FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – CentraState Healthcare System President and CEO John T. Gribbin has announced his plan to retire in April.
“It has been my privilege to serve this community for more than 20 years and to have worked with board members, senior management, physicians and staff who have helped grow CentraState (Medical Center) from a hospital to a comprehensive health system. CentraState is well positioned for the future. I felt the timing was right for the organization to transition to new leadership,” Gribbin said.
While retiring from his position as president and CEO, Gribbin will continue to work on special projects through the system’s partner, PIER Practice Solutions, according to a press release.
CentraState’s Board of Trustees is exploring options for Gribbin’s successor to assure a seamless leadership transition, according to the press release.
CentraState’s current board chairman, John Cantalupo, said Gribbin was successful in ensuring CentraState remained a reliable and trusted community resource during a period when so many hospitals around New Jersey were facing financial pressures.
“He redefined what it means to be a community hospital by never losing focus for the organization throughout his tenure,” said Cantalupo.
John Eggert, a past board chairman, said Gribbin “led the way in introducing a broad range of wellness services through the Star and Barry Tobias Health Awareness Center (which was) designed to maintain health and better manage chronic conditions through education, management techniques and coaching, that have helped strengthen the connection between CentraState and the community.”
Gribbin joined CentraState Healthcare System as president and CEO in 2000. During his tenure, he presided over the opening of the Donna O’Donnell, RN, Medical Arts Building, and the construction of the Star and Barry Tobias Ambulatory campus, the largest construction project in CentraState’s history.
In 2005, CentraState became a university affiliated teaching hospital in conjunction
with the Rutgers RWJ Medical School that graduates six new family medicine physicians each year, according to the press release.
Gribbin was instrumental in successfully advocating for new cardiac regulations providing greater access to high quality cardiovascular care for patients throughout New Jersey, according to the press release.
He also played a key role in partnering with the Visiting Nurse Association and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in developing the Freehold Family Health Center, a federally qualified health center serving the greater Freehold area that provides comprehensive primary care to underserved, disadvantaged, uninsured and underinsured patients, according to the press release.
More recently, CentraState entered into a unique model for health system co-ownership with Atlantic Health System, which provides CentraState with significant resources to support its longstanding community focus while advancing Atlantic Health’s mission to touch more lives in New Jersey through collaborations for high quality, value-based care.
When COVID-19 hit CentraState hard and early, Gribbin developed response teams and organizational changes to keep patients and employees safe. He was dedicated to providing vaccines to as many people as possible, including teachers, students and those in underserved communities, according to the press release.
