On Tuesday, Novant Health announced that president and CEO Carl S. Armato will retire at the end of the year. John Gizdic, current Novant’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, will become president and interim CEO starting next year. Gizdic was the president and CEO of NHRMC when it was owned by New Hanover County, prior to its purchase by Novant, finalized in 2021.
Armato first joined Novant in 1998 as vice president of finance and operations for its physician divisions in Charlotte and Winston-Salem and went on to serve in a series of leadership roles across the organization, becoming CEO in 2012.
Over that time, Novant has significantly grown its network, pursuing new markets — including New Hanover County — and expanded services. Novant currently includes roughly 45,000 employees, 22 hospitals and 900 other facilities, as well as over 9,000 employed and independent clinicians across the Carolinas. Along the way, Novant’s operating revenue increased from $3.5 billion to roughly $12 billion, with assets nearly quadrupling from $2.2 billion to $8.2 billion.
Currently, Novant is proposing a $1-billion expansion at NHRMC, including 225 beds in a surgical heart and vascular care tower. While focusing on specialized care, Novant said the expansion would improve overall inpatient capacity and reduce wait times. As part of the state's Certificate of Need process, Novant is effectively competing against separate proposals from Atrium and UNC Health for state approval; the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will decide how to allot the additional 225 beds it has determined are needed in the county.
Novant has received strong marks overall, including being named a top place to work by Forbes and Newsweek, and several of its top hospitals receiving A ratings from Leapfrog, an independent, non-profit healthcare safety watchdog. However, since Novant acquired NHRMC, the hospital has struggled with low morale and C grades from Leapfrog. Officials claim many of those measures are lagging and don’t represent current conditions.
Some employees have complained that Novant’s growth has come at the expense of investments in staffing and employees. Recently, Armato told employees their retirement benefits were being reduced, with a Novant spokesperson acknowledging the subsequent disappointment. Anger over the move from employees echoed a consistent criticism about the executive compensation packages for the state’s for-profit and non-profit healthcare leaders, including from former North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell. According to Novant's IRS filings and online data, Armato's salary approached $7 million in fiscal year 2024, not including deferred compensation.
Novant touted Gizdic’s efforts in “driving day-to-day operational excellence” and said, “he has led critical strategic initiatives and implemented emergency preparedness efforts across the enterprise, particularly during the challenging COVID operating environment.”
Gizdic helped oversee NHRMC’s efforts to survive the pandemic, including the difficult decision to rely heavily on traveling nurses to deal with attrition. Those temporary nurses, who were often paid significantly more than permanent staff, drove both a financial and morale crisis. The situation taxed Novant’s resources while frustrating veteran nurses who found themselves working alongside higher-paid coworkers they often saw as less experienced and less committed to the community.
