Steve Purves

Steve Purves became President & Chief Executive Officer of Valleywise Health in Phoenix, Arizona in September 2013. Valleywise Health is Arizona’s largest and longest serving public teaching hospital and health care system and includes the Roosevelt Campus- Hospital, the Arizona Burn Center, the Arizona Children’s Center, a Level I Trauma Center, two behavioral health centers and a network of 13 Federally Qualified Health Centers that serve Phoenix and Maricopa County. Valleywise Health has 10 ACGME accredited residency programs with over 350 residents, hundreds of medical student rotations and significant nursing and allied health training programs.

Mr. Purves works with the publicly elected five-member Board of Directors who represent the Maricopa County Special Health Care District, to provide executive leadership for the growth and development of Valleywise Health. Since 2013, Mr. Purves led a $120 million financial turnaround at Valleywise Health and helped secure $935 million in general obligation bonds passed by voter referendum in 2014. These funds will allow Valleywise Health to replace aging facilities and to reinvent its’ care model to better serve the public in the years to come.

Mr. Purves is actively involved in the community as an ambassador for Valleywise Health and in a variety of roles outside his health care duties. He serves on the boards of America’s Essential Hospitals, the Arizona Hospital and Health Care Association, the Arizona State University Health Advisory Board and Health Care Futures Council, Valleywise Health Foundation and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. He was elected Chairman of the Arizona Health and Hospital Association in 2017. He is a member of the regional policy board of the American Hospital Association, and is a member of Greater Phoenix Leadership.

Mr. Purves has over 37 years of service as a health care executive serving in the investor-owned, public, academic and private not-for-profit settings. Prior to joining Valleywise Health, Mr. Purves served 7 years as President & CEO of Munroe Regional Health System, Inc., a public, not-for-profit health care system that serves Marion County and North Central Florida. Prior to that Mr. Purves served 8 years as President & CEO of the Sisters of Charity Providence Hospitals in Columbia, South Carolina, a two-hospital regional health system serving the midlands of South Carolina. During his time in South Carolina, he served as Adjunct Professor for the University of South Carolina School of Public Health and Chairman of the South Carolina Hospital Association.

Mr. Purves has numerous awards and honors; including an appointment by the Secretary of the Army to the position of Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army for South Carolina in 2001. He was awarded the U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal in 2006. He was named one of the top 25 most influential leaders in Phoenix Arizona by the Phoenix Business Journal in 2017. He was the recipient of political advocacy awards from the American Hospital and the Florida Hospital Associations, and in 2013, was honored with the presentation of the “Key to the City” by the mayor of the City of Ocala during his time in Florida

He received his Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and his Bachelor’s Degree in Health Education from Springfield College in Springfield, MA. Purves is also a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE).