Ken Kozel, President and CEO of UM Shore Regional Health
EASTON, Md. (January 10, 2025) – Ken Kozel, MBA, FACHE, President and CEO of University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH), has been named to The Daily Record’s 2024-2025 Power 100, a list of 100 individuals shaping businesses, governments, nonprofits, law firms and other key institutions in Maryland. UM SRH is a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS).
The 2024-25 Power 100 list marks the fourth year that The Daily Record, a news outlet covering business, legal and government affairs in Maryland, has identified and recognized the top 100 people who play “an outsized role in the culture, lifestyle, civic conversation and economic fortunes in Maryland.” Mohan Suntha, MD, MBA, President and CEO of UMMS, is also named in this year’s list.
The Power 100 list includes a summary of everyone’s role and accomplishments, along with a brief interview. Noting that Kozel has been at the helm of UM Shore Regional Health since 2011, his Power 100 summary describes him as a leader who “focuses on advancing the organization’s vision of becoming a national thought leader in health care transformation.”
“On behalf of Shore Regional Health’s Board of Directors, I am so honored and pleased to congratulate Ken on this well-deserved recognition,” said Kathy Deoudes, UM SRH Board Chair. “Under his leadership, UM Shore Regional Health has advanced our mission to provide high-quality, compassionate care while evolving to meet the changing needs of our community.”
Deoudes noted that during Kozel’s tenure, UM SRH has expanded access to care by building many new facilities, most recently breaking ground for the new regional medical center in Easton scheduled for completion in 2028. Other new facilities include freestanding emergency centers in Cambridge and Queenstown; medical pavilions in Cambridge, Denton, Easton and Queenstown; the Leh Women’s Center in Chestertown and the Clark Comprehensive Breast Center in Easton and urgent care centers in Denton, Easton and Kent Island. UM SRH also has 22 Shore Medical Group practices now employing more than 120 providers seeing patients throughout the region and has accomplished significant upgrades in medical technology while strengthening its affiliation with UMMS to ensure that patients who need advanced, specialized treatment have access to world-class, patient-centered care.
“The most important lesson I’ve learned in my career is the importance of building and maintaining strong relationships,” said Kozel. “Health care is an increasingly complex field and transforming the way we provide health care is incredibly challenging. But I believe that with strong relationships, built on trust, integrity and collaboration, anything is possible.”
“Today, we are working harder than ever to ensure that our plans to open a regional medical center in 2028, will encompass the very best of rural health care delivery in America and serve as a national model,” Deoudes added. “The future is bright for our communities and for UM Shore Regional Health.”
About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health
A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of five counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot. UM SRH consists of approximately 2,000 team members, including more than 400 health care providers on the Medical Staff, who work with community partners to advance the values that are foundational to our mission: Compassion, Discovery, Excellence, Diversity and Integrity. For more information, visit https://www.umms.org/shore.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
