James H. Skogsbergh

Growing up in the Midwest was good for Jim Skogsbergh. A talented athlete, he played baseball for Iowa State University, graduating in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in physical education. Iowa State was where he met his future wife, Diana Marcum, and the young couple relocated to Iowa City so that Jim could enter the graduate program in Health Administration at the University of Iowa. After earning his graduate degree in 1982, he went on to his first job experiences.

In these early years, with the help of influential mentors, such as Dr. Samuel Levey, the graduate program director at Iowa, Stephen Ummel, at Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Indiana, and Sister Judith Meyers at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, among others, Jim launched his career in health care administration. In Iowa, Indiana and Illinois he made lifelong friends and pursued his career which included leadership positions at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana, at Methodist Hospital in Des Moines and most recently at Advocate Health.

Besides serving as CEO at leading hospitals and health systems, Jim has found time to volunteer for various organizations, including serving on the board of the American Hospital Association and board chair at AHA in 2016.

Jim also had the unusual opportunity to share leadership responsibilities twice as a co-CEO, an experience which he discusses in this lengthy interview. This new document is part of the Hospital Administration Oral History series, prepared and published by the American Hospital Association Resource Center.

The Hospital Administration Oral History series can be found and read here at no charge: https://www.aha.org/health-leader-oral-histories.