Peter Banko’s journey into the health care industry began as part of a high school service project.
“Health care was intriguing to me,” he says. So were girls. Banko smiles when he admits the real reason he signed up for that project was “to meet girls.” The girl he met, however, turned out to be a nun who took him under her wing and encouraged him to get involved in hospital work. Although not what he was expecting at the time, it was the beginning of a successful career.

Banko, 41, was named president and chief executive officer of St. Vincent Health System in January 2007. He officially took over the post in April 2007, succeeding Stephen Mansfield.

St. Vincent’s large system includes seven centers and expands from Little Rock to Sherwood to Morrilton.

The Ohio native, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame and a master of health administration degree from Cornell University, came to St. Vincent at an auspicious — even daunting — time. The system had just announced a $40 million expansion and renovation project that included additions to the emergency, surgery and cardiovascular intensive care areas of the medical center in Little Rock.

Banko came well-equipped and highly recommended. He had been vice president and chief operating officer at Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi, Texas. He was credited with turning around that hospital system, from an $8.5 million operating loss to an $11.9 million operating profit three years later. Prior to that, Banko had worked at a for-profit physicians’ company in Durham, N.C.
In his office at St. Vincent, decorated with Notre Dame memorabilia and photographs of his wife, Elizabeth, and their four children, Banko displays an easy but professional manner. Even exhausted at the end of what is surely one in a series of long days, his passion for his job and for helping others shines through.

Banko says faith-based health care appeals to him because of its body-mind-spirit approach. He particularly believes in St. Vincent’s model of “person-centered care.”

Health care organizations nationwide are grappling with a growing number of uninsured patients, and Banko says he sees the situation worsening each month. When asked how St. Vincent will deal with the situation, Banko turns philosophical. “The sisters who came here in 1888 didn’t worry about such things. Everyone is welcome here. It’s an issue we embrace and hope to find solutions for,” he says, noting that St. Vincent provides a number of resources for the uninsured. “We’re doing things to keep ahead of the curve. Those folks have a right to health care, and we’ll help them find it.”