PBMC board will have first female chairperson in ’12

Sharon Patterson of Riverhead is poised to become the first woman to chair the board of directors of Peconic Bay Medical Center in the hospital’s 60-year history.

Patterson has served on the hospital board for more than a decade and as the past few years served as its vice chairwoman. She assumed the role of acting chairwoman in September, when chairman Jesse R. Goodale stepped down.

Patterson won’t take the helm until January, following a vote of the board of directors next month.

“It’s not official yet,” she said Wednesday, adding she was reluctant to talk about the appointment until after it actually happens.

In addition to serving on the PBMC board, Patterson has been a member of the board of the East End Health Alliance, the governing body for the three East End hospitals.

“Sherry brings a wealth of leadership experience given her many years as a vice chair of the board, her direct involvement in numerous key hospital committees, her commitment to the medical center foundation, her relationship with the medical center staff, and her major involvement in our local community,” PBMC president and CEO Andrew Mitchell said.

Mitchell marked a decade as president and CEO of Peconic Bay in May. (See prior story.) Patterson became a member of the hospital board shortly before the board hired Mitchell to lead the hospital. In that time, she says, she’s seen a fundamental transformation there.

“The hospital has been restored to fiscal health, undergone a significant physical expansion, upgraded its technology systems, and fulfilled a principal tenet of its mission statement: to be the health care provider of choice for the community,” Patterson told RiverheadLocal in May.

Patterson, 60, is also a member of the board and past president of the Riverhead Rotary Club — where she was one of the first women admitted to the formerly all-male club and became the first woman to serve that organization as president. She is also a former Riverhead Free Library trustee.