St. Joe's Hospital Shakeup: CEO Fails To Last 2 Years On The Job

JOLIET, IL — Christopher Shride, president of Ascension Saint Joseph in Joliet, failed to last two years on the job, Ascension officials confirmed on Thursday.

According to a statement shared with the employees, Shride "has made the difficult decision to step down, leaving the organization effective Sunday, December 31, 2023. He has been a dedicated servant leader and we wish him every happiness and success as he moves on to the next chapter in his career. An interim president has been identified and will begin prior to Shride's exit, ensuring a smooth transition and continuity of hospital operations and care."

Shride was a nearly invisible presence in the Joliet community. He did not make his presence known at Joliet City Council meetings and at major community festivals and events such as last week's Light Up the Holidays Parade.

St. Joe's remained embroiled at its highest levels of turmoil and employee tensions while Shride ran the hospital in 2022 and 2023.

In August, Mayor Terry D'Arcy announced that he was siding with the St. Joe's hospital nurses, not the upper management, during the second of what turned out to be third labor strikes.

The most recent labor strike for the nurses took place during Thanksgiving Week.

"A little over a month ago, I asked the director of labor relations for Ascension to do all it could to protect the patients they serve in Joliet's only hospital," D'Arcy told everyone in August. "I asked them to listen to their own care teams and bring staffing levels back to pre-pandemic levels. Losing 40 percent of nurses in five years is not acceptable and puts lives at risk.

"Instead, Ascension has walked away from negotiations and will lock out their own nurses from August 22 through August 26. Such tactics will force experienced nurses to look for other employment and will create turnover and unsafe conditions for the very patients they are responsible for serving," D'Arcy announced at the time.

In March 2022, the Catholic World website announced that AMITA Health had made the following leadership changes: Christopher Shride to president of AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center Joliet, from president of AMITA Health St. Mary's Hospital Kankakee.

Shride replaces Herb Buchanan, who is departing as the Joliet hospital's president to become chief operating officer for AdventHealth Midwest Region.

According to a story about Shride by the Kankakee newspaper in 2018, Shride grew up in Downstate Arthur; he and his wife, Jennifer, have four children. Shride graduated from Arthur High School and Olivet Nazarene University, where he played football. He later obtained a law degree from St. Louis University and began his career as an attorney in private practice and later became counsel and executive for the Spectrum Health system.

Now, with a new year on the horizon, Ascension St. Joe's will be in the process of finding another CEO for Joliet as the revolving door of top leadership continues into 2024.