CEO named for new hospital

CEO named for new hospital

Baptist taps Welton for top administrative spot at Crittenden County facility

ralphhardin@gmail.com Groundbreaking hasn’t taken place yet, but the new Baptist Memorial Health Care facility slated to begin construction in West Memphis soon already has a toplevel administrator.

Brian Welton has been named Chief Executive Officer for the planned Baptist Crittenden Hospital, the $25 million hospital that Baptist is planning to build in the northeast area of West Memphis.

Welton will be CEO and administrator at Baptist's new Crittenden County facility. Baptist will break ground on the new hospital later this year. The hospital is expected to open by 2018, becoming the county’s leading health care facility following the closure and subsequent bankruptcy of Crittenden Regional Hospital, which shut down in August 2014.

According to a profile in the Memphis Business Journal, Welton joined Baptist as a Frank S.

Groner administrative fellow and then became assistant administrator at Baptist Golden Triangle. He has also been operations director for Baptist Medical Group in Columbus, Mississippi, and Memphis.

Welton is currently Regional Operations Director for Baptist Medical Group, a position he has held since December 2014, and he will transition to CEO and administrator duties closer to the completion of the new hospital.

“Brian has proven to be a highly skilled and knowledgeable health care executive,” said Randy King, vice president of metro-Memphis operations for Baptist. “He is the perfect person to lead our new Crittenden County hospital.”

By Ralph Hardin