Robert Sumter

Robert Sumter serves as the Chief Operating Officer over ten acute care hospitals, long term acute care hospital and freestanding rehabilitation and Behavioral health facilities for Ascension Illinois. He is an accomplished, strategic health care professional with strong business acumen. Rob previously held the position of COO with Tenet Health, supervising the growth and daily administrative operations for four of the system’s hospitals. As a leader and change agent, he was responsible for nearly doubling the percentage of surgical start times, increasing annual net revenue, and decreasing overall average length of stay. Under his leadership, he was instrumental in decreasing the number of patients leaving the hospitals’ emergency departments by 30% through improving the triaging and service delivery model.

Prior to this, Rob was with Cook County Health, as the interim deputy CEO and chief information officer. His experience includes time as executive vice president for HitMethods consultancy in Honolulu, system chief operating officer and chief information officer with Regional One Health in Memphis, Tennessee, chief information officer with a fortune 100 company, and he has had a distinguished career as an officer in the U.S. Navy.

Rob is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), as well as Six Sigma Black Belt. He holds his doctorate in health sciences from Walden University in Minneapolis, a master’s in computer resource and information system management from Webster University, Webster Groves, Missouri, and a bachelor’s in business administration from Limestone University, Gaffney, South Carolina.