SSM Health Care and SSM St. Joseph in St. Charles have announced that Kevin F. Kast is taking early retirement as president of its St. Charles County Facilities that include SSM St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles, St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake St. Louis and St. Joseph Medical Park in St. Peters, effective February 11.
Paul Convery, MD, executive vice president/chief medical officer for SSM Health Care - St. Louis, will join SSM St. Joseph as interim president on January 27 while a national search is conducted to fill the position permanently. Convery’s background included more than 20 years in private medical practice, as well as extensive management experience.
‘I have truly loved serving as president of SSM St. Joseph,” said Kast. “But now, after being in health care for 25 years, I feel it is time to start the next chapter of my life. I am young enough to be interested in investing my time, talent and treasures in other projects, and I want to spend some time discerning just where I want to make these investments. Community involvement has been, and still is, an extremely important park of Kevin Kast. i anticipate that it will continue to be.”
Kast joined SSM Health Care in 1987 as president of SSM Rehab in St. Louis and was named president of SSM St. Joseph Health Center and SSM St. Joseph Hospital West two years later. he left SSM St. Joseph in 1995 to help develop the SSM Managed Care Organization, for which he served as president. He rejoined SSM St. Joseph as president with additional responsibilities as market executive for St. Charles.
Kast is active in St. Charles County, and the region, with memberships in many civic, professional and volunteer organizations. He currently serves as immediate Past Chairman of the Board of the Economic Development Center of St. Charles County, Immediate Past Chairman of the Board of the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois and Chairman of the Industrial Revenue Authority of St. Charles County. He is on the board of Partners for Progress in St. Charles County and serves on the St. Charles County Advisory Board of RCGA.
Additionally, Kast is a member of St. Charles Community Progress, the St. Charles Rotary Club, and is on the boards of Catholic Charities in St. Charles County and the Children’s Home Society in St. charles. He is on the board of Frontenac Bank of St. Charles and the St. Cletus Parish Council.
In 1868 Kast was appointed a Knight of the Equestrian order of the Holy Sepulcher by Pope John Paul II. He was recipient of the Archbishop John L. May Award for Distinguished health Care Ministry, and currently serves on the Public Policy Committee of the Missouri Catholic Conference.
In 1999, Kast was recipient of the St. Charles Community College Foundation’s Professional Excellence Achievement Recognition (PAR) award and in 2001, received the Visionary Leadership Award from the Missouri Hospital Association. He received a ReinveST. Louis Award from the St. Louis Business Journal, and has been named a Person of the Year by the O’Fallon Chamber of Commerce.
