EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM

Vice President of Patient Care Services, Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Quality Officer

Pamela M. Duchene, PhD, APRN, has served as the chief nursing officer at Hallmark Health System in Melrose, MA, a 368-bed facility, and at St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua, NH, which is a Magnet® Center for Nursing Excellence and has 208 beds. In addition, she has had extensive experience in the long-term care and rehabilitation industries, serving as a vice president of Harmony Healthcare International in Massachusetts, SunHealth Care Group in New Mexico, and HealthSouth New England in Massachusetts. Duchene is a practicing adult/gerontological nursing practitioner. She attained her Doctor of Nursing Science at Rush University in Illinois.

SVMC's Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Clinical Services

Trey Dobson, MD, is an emergency medicine physician with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, an instructor of Emergency Medicine at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, and the chief medical officer for Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, Vermont. Trey serves on the Medical Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth-Hitchcock. He is the past president of the Vermont Medical Society and currently sits on the Governance Council. He performs medical practice peer review for the Vermont Program for Quality in Health Care, a nonprofit organization designated by the Vermont Legislature.

Prior to entering a career in medicine, Trey obtained a master's in Geology from the University of Wyoming and worked to develop groundwater flow models using simulated computing methods. He then earned his medical degree at The University of Tennessee and completed residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Virginia. Trey’s interests include simplifying and standardizing processes in medicine to create high reliability, selecting sustainable treatment options based on number needed to treat, and supporting work safety and satisfaction among healthcare staff.

Vice President for Corporate Development

Leslie Keefe has more than 25 years of marketing, management and strategic business consulting experience in the corporate and non-profit fundraising sectors. Keefe, who is a Vermont native, ran a successful consulting business focusing on organizational development, including strategic planning, governance, fundraising, training and marketing before joining Southwestern Vermont Health Care as the Vice President of Corporate Development in January, 2014.

Keefe, who lives in Manchester, has a long history of successful marketing and fundraising in Bennington County, raising several million dollars in annual, capital and endowment initiatives for several local organizations. As executive director of the Manchester and the Mountains Chamber of Commerce for seven years, she quadrupled membership and led a variety of successful economic development initiatives.

Keefe launched her career in the retail industry, completing the Bloomingdale’s executive training program in New York City before spending nearly a decade with San Francisco-based clothing chain, Esprit De Corp. Keefe oversaw the entire East Coast and Midwest operations, opening numerous outlet stores and managing over 200 employees and several million dollars in revenue.

Active in the both her local and statewide community, Keefe currently serves on the Board of the Southern Vermont Arts Center and served on the board of the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation for several years assisting the organization with its vision of becoming a nationally recognized institution, as well as volunteering with various community organizations. She also serves an alternate commissioner on the District 8 Act 250 Commission, a position she has held since 2007.

Vice President of Administration and Chief Financial Officer

Robert Laba joined Southwestern Vermont Health Care in 2023 as its Chief Financial Officer. Bob formerly held the position of Vice President of Finance/CFO at Adirondack Health in the Saranac Lake region in New York. He has been the CFO at Adirondack Health, a 95-bed sole community hospital since 2018 after previously serving as their Assistant VP of Finance and Controller.

Vice President of Information Services and Chief Information Officer

Rich Ogilvie has been involved in the health care industry information systems for more than 25 years. In his role with Southwestern Vermont Health Care, he conducts strategic planning and implements mainframe/network-based solutions, facilitates physician relation with information systems, and consults on information/financial/medical systems. Before coming to Southwestern Vermont Health Care, he worked for St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center in Grand Junction, Colorado; California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco; and the Medical Center at the University of California, San Francisco. In addition, he has worked as a project manager, system engineer supervisor, and quality assurance supervisor. He received a bachelor's in Computer Information Systems from Bentley College in Massachusetts in 1984. 

Vice President of Support Services

Ron Zimmerman has been involved in health care support services for nearly 20 years. He started with Southwestern Vermont Health Care in 2020 as the Director of Engineering, then became the Administrative Director for Facilities, Engineering, and Security in 2023. In his current role with Southwestern Vermont Health Care, he conducts master facilities planning and implements long term solutions, leads daily operations for the support services and environment of care teams, serves as the organization’s energy champion, and executes capital projects across the healthcare system. Before coming to Southwestern Vermont Health Care, he worked in multiple roles for Glens Falls Hospital in Glens Falls, New York; as the Operations Manager and Energy Leader for Hollingsworth & Vose in East Walpole, Massachusetts; and in multiple roles at several General Electric sites in Upstate New York. Ron holds a professional engineer’s (PE) license in the state of New York; he also holds certifications as a certified safety professional (CSP), certified healthcare safety professional (CHSP), and project management professional (PMP). He currently serves the Town of Moreau as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and past Chairman for their Planning Board. He received an Associate’s Degree (AAS) in Engineering Science from SUNY Adirondack in 1991, a Bachelor’s Degree (BS) in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Clarkson University in 1993, and a Master’s Degree (MALS) in Leadership and Administration from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2001.