Lynn Fulton, a health care executive from the Midwest, has been chosen as Maui Health’s next chief executive officer and will oversee three hospitals in the county, including Maui’s only acute-care hospital, Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Fulton comes from OSF HealthCare, St. Joseph Medical Center in Illinois, where she served as president and was responsible for all day-to-day operations, providing market direction and operationalizing system strategic objectives, according to a news release from Maui Health Thursday morning.

Fulton will begin her new position on Jan. 1. She replaces former CEO Michael Rembis, who retired in February.

Kerry Watson, a health care executive from North Carolina, has been serving as interim CEO of Maui Health, a Kaiser Permanente affiliate, since mid-February. Maui Health’s community hospitals and outpatient clinics also include Kula Hospital, Kula Clinic, Lanai Community Hospital, Maui Memorial Medical Center Outpatient Clinic and Maui Memorial Medical Center Wound Care and Hyperbaric Therapy.

Over the last 20 years, Fulton has held other key executive roles, including chief operating officer, chief compliance officer and president of OSF HealthCare Saint Luke Medical Center in Illinois, the news release said.

“I am humbled and honored to be given the opportunity to serve these special islands of Maui and Lanai,” Fulton said in a news release. “I am committed to listening, learning, and working tirelessly to create a thriving healthcare system for the people of Maui County.”

Fulton could not be reached for additional comment Thursday.

“Lynn brings a wealth of experience in community hospital operations and has successfully worked through many of the same challenges we currently face at Maui Health, leveraging similar opportunities to improve and expand services,” Clay Sutherland, a Maui Health board member and a lifelong Maui resident and business leader, said in a news release. “Her people-first, community-centered philosophy has driven all of her incredible accomplishments over the last two decades and will be central to moving Maui Health into its next chapter of growth.”

Fulton, her husband and her daughter will relocate to Maui at the end of this year. As CEO, Fulton will focus on actively engaging the Maui Health Board, senior management team, employees, physician leaders, medical staff and the broader community “to develop a clear vision, strategic plan, and operating plan for the future of Maui Health,” the news release said.

Fulton comes in as CEO at a time when hospital workers have been raising concerns over pay and short-staffing, and government leaders and community members asked earlier this year that Maui Health hire someone preferably with local ties or knowledge of the local health care system.

A group describing themselves as “Citizens for Maui Health” had sent a letter to the Maui County Council earlier this year, asking members to adopt a resolution demanding that the CEO search process be transparent and that the new CEO be “for the people of Maui” and not “a puppet for Kaiser Permanente.” The group said it was made up of health care providers at Maui Memorial.

One of the government leaders who supported a CEO with local ties or knowledge was Central Maui state Rep. Troy Hashimoto. On Thursday he acknowledged his and the community’s preference but said that hiring someone who is qualified for the job comes first and foremost.

“Hopefully she can bring a new perspective in running Maui Health,” he said. “Hopefully she will take the time to learn all the aspects of it and adapt to her new environment.”

Hashimoto said at some point there has to be some “give and take.”

But what he didn’t was for the board “to compromise quality” in looking for a new CEO.

Fulton may still have to contend with some of the same issues that plagued Rembis’ tenure.

Rembis joined Maui Health in 2017, shortly after the three hospitals transitioned from the state’s public hospital system to the newly created Maui Health System, and he dealt with fallout over the transition for years after.

He was at the helm when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and outbreaks among patients and staff at the hospital spawned criticism from workers and the community who were frustrated over the hospitals’ policies and how they were enforced.

Last year, hospital employees held rallies to spotlight pay and staffing issues, and shortly after Rembis retired in February, nearly 500 workers with the United Public Workers union launched a strike that ended in April.

Fulton will oversee the new three-year contract between Maui Health and UPW that includes pay-scale adjustments for all job classifications, at least a 10.5 percent wage increase for all members and a lump sum payment for all members.

A UPW official said in an email Thursday afternoon that the union wouldn’t be able to provide a comment for the story.

The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, which represents about 850 members at Maui Health, did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.