Todd Sandberg

Powell Valley Healthcare is set to have a new permanent CEO in mid December.

Last week the Powell Valley Healthcare Board of Directors offered Todd Sandberg, the CEO for ClearSky Health Rehabilitation Hospital Lakeshore in Cleveland, Wisconsin, and Tuesday the board announced his acceptance. 

Sandberg was chosen out of two finalists who were brought to Powell late last month to visit with staff, doctors and administrators at the hospital. PVHC Chair R.J. Kost said Sandberg emerged as the clear favorite. 

“It was unanimous,” Kost said Wednesday. “Everybody said this guy is perfect for what we want … He’s got the background, history and everything to be able to step in and do a nice job. On top of that, he knows how to make good relationships. He knows how to bring everybody on the same page and keep everybody moving the right direction.”

Sandberg is slated to begin his duties in Powell on Dec. 15.

He will take over for Sean McCallister, who stepped into the interim role last spring after the abrupt departure of former CEO Joy Coulston. Her exit came roughly a month after the departure of CFO Coby LaBlue, leaving a leadership vacuum at the top of the hospital. Coulston has since taken over as the CFO at the hospital in Rawlins, while LaBlue is the CFO in Cody.

In his time at the hospital, McCallister has overseen a number of changes aimed at increasing the hospital’s financial position, such as cutting oncology and the Cody clinic. He previously said that, while he would have applied for the full CEO gig in years past, his family is now at home in Idaho and he wouldn’t want to move them. 

The PVHC Board, in a release, thanked McCallister for helping to “guide the organization during the national search for a new CEO.”

Sandberg will bring more than 20 years of health care leadership experience to the role, including 15 years of CEO leadership at critical access hospitals and acute rehabilitation hospitals. This includes three years leading Elkhorn Valley Rehabilitation Hospital in Casper.

“PVHC looks to continue to grow under Todd’s leadership,” Kost said in a release. “His experience and past history speak strongly of his talents and abilities to lead and develop solid  relationships with all the team members at the hospital as well as the community. In these challenging times for rural hospitals, we are excited to have Todd’s guidance for our future.”

Sandberg said in the release he and his wife, Christy, look forward to re-exploring Wyoming with their golden doodle, Scout, and two adult sons.

“I’m honored to join Powell Valley Healthcare and the Billings Clinic family,” Sandberg said. “From the moment I visited, I could see how much this team cares about its patients and the Powell community. PVHC is a strong organization with dedicated providers, a committed leadership team, and an engaged board all working toward the same goal.

I’m excited to be part of that effort and to help build on the great care already being provided. Having lived in Wyoming previously, I’m also looking forward to exploring some of my favorite places again, especially the northern Bighorns and the creeks leading toward Yellowstone.”

Sandberg earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology with a cardiac rehabilitation emphasis from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota, a master’s degree in cardiac rehabilitation and exercise science from East Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and a master’s of business administration in health care management from Regis University in Denver.

Sandberg has worked at multiple hospitals in the midwest run by ClearSky and became the CEO of the Cleveland Rehabilitation Hospital Lakeshore in March, while the facility was still being developed. He and other officials held a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new 36-bed hospital earlier this month, according to reporting by the Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Sun.

Kost said that Sandberg had been waiting for a chance to get back to Wyoming, which made bringing him to Powell a smooth process. It wound up being much easier than the lengthy process to hire a new CEO in 2023, in which the board went through three rounds of searches before landing on Coulston, who had been serving as the CFO.