Jeffrey A. Johnston has been a part of the leadership of Mercy Health since 2001. He currently serves as the President of Mercy Hospital St. Louis where he has overall operational responsibility for a 859-bed hospital campus. Johnston brings more than 21 years of progressive health care leadership with a focus on quality and service to a medical staff of 1,400 members and over 5,000 co-workers. Prior to his service in St. Louis, Johnston was the President and CEO of St. Edward Mercy Health System in Ft. Smith, Arkansas from December 2008-August 2011, where he was instrumental in expanding Mercy’s physician group as well as leading a community master planning effort. Prior roles with Mercy included chief operating officer for Mercy Health Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (2004-2008) and interim CEO of Mercy Health System of Oklahoma (2006-2007) and senior vice president-operations for Mercy Memorial Health Center, Ardmore, Oklahoma (2001-2004). Prior to joining Mercy, Johnston held several leadership positions over a six-year period with The MetroHealth System, a public health care system in Cleveland, Ohio. MetroHealth includes a 728-bed academic medical center, which serves a primary teaching facility for Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Johnston holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma and masters’ degrees in business administration and hospital and health administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Johnston currently serves on the boards of the Missouri Hospital Association, the Regional Business Council and Westminster Christian Academy. He has also served in volunteer leadership roles with the Health Care Advisory Board at Xavier University, the American Heart Association of St. Louis, United Way and Allied Arts of Oklahoma City, the Chamber of Commerce in Edmond, OK and the YMCA in Ardmore, OK. Johnston lives in St. Louis with his wife, Lauri and their three children, Alivia, Isaac and Luke.