ENTERPRISE — Dan Grigg, the leader of the Harney District Hospital in Burns, will be the next chief executive officer at Wallowa Memorial Hospital.

The Wallowa County Health Care District Board of Directors made the decision during its May 22 meeting.

The 58-year-old Grigg will start his new job on Sept. 11. He succeeds Larry Davy, who is retiring after leading the hospital and the health district for 15 years in two separate stints.

Nick Lunde, chair of the board of directors, said he and other board members were impressed with Grigg’s wealth of experience at large hospitals and smaller ones like the Harney District Hospital, which has 25 beds. (Wallowa Memorial Hospital also has 25 beds.)

“He’s got a reputation as a good leader,” Lunde said of Grigg. Lunde said he met Grigg last year, during a trip to Washington, D.C., that was organized by the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, and was impressed.

In an interview, Grigg had praise for Wallowa Memorial Hospital and the county health district: “They have an impressive organization,” he said. “That’s why I’m so excited to join it.”

Grigg, who also has served as the CEO for the hospital district in Heppner, said Davy has been a mentor to him, “and so to follow him is an honor, but it’s also daunting.”

Grigg said his first priorities as CEO at Wallowa Memorial Hospital would be “to observe, get to know people, get a real sense for the organization. It’s already a well-run organization. From there, I’ll see where there are challenges and opportunities where my experiences and skill sets can be a value added to them to make it even better.”

Grigg will be paid $310,000 annually, just about what he makes in Harney County, Lunde said. Davy makes $280,000 annually.

A Boise native, Grigg graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in human resource management and went on to Arizona State University, where he got a masters’ degree in hospital administration. He did a one-year fellowship with the Holy Cross Health Care system, based in Indiana, where he was initially placed in a hospital in Fresno, California. The one-year fellowship stretched into a 14-year stay in Fresno.

From Fresno, he went to work for Salem Health in Oregon for eight years, including six working with quality and patient safety.

Grigg and his wife, Andrea, have seven children; the youngest just recently finished high school.