Leadership

Todd E. Steward, FACHE

Chief Executive Officer

St. David’s Medical Center

In April 2019, Todd E. Steward was named CEO of St. David’s Medical Center, which comprises four of the eight member hospitals of St. David’s HealthCare, including St. David's Medical Center, St. David’s Rehabilitation Hospital, St. David’s Georgetown Hospital and Heart Hospital of Austin. He came to St. David’s Medical Center after serving for 9 years as CEO of St. David’s South Austin Medical Center.

Steward has more than 40 years of experience in acute care inpatient hospital management, healthcare consulting and physician practice management. Prior to joining St. David’s HealthCare, Steward served as chief executive officer of HealthONE’s North Suburban Medical Center, a 157-bed acute care hospital in Denver, Colorado. Earlier in his career, he served as chief operating officer of Lakeview Regional Medical Center, a 185-bed medical-surgical hospital in Covington, Louisiana. Previously, he served in various leadership roles at PhyCor, Inc., which provided administrative management services to physician networks and medical groups, ultimately serving as the interim Executive Director of a 72-physician multispecialty group practice.

Steward received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Abilene Christian University and his master’s degree in healthcare administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He is board certified in healthcare management as an American College of HealthCare Executives Fellow (FACHE).

David McKnight

Chief Financial Officer

David McKnight was named chief financial officer (CFO) of St. David’s Medical Center in December 2022.

With more than a decade of experience in strategic hospital leadership, McKnight most recently served as chief executive officer of Johnston-Willis Hospital, a 293-bed facility in Richmond, Virginia. Prior to this, he spent six years at Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center in Fredericksburg, Virginia, serving as chief financial officer and later chief executive officer. During his tenure as chief financial offer, he invested in key service lines, including robotic-assisted surgery, allowing physicians to perform the first colon resection using robotic technology in the market. McKnight was also the assistant vice president and controller at LewisGale Medical Center in Salem, Virginia.

McKnight earned a Master of Business Administration from Radford University in Radford, Virginia, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Marketing Management from Virginia Tech.

Rudy Garza, MD

Chief Medical Officer

St. David’s Medical Center

Rudy Garza, M.D., was named chief medical officer of St. David’s Medical Center in August 2023.

Dr. Garza most recently served as the chief medical officer at Methodist Hospital Northeast, a 237-bed acute care facility in San Antonio. In this role, he implemented a number of initiatives and processes to significantly improve the hospital’s clinical performance, including creating advanced patient treatment plans to better support cardiothoracic surgery and oncology services and leading multidisciplinary rounds to improve patient care and throughput to reduce the length of stay for patients.

Prior to his role at Methodist Hospital Northeast, Dr. Garza served as an associate chief medical officer at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, and he was a medical director of a dialysis unit and an executive partner of San Antonio Kidney. He also served in various physician leadership roles, including chief of medicine and chief of staff, at Methodist Hospital Stone Oak.

Dr. Garza is board certified in internal medicine and nephrology through the American Board of Internal Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Garza is currently pursuing a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Lynn O’Neill

Chief Nursing Officer

St. David’s Medical Center

Lynn O’Neill currently serves as the chief nursing officer for St. David’s Medical Center providing executive leadership to the nursing team.

With more than 30 years of progressive leadership experience in the healthcare industry, O’Neill came to Austin from Medical City Fort Worth (formerly Plaza Medical Center)—a 320-bed hospital—where she served as vice president and chief nursing officer. In that role, O’Neill had operational, financial and administrative responsibility, including the oversight of inpatient nursing operations, pharmacy, lab, acute therapies, respiratory therapy, education, quality, volunteers and the outpatient transplant clinic. While at Medical City Fort Worth, O’Neill was instrumental in helping the hospital improve its quality scores, reduce nurse turnover rates, and increase physician satisfaction with nursing care.

Prior to her time in Fort Worth, O’Neill spent nearly 10 years serving as vice president and chief nursing officer for Medical Center of Lewisville, which is also part of Medical City Healthcare. During her tenure that spans more than a decade with Medical City Healthcare, O’Neill received numerous awards and recognitions, and she championed several successful quality initiatives. Before coming to Texas, O’Neill served as the executive director of nursing for pediatrics at the University of Chicago Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

O’Neill earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Purdue University in Hammond, Indiana, and she received her Master’s in Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Business in Orland Park, Illinois. She is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, Texas Organization of Nurse Executives and American College of Healthcare Executives. She is also a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and an Advanced Board Certified Nurse Executive.

Katie Lattanzi Perkins

Chief Operating Officer

St. David’s Medical Center

Katie Perkins was named chief operating (COO) of St. David’s Medical Center in May 2023.

Perkins has served in a number of leadership roles within St. David’s HealthCare facilities for more than a decade, most recently serving as the chief operating officer at St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center. During her tenure at the hospital, Perkins managed $70 million in capital projects that led to increased hospital capacity, including the addition of seven emergency bays, an intensive care unit expansion, and catheterization lab renovation.

Prior to her time at St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center, Perkins was the associate chief operating officer at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center. She managed several significant growth projects in that role, including an emergency department expansion. Perkins also spent four years at Heart Hospital of Austin, where she oversaw strategic planning efforts, renovation projects and the expansion of services offered at the hospital’s Heart Valve Clinic.

Perkins earned her master’s degree in healthcare administration and a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing from Trinity University in San Antonio. She is also a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.