Catawba Valley Health System Welcomes New Chief Financial Officer

Catawba Valley Health System (CVHS) has announced the hiring of Pam Gallagher as Chief Financial Officer. Gallagher first came to CVHS as interim CFO in April before being named to the permanent position in July.

Gallagher has nearly three decades of extensive healthcare experience and comes to CVHS from having served in the interim CFO or permanent CFO role for hospitals and health systems in Kansas, Louisiana, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Nebraska, South Carolina, Hawaii, Kentucky, and Texas among others.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, New Jersey, and then her Master of Business Administration degree in Information Systems from City University in Bellevue, Washington. Most recently, she completed her Doctor of Business Administration in 2016 from Walden University in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“Pam brings a wealth of proven strategies that have made major impacts on small community hospitals, academic teaching hospitals, and larger health systems,” said Dennis Johnson, president and CEO for CVHS. “Her expertise and experience will further strengthen our commitment to grow in financial independence, as well as working within the executive team to develop additional ways we can effectively serve our workforce and our standing in the community.”

Johnson added, “Perhaps her greatest attribute is that she has proven time and again her desire to uphold her personal mission statement of ‘balancing the reality of finance with the delivery of excellent patient care.’”

Gallagher is the second new addition to the CVHS executive team in the last two months. Michele Sedney was named Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer in June as well.