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Novant Health CEO retiring Dec. 31

Novant Health CEO Carl Armato headshot
Courtesy Novant Health
Novant Health CEO Carl Armato is retiring at the end of the year.

Novant Health’s president and CEO announced he’s retiring at the end of December.

Carl Armato has been leading Novant Health for the last 15 years.

The organization expanded significantly during his tenure, with the opening of several new medical centers across North and South Carolina. Today, Novant Health includes 22 hospitals and roughly 900 other locations.

"Healthcare has changed tremendously during my time as CEO, but our purpose has remained constant: to care for people when they need us most and to create a healthier future together," Armato said in a statement. "I am deeply grateful to the physicians, nurses and team members who have brought that purpose to life, and I have tremendous confidence in what they will accomplish next."

Novant’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer John Gizdic will take over as interim CEO on Jan. 1. He has more than three decades of health care leadership experience.

Amy Diaz began covering education in North Carolina’s Piedmont region and High Country for WFDD in partnership with Report For America in 2022. Before entering the world of public radio, she worked as a local government reporter in Flint, Mich. where she was named the 2021 Rookie Writer of the Year by the Michigan Press Association. Diaz is originally from Florida, where she interned at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and freelanced for the Tampa Bay Times. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Florida, but truly got her start in the field in elementary school writing scripts for the morning news. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.