BUFFALO, N.Y. — In August of 2020, Robert J. Nesselbush was named chief executive officer (CEO) for Kaleida Health, succeeding Jody Lomeo, who announced in early 2020 that he would not renew his contract at year’s end. Recently he was also named to Buffalo Business First Power 250 Top Ten list.
Nesselbush spent 24 years rising through the Rochester Regional Health system, beginning as the director of financial reporting and finishing as the executive vice president and chief operating officer (COO) of the $2.4 billion system.
As COO, he led the merger integration of four health systems in June 2014: Rochester General Health System, Unity Health System, Clifton Springs Health System, and United Memorial Medical Center.
Rochester Regional has nearly 16,000 employees and consists of five acute hospitals (1,270 beds), including Rochester General Hospital, its 528-bed teaching hospital flagship.
"In my time in Rochester, I was fortunate enough to watch the growth and expansion that was underway at Kaleida Health. So when I had the chance to join the organization in 2019, I jumped at the opportunity" Nesselbush said in a recent interview." As a proud Western New Yorker, I am very excited about building upon the many successes that Kaleida Health has achieved over the last seven years."
A big believer in the importance of cross-functional teams, Nesselbush worked closely with nursing and physician leadership throughout his tenure in Rochester to help improve outcomes, quality scores and to reposition their hospitals in the region.
Nesselbush and his wife, Marlene, are Western New York natives, having grown up in West Seneca.
He is a graduate of Bucknell University with a Bachelor of Arts and completed his Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a focus on public accounting. Nesselbush began his career and spent five years as a senior accountant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Rochester.