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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — July 29, 2024 — After 37 years with Cottage Health, including the past 24 as President and CEO, Ron Werft has announced his plans to retire in 2025.
“On behalf of the Cottage Health Board of Directors, we thank Mr. Werft for his significant contributions that will continue to benefit this community for generations to come. He is a capable and compassionate leader with extraordinary vision and understanding of health care,” said Steve Zola, chairman of the Cottage Health board of directors.
Cottage Health was founded in 1996 and serves as the not-for-profit parent organization of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and affiliated Cottage Children’s Medical Center, Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital, Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital and Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital.
Over the past 40 years, under Werft’s leadership, Cottage has grown into a regional health system. Expanding access to excellent medical care within the community, Cottage Health now offers specialty services in trauma care, neuroscience, cardiology, orthopedics, pediatrics, psychiatry and other community services.
Under Werft’s leadership, the new Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital was built on the site of the previous hospital building, a complex 20-year project that maintained continuity of patient care through eight construction phases to meet new seismic safety regulations. The new Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital was constructed and plans are underway to relocate Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital to a new facility on the Goleta campus. Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital continues to expand its services as a nationally recognized critical access hospital. The Cottage Population Health Center and Cottage Health Institute were established, and new partnerships with area universities were established to support nursing and other health professionals, all with the goal of improving health, serving community members, and ensuring access to care.
Werft has guided the Cottage in expanding outpatient services and clinics to increase access to care, and, along with Mary and Richard Compton, who donated a record $65 million to the Cottage, envisioned the Compton Center for Healthcare Excellence and Innovation to advance health care in the region.Throughout the Cottage, a culture of collaborative governance and core values of excellence, integrity and compassion are fostered to improve quality of care, patient experience and employee engagement.
Prior to joining Cottage Health, Werft held leadership positions at the University of Minnesota Hospitals and Clinics. He graduated from the University of California, San Diego and earned his Master’s in Hospital and Healthcare Administration from the University of Minnesota. His volunteer leadership includes serving as a board member for the American Hospital Association, chair of the AHA Region 9 Policy Committee for the California Hospital Association, and chair of the Southern California Hospital Association. He served on the boards of Santa Barbara Education Partners, CenCal, Santa Barbara Fighting Back Coalition, Vizient West Coast, United Way, and World Telehealth Initiative. He is the recipient of the 2013 CHA Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contributions to the California healthcare community and the 2015 Walker Sullivan Fellowship from the California Health Foundation and Trust.
“The opportunity to lead Cottage Health has been and continues to be a joy, privilege and honor,” said Werft. “Cottage is a great organization and I see why every day – it’s our incredible team of employees, physicians, executives, board members, donors and volunteers who are constantly working to make Cottage even better. They continue the tradition of caring that Cottage has built in our community for 132 years.” Cottage Health will conduct a national search for Werft’s successor who will continue the strong stewardship of our community’s independent, not-for-profit health care system, committed to quality patient-centered care and improving the health of our entire community.
About Cottage Health | CottageHealth.org
Not-for-profit Cottage Health provides advanced medical care to the Central Coast region. Over the past year, Cottage Health hospitals in Goleta, Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley handled 20,201 inpatient admissions and 87,356 emergency department visits, and assisted in the delivery of 1,772 newborns. Cottage Health is comprised of more than 700 physicians, many with specialties found only at academic medical centers. Cottage Health’s comprehensive range of specialty services includes Cottage Children’s Medical Center, a Level 1 Trauma Center, Neuroscience Institute, Cardiovascular Center, Orthopedic Center and Rehabilitation Hospital. Outside of the hospital setting, Cottage Health offers primary care and specialty clinics, Cottage Urgent Care Centers throughout the tri-county area, and access to 24-hour providers through Cottage Virtual Care (in English and Spanish), an online service for common conditions.
