University Health President and CEO George Hernandez to Retire in 2024
University Health announced that long-standing President and CEO George B. Hernández, Jr. will retire in 2024. Hernández has served as University Health’s president and CEO for 19 years and upon his retirement, he will leave behind more than 41 years of service and commitment to University Health, its patients and this community.
“I have been very fortunate and blessed to have worked with all of my University Health colleagues, the members of the Bexar County Hospital District Board of Managers and Bexar County Commissioners Court during my tenure here,” said Hernández. “I am extremely proud of how we have approached our work, all we have accomplished and how we have grown exponentially to meet the needs of our community. I also appreciate our UT Health San Antonio physician and community partners who have collaborated with us and worked diligently over the years to provide greater access to care and improve community health.”
“George is a transformational leader,” said Bexar County Hospital District Board of Managers Chair James Adams. “It has been a pleasure working with George in his tireless pursuit of building University Health into a nationally recognized health care organization that has never lost sight of its unique mission to serve and improve the health of our community. The entire Board of Managers understands that George’s retirement would have left a substantial void if not for his continuous efforts in strategic succession planning. We would like to thank him for preparing us for a bright future.”
During his tenure with University Health, Hernández has overseen the organization’s transformation from a good organization to a great one, inspired by Jim Collins’ 2001 book, Good to Great. Today, University Health is the only health system in San Antonio recognized as a three-time Magnet health care organization by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Magnet status is the national gold standard in nursing care. University Health is also the only health system in Texas to be named a Digital Health Most Wired level 10 leader for both its hospital and ambulatory care network. The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) names Most Wired hospitals for deploying information technology to improve patient safety and health outcomes. Additionally, the Lown Institute’s Hospital Social Responsibility Index for 2023, which measures hospital outcomes, value and equity, ranks University Health 16th out of 258 hospitals in Texas and 107th out of 3,637 hospitals in the U.S. Most recently, University Health received a Leapfrog grade of A in the Fall of 2023 for its quality and patient safety measures and outcomes.
Hernández and University Health’s chief information officer were joint recipients of the 2008 Transformational Leadership Award from the American Hospital Association and CHIME. In 2009, the Texas Council of Community MHMR Centers honored Hernández as the recipient of the Frank M. Adams Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. Modern Healthcare magazine named him as one of its Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare for 2010. In 2016, Hernández received the Reynaldo G. Garza Lifetime Achievement Award by the State Bar of Texas, Hispanic Issues Section, for his commitment to addressing concerns affecting the Hispanic community and for advancing diversity and access to justice in the practice of law. In 2020, the Texas Hospital Association awarded Hernández with its prestigious Earl M. Collier Award for Distinguished Health Care Administration. In 2021, he was the recipient of the Living the Chaminade Legacy Award from St. Mary’s University and he received the Pathfinder Award from the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce in 2022. Hernández was the recipient of Texas A&M-San Antonio’s Dream Maker Award in 2023.
Hernández joined University Health in 1983 as its attorney and was named vice president for Legal Services in 1990. He was promoted to an executive vice president in 2000 and to president and CEO in 2005. Prior to joining University Health, he served five years as an Assistant San Antonio City Attorney and seven years as Chief of the Civil Section of the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. Hernández received his bachelor of arts degree from St. Mary’s University in 1974 and his juris doctorate in 1977 from George Washington University School of Law in Washington, D.C.
Hernández’s hometown is San Antonio. Locally, he has served on the boards of the United Way of San Antonio & Bexar County, the Center for Health Care Services, St. Mary’s University and as an advisory board member of the San Antonio Medical Foundation. At the state level, Hernández served as a member of the Medicaid Medical Care Advisory Committee, the Code Red Task Force on the Critical Condition of Health in Texas, chair of the Teaching Hospitals of Texas, and chair of the Texas Hospital Association.
The board has retained Furst Group for an internal and external national search for the president and CEO role. Furst Group is ranked as one of Modern Healthcare’s 10 largest executive search firms and one of America’s Best Executive Search Firms by Forbes. Confidential inquires can be directed to the Furst Group via their website furstgroup.com.
