Chief Development Officer named for Oregon network
| News
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Jennifer Svihus has accepted the position of chief development officer for the PeaceHealth Oregon network. Her first day will be Monday, Nov. 21.
Svihus will provide philanthropy leadership to the network development staff and the three volunteer boards for Sacred Heart, Cottage Grove and Peace Harbor Foundations. She also will work closely with providers and key leaders to build upon the culture of gratitude in the Oregon network.
“I am thrilled to join the PeaceHealth family in Oregon,” Svihus said. “I look forward to meeting with the generous members of the communities we serve who appreciate the need for a robust healthcare system that meets and exceeds the needs of our region. I am honored to serve in this capacity guided by values of respect, stewardship, collaboration, and social justice.”
Svihus comes to PeaceHealth after serving for three years as the president and chief philanthropy officer for the Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital Foundation in the San Francisco Bay area. During that time she secured multiple seven-figure gifts, including the largest gift in Sequoia Hospital history: $10 million toward Sequoia’s Heart and Vascular Institute.
Prior to her work with the Sequoia Hospital Foundation, Svihus was the vice president of philanthropy for Sutter Health’s Valley Region in Modesto, Calif. She directed all aspects of philanthropy for three area hospitals, two medical foundations and four philanthropic boards. She doubled giving in the region from $2.5 million to $5 million in a five-year stretch.
Svihus also held a leadership role with the Cleveland Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Nev., where she developed and managed a comprehensive major gift fundraising program. Before her time in healthcare, Svihus worked in the development offices at both UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz.
Svihus earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., before receiving her master’s degree in healthcare administration from Chapman University in Orange, Calif.
About PeaceHealth: PeaceHealth, based in Vancouver, Wash., is a not-for-profit Catholic health system offering care to communities in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. PeaceHealth has approximately 16,000 caregivers, a group practice with more than 900 providers and 10 medical centers serving both urban and rural communities throughout the Northwest. In 1890, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace founded what has become PeaceHealth. The Sisters shared expertise and transferred wisdom from one medical center to another, always finding the best way to serve the unmet need for healthcare in their communities. Today, PeaceHealth is the legacy of the founding Sisters and continues with a spirit of respect, stewardship, collaboration and social justice in fulfilling its Mission. Visit us online at peacehealth.org.
