Chairman of the Medical Resource Network, a statewide managed care network.. Mr. Wernick is actively involved in many local civic and economic development initiatives. He currently chairs the Southwest Georgia Alliance for Progress, a regional coalition to strengthen economic, educational and cultural infrastructures.

During Mr. Wernick's tenure, Phoebe has been recognized nationally for excellence in clinical quality, operations and community health. In 2004 Phoebe was presented the prestigious American Hospital Association's Foster G. McGaw Prize. Additionally, the health system became the first hospital recipient of a Discovery Health Channel Medical Honor. Phoebe has also won three VHA Leadership Awards and the American Hospital Association's Nova Award for an innovative teen pregnancy prevention program.

Mr. Wernick earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and a master's degree in hospital administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati.