Photos and bios
Jim Brexler, Chief Executive Officer
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Jim Brexler joined Erlanger Health System as President and CEO on March 1, 2004, after being selected by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Hospital Authority Board of Trustees following a nationwide search.
Brexler was formerly a Vice Chancellor of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center where he served from 1999 to 2004 as the chief executive officer of the Health Care Services Division (Louisiana’s statewide public hospital system composed of nine hospitals and associated clinics). Brexler also served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health and instructor for the LSU School of Business Administration.
Prior to the Louisiana State University posts, Brexler held executive positions with Oakwood Healthcare System in Dearborn, Michigan; General Health System in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Moses Cone Health System in Greensboro, North Carolina and University North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
A graduate of Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, Brexler holds a Masters of Public Affairs from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, and completed the Executive Program in Healthcare Financial Management at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Brexler is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and began his career in healthcare in 1975.
Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson, Chief Operations Officer
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Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson was named executive vice president and chief operations officer of Erlanger Health System in 2004. She served as Erlanger’s interim CEO while the search for a permanent CEO was underway. She has also served as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer and Director of Associate Services in the Human Resources Department.
Prior to her tenure with Erlanger, Woodard-Thompson held a variety of managerial positions at the Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville, Tennessee culminating in her position as Director, Human Resources Triad, She has also been an associate professor in Management, Business and Economics at Pellissippi State Technical College in Knoxville, Tennessee. She serves on a number of community service boards in Chattanooga as well as the Tennessee Civil Service Board.
Woodard-Thompson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics/Industrial Organization from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and a Master of Arts in Economics/Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York.
