Forum Faculty

Ken Smithmier

Ken Smithmier has spent his entire career in healthcare including a variety of senior leadership positions in rural, community, and major teaching hospitals.

For the last five years he has focused on organizational theory and culture, leadership development, and various cognitive psychology theories for improving individual and organizational performance.

Ken is driven by the fundamental importance of what we do in health care. He seeks to engage people in conversation about the essence of what we do, and why it matters to employees, doctors, and the communities in which we live. In addition he strives to teach people ways in which understanding their own behavior, and that of others, can lead to the rapid escalation of performance so needed in our field.

Ken has been a speaker for the American Hospital Association, the Illinois Hospital Association, and various hospital board, medical staff, and management training sessions. He has an undergraduate degree from St. Louis University, and a master's from the University of Minnesota.

Since 1993 he has served as President and CEO of Decatur Memorial Hospital, Decatur, IL