BEND, Ore. — St. Charles Health System leaders are pleased to announce that Jennifer Welander has been selected to serve as the organization’s chief financial officer.
Welander has worked for St. Charles since 2009 serving first as director of accounting before moving into the director of finance role in 2014 and taking on the interim CFO position in January. She is a certified public accountant with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Oregon.
Before working for St. Charles, Welander served as controller for Brooks Resources in Bend, as director of finance for TransCore Commercial Services, Inc. in Beaverton and as a staff accountant and senior audit manager for KPMG in its Portland and Moscow, Russia offices.
“Jenn’s experience, knowledge of St. Charles and enthusiasm made her the perfect candidate for this position,” said Joe Sluka, president and CEO of St. Charles Health System. “She has been serving in the interim CFO role for several months and is doing an outstanding job. I am thrilled to officially welcome her to the role and to remove the ‘interim’ from in front of her title.”
During her time with St. Charles, Welander has led many important initiatives including the coordination last year of $75 million in private placement bonds, which gave the system access to capital for several construction projects. She has worked recently to create a rolling financial planning process throughout the organization and was a key player in bringing St. Charles Madras into the health system through an asset transfer agreement.
“I’m honored that the leadership team has confidence in me to continue the good work that we have implemented and to expand it,” Welander said. “I feel strongly that this is a great organization and we’re really making steps forward to support our patients and our caregivers in a different way. I’m very excited to be part of that – and we are going to have fun doing it.”
About St. Charles Health System
St. Charles Health System, Inc., headquartered in Bend, Ore., owns and operates St. Charles Bend, Madras and Redmond, and leases and operates Pioneer Memorial Hospital. It also owns family care clinics in Bend, Madras, Prineville, Redmond and Sisters. St. Charles is a private, not-for-profit Oregon corporation and is the largest employer in Central Oregon with more than 3,400 caregivers. In addition, there are more than 350 active medical staff members and nearly 200 visiting medical staff members who partner with the health system to provide a wide range of care and service to our communities.
