By Mary O’KEEFE

Keith Hobbs, CEO of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, will be leaving the facility on March 12. He has taken a position as executive vice president for Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance.

Hobbs and his wife grew up in the Crescenta Valley. Coming to USC-VHH five years ago, Hobbs felt like he had come home, back to the community he knew so well; but the career move to Torrance was too good an opportunity to pass.

Torrance Memorial Medical Center is a larger facility than USC-VHH and was ranked the number one South Bay Area hospital by Newsweek.

Hobbs was not looking for another position; however, one day in early December he received an email from a search firm regarding the Torrance opportunity.

“I responded with a thank you but no thank you,” he said. “A few days later I heard from them again. [The representative] said, ‘I really think you should listen to [this offer].’”

Hobbs had a conversation with them but was still not persuaded. They continued to contact him and he finally agreed to interview for the position. He then went through a series of interviews that culminated a little over a week ago. During the process he told Keck USC that he had been contacted by Torrance and had an interview. Keck USC attempted to retain him but, in the end, he had to make the difficult decision to leave.

“I appreciated those efforts [by Keck USC]. I love working with them,” Hobbs said. “It seemed too big an opportunity not to leave.”

He added the decision was very difficult.

“As [my wife and I] thought about the potential moves there were a lot of tears and a lot of sleepless nights,” he said. He added that if it had been just about the career opportunity the decision would not have been as difficult but when the community was added into the decision-making process it became very challenging.

“If you only look at it from a career standpoint, you would say, ‘Yeah that is something you should do’ but once we put [in] the community aspect and how much this community means to us, we came close to saying no,” he said.

When Hobbs arrived at USC-VHH five years ago, the hospital had a strained relationship with its nursing staff. Negotiations between management and nursing unions had been difficult. Hobbs’ legacy will be bridging the gap between differing points of views.

“I was able to bring people together who may have different views on different topics,” he said.

This was something that he didn’t just bring to the negotiating table but to the hospital as a whole.

“It took a lot of people, not just me, to achieve this [relationship] but if we are visible leaders it really builds an environment of trust and I think we were able to accomplish that,” he said. “Our staff felt more positive about the work it does every day at the hospital.”

He added it all comes back to community and how to build that community strength. When he told his staff he was leaving there were a lot of “tears” and sadness.

Dr. Armand Dorian has been named interim CEO of USC-VHH. He has been at the hospital for many years, has led the Emergency Department and in 2019 was appointed the chief medical officer.

“He has been part of this community for a long time,” Hobbs said. “He is a well trusted clinician. Both the [USC VHH] foundation and governing board have a lot of respect for him.”

There will be a search for a permanent CEO; however, Hobbs hopes that Dorian will be named in that position.

For Hobbs and his wife, the decision to leave still brings some sadness because they will be leaving the CV community.

“I truly appreciate how the community embraced us over the last five years,” Hobbs said. “It’s really about the community embracing us and making us feel so welcomed that I was able to lead the hospital.”