After leading LifeCenter Northwest through significant growth in lifesaving organ and tissue donation over 12 years, President and CEO Kevin O’Connor has announced his retirement. O’Connor will remain in his role during the search and hiring of his successor, expected by early to mid-2022.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to work together with the superb LifeCenter Northwest team, outstanding transplant programs, dedicated donor hospital staff, and others to help more and more people every year through organ and tissue donation,” O’Connor said. “I am especially grateful to the donors and their families, for giving others the most precious gift of all, the gift of life. I am fully confident that LifeCenter Northwest will continue to carry out its mission successfully in the years ahead.”
During O’Connor’s tenure, the organization grew from facilitating donation for 119 organ donors in 2009 to over 330 projected in 2021, which will increase the number of organs transplanted from 440 in 2009 to nearly 1,000 in 2021. This growth positioned LifeCenter Northwest as one of the top organ procurement organizations in the nation, but more importantly, this work resulted in hundreds of more lives saved through organ donation and transplantation.
LifeCenter Northwest’s Governing Board will oversee the CEO selection process and has hired the firm WittKieffer to conduct a national search. The firm has extensive experience in executive placements in healthcare, including organ donation and transplant organizations.
“Kevin is a highly regarded leader, not only at LifeCenter Northwest, but among his peers in organ and tissue donation organizations throughout the U.S.,” said LifeCenter Northwest’s Governing Board Chair, Joyce F. Jackson. “He helped build a high-performing organization that is among the best in the nation, and while we will miss him, he will leave us with a legacy of excellence, strong staff and partner relationships, and an organization well-positioned to welcome a new CEO. We are deeply grateful to Kevin for his years of dedicated service to LifeCenter Northwest and the communities we serve.”
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