Richard J. Santagati Receives Prestigious Leadership Award

July 14, 2015

July 14, 2015 -Richard J. Santagati, Andover resident and Chair Emeritus of Lawrence General Hospital Board of Trustees, has been awarded the 2015 Trustee Excellence in Leadership Award from the Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA).  Each year at the association’s annual meeting on Cape Cod, MHA honors the significant contributions of a trustee leader whose professional achievements have been of exceptional value to healthcare. This year’s awards went to Mr. Santagati, David Passafaro of Boston Medical Center’s Board of Trustees, and Nancy Palmer, Board Chair of Northeast Hospital Corporation (NHC).

Santagati  has been a member of the Lawrence General Hospital Board of Trustees since 1988, serving as a committee member and chair of every committee at the hospital (Governance, Finance, Development, Building and Grounds, Campaign, Quality, Strategic Initiatives), and assuming the board’s chairmanship in 2006 until his retirement in 2014. Over the years, Santagati has also been responsible for millions of dollars in contributions to the hospital, where giving over the past four years increased 520%.

“Dick always drove home at board meetings the fact that LGH serves the health and wellness needs of a region that includes one of the poorest populations in all of Massachusetts. He helped us remember that the challenge of delivering high-quality, affordable care locally to those who might otherwise forgo it due to cost and availability may be difficult, but it is at the heart of Lawrence General’s mission,” said Lynn Nicholas, MHA’s President & CEO. “Dick led the development of LGH’s first strategic plan, which helped transform it from a community hospital focused only on Lawrence to a regional medical center serving the entire Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire.”

As Chairman Emeritus, Santagati is still extremely active and deeply involved in LGH’s future. LGH recently announced a $75 million expansion – the largest of its 140-year history – as part of its next five-year plan. Santagati is leading the strategy, capital projects, and capital campaign efforts of the strategic endeavor.

“Dick is considered a quiet affable diplomat who never seeks the limelight for his considerable efforts to advance the LGH cause. He offers sage counsel, is politically astute, knows when to let volunteers and staff run with ideas and projects, and when to step in gently to change the course. For these efforts and more, Dick is heartily deserving of MHA’s Trustee Excellence in Leadership Award,” Nicholas said.