Southern California Hospital CEO Marie Aragon Leads All-Women Executive Team
Marie Aragon, MSN, RN, has been named CEO of Southern California Hospital in Culver City, Calif., according to Becker's Hospital Review. Aragon first trained at the 420-bed community hospital as a nursing student, completing rotations in telemetry and perioperative services, and has reportedly held 12 positions within the organization over her career.
She leads an all-women executive team that includes Jessica Greer, BSN, RN, as chief nursing officer; Katherine Avendano as COO; Teresa Liaw as CFO; and Kathren Alkasspooles as vice president of business development. Becker's cited McKinsey data showing women held 35% of healthcare C-suite seats in 2024, up from 29% in 2020.
Aragon's background includes computer engineering, bedside nursing, EHR consulting at Epic, biotech and informatics work, along with prior roles as interim and permanent CNO. Her stated first-year priorities center on workforce culture, growth and quality, including a new emergency department expected to open in late Q3 or early Q4 of 2027 ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, for which Culver City is confirmed as the base for New Zealand's delegation.
She said the hospital's perioperative services run at roughly 2% turnover and its cath lab operates without travel nurses. Aragon described watching operating performance and productivity alongside quality, patient safety, patient experience and workforce engagement.