A native Chicagoan who has spent his career in health care administration outside the Chicago area is returning home to run the Franciscan Health hospitals in Olympia Fields and Chicago Heights.

Allan M. Spooner, 49, who grew up in Chicago's Chatham neighborhood and graduated from the former Mendel Catholic High School in Roseland, has been named the new president and chief executive officer at both south suburban hospitals.

“This opportunity was really cool because I'm from Chicago, I'm from the South Side, I've got family members that live in the area,” Spooner said. “So the idea of being able to be a leader of a Catholic mission and serve folks who are not just friends and neighbors, but also family. I hadn't had the opportunity before, and I think it'll be great.”

Spooner, who most recently served as president of the hospital division of Columbia St. Mary's, a five-hospital system of Ascension Health in Milwaukee, said the decision to accept the job at Franciscan — rather than take a new job within his company in Jacksonville, Fla. — was as much a personal as a professional one.

“I wanted to be around my kids, and if I was moving and creating new relationships, I wanted to be near my kids and my family,” said Spooner, whose 12-year-old twin daughters recently moved with his ex-wife from Copenhagen, Denmark, to Dayton, Ohio. His parents still live in the Chatham home where he was raised.

Spooner, who plans to relocate to the Olympia Fields area, will succeed Arnie Kimmel at Franciscan.

Kimmel, who had been CEO at Franciscan Health's Olympia Fields and Chicago Heights hospitals since late 2013, recently accepted a job as senior vice president of corporate services for Franciscan Alliance.

Spooner takes over the reins at the south suburban hospitals amid a major restructuring that will end inpatient operations at Franciscan's aging Chicago Heights campus while its newer Olympia Fields facility undergoes a nearly $115 million expansion.

Maria Elena Ramos, the vice president of marketing and public relations for Franciscan, said she expects the transition from Kimmel to Spooner to be a smooth one that does not affect the timeline of the restructuring.

The expansion and renovation of the Olympia Fields hospital at 20201 Crawford Ave. is on schedule to be completed by summer 2018, Ramos said.

At that point, Franciscan Health will begin moving all inpatient and emergency services from Chicago Heights to Olympia Fields.

As part of the restructuring process, the Catholic health system also plans to expand its Franciscan ExpressCare urgent care center, 211 Dixie Highway in Chicago Heights, which would offer around-the-clock urgent care, outpatient behavioral health and occupational health services.

The Chicago Heights hospital will continue to provide a number of primary and specialty care services, as well as outpatient care like pharmacy, lab and X-ray services, Ramos said.

“I think it's actually very exciting, and really what attracted me to the job,” Spooner said of the hospital restructuring. “The way I sort of look at it is — I did my own demographic research of the area around the hospital and the doctor's offices that are in the south suburbs — and I just think there's tremendous potential.”

Spooner said he foresees an opportunity to expand Franciscan Health's footprint by capturing the business of community members who currently get their health care in the city of Chicago.

“I think there's a significant opportunity to keep a lot of that business in the south suburbs,” he said. “It's about creating the type of services that are strong, attractive, patient-oriented.”

Within the industry, Spooner is viewed as a seasoned health care administrator with a strong background in strategic planning.

Spooner also has an engineering degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

“He has an accomplished record of quality improvement and clinical program development and growth, as well as patient, employee and physician engagement success,” Kevin D. Leahy, president and CEO of Franciscan Alliance, said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have someone of his caliber join our Franciscan Health team as we advance our mission and profound commitment to care for the patients we are privileged to serve.”

Spooner views himself as a leader who values transparency, teamwork and relishes the opportunity to work for a mission-based organization like Franciscan Health.

“The great thing about working for a Catholic health care mission,” he said, “is that our goal is to improve the health status of the community. So, my job is really to figure out what the community needs and the best way to deliver that from a health care standpoint, not just to get patients to stay at my hospital.”

Spooner will assume his new role at Franciscan on Oct. 30.

zkoeske@tribpub.com

Twitter @ZakKoeske