JONESBORO - St. Bernards has announced changes involving its executive leadership team. Dr. Kasey Holder has been named vice president of medical affairs. Connie Hill has been named vice president of patient services. And Lori Smith has been named vice president of human resources.

Holder grew up in Paragould, earned a bachelor’s degree from Arkansas State University and a Medical Degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. After completing a family medicine residency at the UAMS Area Health Education Center-Northeast in Jonesboro, she served on the AHEC faculty and more recently as the director of the hospitalist program at St. Bernards. She also has served as chief of family medicine at St. Bernards. In her role as vice president of medical affairs, she will serve as a physician representative for the medical staff.

Hill is a registered nurse practitioner who also holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the University of Colorado at Denver. Before joining the St. Bernards leadership team, she served as chief executive officer of Cardiology Associates.  She has extensive experience in both caring for patients and in clinic management. She recently was honored as a finalist for Nurse of the Year in the Healthcare Heroes program sponsored by Arkansas Business.

Hill will play a key role in establishing missions, long- and short-range planning, policy development and priority setting for the medical center. She will oversee heartcare service lines as well as coordinate appropriate utilization of nursing resources in the provision of patient care.

Smith has been named vice president of human resources.  Originally from Caraway, she holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Arkansas State University and an MBA from William Woods University in Fulton, Mo.

In her role as vice president of human resources, she will be responsible for planning, administration and overall supervision of the human resources department, the employment center, recruitment, corporate payroll employee risk management, employee engagement and corporate leadership development.

Smith comes to St. Bernards after serving as director of human resources at Optus, Inc. She also has worked for Dana Corp. in Jonesboro, Columbia, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Elizabethtown, Ky. She previously worked for St. Bernards as director of human resources.