Cone Health CEO Dr. Mary Jo Cagle will leave her job at the end of May due to a family health matter. Cagle joined Greensboro-based Cone Health in January 2011 and assumed her current role in June 2021.
Bernard “Bernie” Sherry, who has served as Cone Health’s interim chief operating officer since joining Cone Health in December, will serve as interim CEO beginning June 1. The new chief operating officer is expected to be named in the weeks ahead. Cone Health will conduct a nationwide search for its next CEO.
Cagle, 65, is the first woman and first physician to serve as CEO at Cone Health, which has five Triad-area hospitals, including three in Greensboro, and six ambulatory care centers across the Piedmont.
Cagle led Cone Health through the COVID-19 pandemic and was a driving force in Cone Health’s decision to become part of Washington, D.C.-based Risant Health in December. Instead of seeking the highest bidder, Cone agreed to a cashless transaction with Risant, which pledged to invest as much as $1.7 billion and provide expertise in value-based care. Nonprofit system Kaiser Permanente launched Risant in April 2023.
Last week, Cagle was named one of Modern Healthcare’s Leading Women of 2025. She was previously named a Grassroots Champion by the American Hospital Association and one of the 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives by Modern Healthcare.
Cone Health hired Sherry after the departure last year of Mandy Eaton, who had been chief operating officer since 2021. In February, she was named CEO of Springfield, Illinois-based Memorial Health, which has five hospitals in central Illinois
Sherry most recently served as the CEO and ministry market executive for Ascension Wisconsin, a system of 16,000 employees and 1,300 employed physicians across 24 acute care hospitals and 160 clinic locations. Before that, Sherry was executive vice president and chief operating officer at Saint Thomas Health (now Ascension Saint Thomas) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Under Cagle’s leadership, Cone Health has also been named by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top hospitals in 2024–2025 as well as a Best Regional Hospital for Equitable Access. Cone Health’s 628-bed Moses H. Cone Hospital ranked fifth in Business North Carolina’s annual ranking of top hospitals this year, after ranking second the year before.
“It has been a joy and privilege to lead this system. I’m incredibly proud of all we’ve accomplished to increase access to care, enhance patient safety and care quality,” Cagle says in a release. “The future is bright as Cone Health leverages new approaches, capabilities and data to make proactive wellness care affordable and accessible for all.”
Dr. Yun Boylston, Cone Health board of trustees chair, says, “Dr. Cagle has brought exceptional leadership and care to this system as CEO over the last few years and made a lasting impact on all our communities. On behalf of our entire board of trustees, we are saddened about her departure but fully respect her decision to support her family.”
Cone Health had $3.14 billion in revenue in 2024 and has more than 13,000 employees, 150 locations and more than 120 physician practices. Its other hospitals are in Burlington and Reidsville.
Cagle earned about $1.7 million in 2023, according to the nonprofit’s tax filings.