Degrandis Named Global Center Managing Director and CAO

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Contacts:
Dave Johnson, 216-920-1437, djohnson@clevelandconventions.com

Longtime Cleveland Healthcare leader joins facility manager SMG

CLEVELAND – Longtime Cleveland healthcare executive Fred M. DeGrandis has been named Managing Director and Chief Administrative Officer for the Global Center for Health Innovation, it was announced today by Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and SMG, the management firm engaged by Cuyahoga County’s Convention Facilities Development Corporation. DeGrandis will work directly with general manager Mark J. Leahy and executive director Barbara McBee to provide leadership in advancing the mission and vision of the Global Center and developing and implementing long-term business plans and strategies.

“We must move quickly to realize the full potential of the Global Center,” said Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish. “It is time to make the Global Center for Health Innovation truly a global center for health innovation. Fred DeGrandis is the right person to lead those efforts.”

DeGrandis brings a breadth of experience from several major health systems throughout Northeast Ohio and around the world. He joins SMG after spending the past 12 years in various senior executive positions at Cleveland Clinic, including serving for the past three years as President and Senior Advisor of Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, a 700+-bed facility managed by Cleveland Clinic in the United Arab Emirates.

Prior to his international experience, DeGrandis served as the Chairman for the Cleveland Clinic Community Physician Partnership and Quality Alliance. The Quality Alliance is now one of the nation’s largest clinically integrated networks. DeGrandis served as President/CEO of the Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals, including nine community hospitals from 2006-2010 and served as President/CEO for the Clinic’s Western Region for four years. His healthcare career began in 1980 at Lakewood Hospital, then a public hospital, serving as Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Legal Counsel, and Interim CEO Lakewood Hospital. Following that, he served as President/CEO with St. John West Shore Hospital (now St. John Medical Center) in Westlake for 11 years. During his tenure at St. John’s, a joint venture partnership was formed between the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine Health System and University Hospitals Heath System.

“Fred DeGrandis brings more than three decades of experience and successful leadership in national and international health and healthcare organizations,” said Leahy. “He will strengthen our current management team to deliver on the promise of the Global Center for Health Innovation by engaging and aligning healthcare and related industry assets, and building and sustaining relationships to accelerate innovation and economic development of the facility. Fred is joining us at just the right time.”

“I look forward to helping and supporting the SMG team, civic, industry and healthcare leaders to achieve the promise and the great opportunities offered by the investment in the Global Center for Health Innovation as it strives to advance healthcare innovation and economic development of our community,” DeGrandis said.

DeGrandis has served on numerous boards and is passionate about community involvement. Most recently, he was a Trustee on the Ohio Hospital Association Board for more than a decade; serving as chairman in 2012. He was a longtime member and president of the Rocky River Board of Education and has served on a variety of education, religious and non-profit boards and foundations and been honored by multiple organizations for his dedication and leadership.

DeGrandis earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and education from the University of Michigan in 1972 and his law degree from Cleveland State University John Marshall College of Law in 1978. He began his career as the City Prosecutor, Assistant Director of Law, and Executive Assistant to the Mayor with the City of Lakewood.

DeGrandis is a life-long member of the Cleveland community and resides in Rocky River with his wife, Nora, and has three adult children and two grandchildren.

The Global Center opened in 2014 and serves as a catalyst for fundamental improvements in health and in healthcare quality, access, and cost through technology-driven showroom spaces and industry-inspired meetings and programs. The Global Center is the only facility in the world that displays the future of health and healthcare presented on four themed floors dedicated to showcasing innovation that will improve patient outcomes and lower healthcare costs. There are currently 13 open suites in the Global Center on four themed floors with six additional suites, including Siemens and Cisco Systems, scheduled to come online in the coming months.

In 2013, SMG, the nation’s largest and most experienced convention center and facility management firm, assumed management operations for the Global Center for Health Innovation and the Cleveland Convention Center. Leahy was named general manager of both facilities at that time.

SMG manages 233 facilities throughout the world, including 72 convention centers, 71 arenas, 60 theaters and performance venues, 9 stadiums, and 23 equestrian centers. Founded in 1977, SMG is the industry leader in exhibition venues throughout the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean and will bring experience and significant connections to national conventions and trade shows within the convention industry. SMG manages regional operations in Akron, Canton, Columbus, Toledo, Pittsburgh, and Detroit.


  
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