Summit Pacific announces hiring of new Chief Operating Officer

Summit Pacific Medical Center announced the addition of new Chief Operating Officer, Winfried Danke. 

According to the hospital, Danke has extensive executive leadership and management experience, having led health and community development organizations and programs in the U.S. and internationally.

“As we continue to grow as an organization, we want to ensure we are meeting the needs of our patients, employees, and operational responsibilities,” said Josh Martin, CEO. “Our leadership team interviewed many candidates for this position and Winfried is the perfect fit.”

Summit Pacific says that Danke will help with many operational and strategic initiatives in the next year such as the electronic health record implementation and optimization as well as the journey to being a Highly Reliable Organization.

Most recently, Danke served as VP, Enterprise Strategy for Premera Blue Cross with responsibility for enterprise-wide strategy development, strategic planning and strategy management. He joined the health insurance company in 2020, initially leading strategy development for Washington, Alaska and Premera’s national accounts.

Before joining Premera, Danke led strategy and business development for Providence Health and Services in Southwest Washington and had executive oversight over multiple service lines. He was also responsible for population health improvements and value-based care. 

Previously, he led CHOICE Regional Health Network and Cascade Pacific Action Alliance, improving community health in Southwest Washington through the collaboration of healthcare and social services providers, payers, public health and other community sectors.

Danke holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Southampton, England, and the equivalent of a master’s degree in political science and economics from the University of Hamburg in his native Germany.