The Queen’s Health Systems has selected 39-year health care veteran Jill Hoggard Green to replace longtime president and CEO Art Ushijima, who is retiring in January.

Hoggard Green, a registered nurse, is the president of Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., and was the former chief operating officer of its parent company, Mission Health, a $2 billion health system composed of six hospitals, from 2011 until February, when it was acquired by HCA Healthcare. She is joining Queen’s in October.

The company chose Hoggard Green following a nationwide search that started last fall. She will be the first female CEO of The Queen’s Health Systems. However, before The Queen’s Health Systems was established, Helen MacFarlane served as the hospital administrator in 1919 and Queen Lili‘uokalani was board president from 1891-1893.

“I am humbled by the critical needs The Queen’s Health Systems serves within communities throughout the islands,” Hoggard Green said in a news release. “Together, we plan to continue advancing Queen’s good work, supporting clinical excellence through our physicians, offering resources to further develop our staff, and most importantly, delivering quality care to our patients in service of our founder’s mission.”

Before joining Mission Health, she was the chief operating officer of the Oregon Region of Peace Health, which included four hospitals, and also spent more than 15 years at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City.

As a registered nurse, she has worked in the oncology and bone marrow transplant units, as well as in hospice programs. She is credited with doubling revenue and income in her current position, as well as significantly improving physician relations and reducing overall mortality by more than 40 percent.

“Not only is she a caring and compassionate leader, but she has achieved recognition and success through her dedication to clinical excellence, commitment to staff development and devotion to the mission of each organization she serves,” said Jenai Wall, Queen’s board chairwoman.

Ushijima is retiring after 30 years at Queen’s. He previously said this is the right time for the organization to transition with a fresh approach and perspective.

The administrative change comes as Queen’s begins a $38 million expansion of its West Oahu campus, the first of its redevelopment in the burgeoning community.

The Queen’s Medical Center-West is building an eight-story parking structure with 540 stalls to accommodate a significant increase in demand, and has taken over two floors in a connected clinical services center for specialty clinics with plans to turn the existing fifth floor of the hospital into private rooms for a new medical-surgical inpatient unit.