Former AtlantiCare Board Chair and current Board member Michael Charlton to lead health system during search for permanent CEO

AtlantiCare’s Board of Trustees has chosen fellow board member Michael J. Charlton to serve as interim President and CEO of the health system while the Board conducts its search for a candidate to fill the post on a full-time basis. Charlton will work closely with outgoing President and CEO Lori Herndon, who is retiring at the end of June as she caps a 40-year career with AtlantiCare.

Charlton is a highly experienced and successful healthcare thought leader and entrepreneur who served as AtlantiCare’s Board Chair from 2017 until earlier this year and has been on the Board since 2009.

Charlton has also served as a Board member of the American Hospital Association and continues to work on national AHA committees. He brings a wealth of industry experience and an entrepreneurial mindset that will serve AtlantiCare well through the transition. He attended University of Delaware with a concentration in Finance, has a B.S. in Healthcare Administration and Organizational Leadership from the University of Louisville and completed a Masters in Healthcare Leadership from Brown University.

Charlton will work side-by-side with Herndon beginning May 1 until she steps down from her day-to-day role on May 31. Charlton will become interim President and CEO on June 1 and Herndon will continue to be available to Charlton on an as-needed basis until she formally retires at the end of June. Charlton will also work closely with the AtlantiCare Board and the executive team while the search for a permanent CEO continues.

“Michael is a proven leader who is very familiar with AtlantiCare, the communities we serve, and the changing healthcare landscape,” said David Goddard, current Chair of AtlantiCare’s Board. “He is also very well known to our team members and stakeholders in our communities and is the ideal person to help lead our health system through a smooth transition while the Board continues to conduct its search for AtlantiCare’s next CEO.”

AtlantiCare is an integrated healthcare system based in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, whose more than 6,000 staff, providers and volunteers serve the community in more than 100 locations in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May and Ocean counties of southern New Jersey. Its vision of building healthy communities together drives its mission of making a difference in health and healing, one person at a time, through caring and trusting relationships. A Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winner, AtlantiCare was also included in Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work. AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center was the 105th hospital in the nation to attain the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet™ designation in 2004 and earned redesignation in 2008, 2013, in 2018. Learn more at atlanticare.org or 1-888-569-1000.