By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The current president of Walker Baptist Medical Center will be the next president of Alabaster’s Shelby Baptist Medical Center beginning in April, Baptist Health System announced on March 18.

Bob Phillips, the current president of Walker Baptist, will take over as the president of Shelby Baptist beginning on April 6, according to Baptist Health System President and CEO Keith Parrott.

The announcement came about three weeks after current Shelby Baptist President David Wilson announced he would be resigning from the Alabaster hospital to take the president position at the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, Miss. Wilson’s resignation from Shelby Baptist is effective March 27.

The change in leadership comes as Baptist Health System and Tenet Healthcare work toward a merger between Baptist Health and Brookwood Medical Center. Baptist Health System signed a non-binding letter-of-intent to form a jointly owned company with Tenet Healthcare in December 2014.

Phillips has been an administrator at Walker Baptist since 2009. Prior to his tenure at Walker, Phillips served six years as executive director of operations for Baptist Health Centers. Phillips also served as senior director of patient financial services and operations director for Baptist Health Centers.

“Bob has provided tremendous leadership to Walker over the last several years, leading significant improvements in financial performance, quality improvements, patient satisfaction gains, improved employee morale and better medical staff relations,” Parrott wrote in a press release. “His expertise and leadership, combined with his knowledge of our system, its physicians and staff, make him an excellent choice as Shelby’s new president.”

Phillips is a former recipient of the 2013 Homer M. Lloyd Jr. Leadership Award, the most prestigious award given by Baptist’s Board of Directors to a leader who leads by example and best exemplifies Baptist’s core leadership values.

“It is an honor to be selected to lead the outstanding team at Shelby Baptist Medical Center,” Phillips wrote. “In addition to continuing to seek innovative ways to deliver quality care to our patients, one of my key goals will be to maintain the culture and legacy that, I believe, separates Baptist Health System from other health care organizations.”