Darian Harris, CEO of Sutter Health’s Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, has been named to Reuters’ 2024 Future Leaders list for healthcare. Harris, 32, joined the organization in mid-2023 as the youngest CEO in Mills-Peninsula’s history and has already led significant growth and improvements at the medical center.
In his first year, Harris implemented strategies that ultimately served more patients and stabilized the post-pandemic workforce, increasing employee retention by nearly a third. Under his leadership, Mills-Peninsula received national recognition from Healthgrades as one of the top 50 hospitals in America, earning Outstanding Patient Experience and Patient Safety Excellence awards. Mills-Peninsula was one of only seven U.S. hospitals to achieve all three recognitions.
Sutter Health’s Mills-Peninsula Medical Center CEO Darian Harris joins the community to re-open the Mickelson Pool | July 20, 2024
“Every recognition of the extraordinary work taking place at Mills-Peninsula Medical Center is a credit to the entire team,” Harris said. “Together, we are committed to transforming healthcare delivery to better serve our patients, communities—and each other. Those efforts are bearing fruit, and it’s an honor to see them recognized.”
Before joining Sutter Health a year ago, Harris had most recently served as the chief executive for Providence St. Joseph Hospital and Providence Redwood Memorial Hospital in Humboldt County. Prior to this role, he served as the chief executive for Providence’s Healdsburg and Petaluma Valley hospitals in Sonoma County, and held a number of other executive leadership roles in the area. With a strong track record of investing in people and developing partnerships to cultivate best-in-class quality, he was previously recognized by the North Bay Business Journal as a leader who demonstrated unique leadership skills early in his career.
Harris holds a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in health services management from East Carolina University, where he later returned as an adjunct professor focusing on health care operations management and patient flow.
