Catherine Grubbs was recently appointed Chief Executive Officer for Circle of Life Hospice by the Board of Directors, succeeding former CEO, Mary McKinney. Hector Gonzalez, Board Chair stated, “On behalf of the Board, we are incredibly appreciative of Mary’s leadership and her outstanding work with the organization during her time as CEO.” McKinney will transition out of the day to day operations of Circle of Life, and into the role of advisor to the Circle of Life Foundation. In Grubbs’ seven years with Circle of Life, she served as Chief Operating Officer and Director of Administration. As Chief Operating Officer, since 2014, she had overall responsibility for administration and oversight of operations for the organization.
A Bentonville resident, Grubbs holds a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration and Community Health from the University of Arkansas. Prior to joining Circle of Life Hospice she served as Vice President of Performance Management and Business Optimization for Mercy Northwest Arkansas, receiving the highest state awards for quality in healthcare for the organization by ensuring compliance with national and state quality of care best practices during her tenure there. On a national level, Catherine serves as chair of the Quality Partners Committee for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization with a focus on continually improving the quality of care and patient experience in hospice organizations.
“Catherine’s success has been be driven by nearly two decades of service with mission driven, not-for-profit, and community based health care organizations and fueled by a compassionate heart focused on maintaining Circle of Life’s ‘gold standard of care’ and organizational excellence,” stated Mary McKinney.
In addition, Circle of Life’s team members’ persistence to providing Northwest Arkansas communities the highest standards of hospice care is reflected by consistently scoring in the 99th percentile nationally within quality of care data compiled from those whom Circle has served.1
“This is a wonderful organization with an established reputation for excellence in end of life care, and I am truly honored to help guide its future and growth,” Grubbs says. “I look forward to continuing to work within our community to develop partnerships with other healthcare providers to ensure the best care possible for those we serve.”
