Powell Valley Healthcare’s new CEO selection committee had the last two scheduled virtual interviews Tuesday, and now they plan to select the finalists who they’ll invite out to the hospital.

PVHC Board of Directors chair R.J. Kost updated the board on the CEO search progress at their monthly meeting Monday.

“It’ll be the same as previously, we’ll bring them in and everybody meets with them,” he said. “Then hopefully we’ll have a chance to make a decision.”

There were nine candidates who applied for the position the second go-around, and Kost said all are new and had not applied during the previous round of interviewing. That had ended with the chosen candidate not being able to come to an agreement with the hospital on a contract, at which point the CEO selection committee determined to restart the process and spread the net for a new crop of candidates.

In January, to allow for the time necessary to do the search without being absent a leader, the board had voted to extend CEO Terry Odom’s contract through the end of June.

Kost cautioned previously that even on acceptance it would be four to six weeks before a candidate could start as they would likely have to wrap up their current job and move.

“At earliest it would be the first to second part of June to wrap this up if everything goes as planned,” he said.

Odom announced last summer she would be retiring in the first quarter of 2023, with plans to help with the onboarding of a new CEO.