Trinity Health Leadership

Joseph R. Swedish,
President and Chief Executive Officer

Over a career spanning three decades, Joseph R. Swedish has built a legacy of dynamic leadership and service excellence.  Since becoming President and CEO of Trinity Health in January 2005, Mr. Swedish has focused his leadership on the transformation of health care delivery through improved clinical and business processes and expanding access to the growing population of underinsured patients.  In 2007, he ranked No. 22 on Modern Healthcare’s annual list of the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare.”

Describing Trinity Health as a “Unified Enterprise Ministry®,” Mr. Swedish leads the nation’s fourth-largest Catholic health system by leveraging scale and skill to create efficient and effective quality care for everyone.  His leadership is rooted in Trinity Health’s Catholic heritage, providing services to all and especially to less fortunate and more vulnerable members of society.

Prior to joining Trinity Health, Mr. Swedish was President and CEO of Centura Health, the largest health care provider in Colorado with twelve hospitals. The faith-based system won both national and international awards for excellence in patient care and for the successful incorporation of spirituality into the health care workplace. Mr. Swedish has 33 years of diverse senior executive operations experience in both investor owned and non-profit health care systems that spans faith based and secular health care, university and community based academic medical centers, integrated delivery systems and regional rural referral hospitals in the mid-Atlantic states, Florida and Colorado and now seven states that encompass Trinity Health’s markets. 

Mr. Swedish serves on numerous committees and boards, including the National Quality Forum (NQF) Quality Healthcare Advisory Committee, the National Center of Healthcare Leadership Board, the Health Leadership Council, the Catholic Health Association Board, the Health Sector Advisory Council, the Institute for Diversity in Healthcare Management Board, and the Catholic CEO Healthcare Connection.   

He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and received its Regent's Award for Career Achievement, was a member of the American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board - Region 8 and now serves as a member of the AHA Long Range Policy Committee.  He has served on the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Council, the Public Education and Business Coalition as its Chairman, Metro Denver Boy Scouts, Colorado Forum, and Colorado Concern. He received the E & Y Entrepreneur of the Year, Rocky Mountain Region related to the organization’s achievement in growth and operational performance.

He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a master’s degree in health administration from Duke University. He and his wife have three children.