MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Albert L. Wright, Jr., president and CEO of the West Virginia University (WVU) Health System, announced today (April 10) the appointment of Nicholas (Nick) J. Barcellona as senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer (CFO).
Barcellona will join the Health System in July, succeeding Douglas Coffman, who announced his retirement in 2022 after a distinguished career that spanned more 30 years with the Health System and WVU Medicine United Hospital Center in Bridgeport.
“I am very excited that Nick will be joining us to provide financial leadership across our network of hospitals and clinics,” Wright said. “I am also grateful to Doug for his outstanding leadership and fully confident that Nick will build on Doug’s legacy of financial excellence and success for our Health System and its hospitals.”
Named a “Rising Star” among CFOs by the Philadelphia Business Journal, Barcellona currently serves as executive vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer of Temple University Health System in Philadelphia. At Temple, Barcellona has provided critical leadership that has led to the overall improvement of that organization’s financial health and credit ratings.
His announcement comes after an extensive national search and at a point when the WVU Health System continues to serve as an industry benchmark and standard for financial health for hospitals and health systems. The Health System remains a top performer financially, outperforming many of its peer academic health systems across the United States, as reflected in both its overall financial performance and continued positive bond ratings from S&P and Moody’s.
“We were all very impressed with Nick, including his outstanding leadership experience and accomplishments, as well as his passion and excitement for the mission, vision, and values of both WVU and WVU Medicine,” Thomas A. Heywood, vice chair of the WVU Health System Board of Directors, chair of its Finance Committee, and a member of the CFO Search Committee, said.
“The Finance Committee members and I are excited to work with him as he further enhances our financial excellence and helps lift WVU Medicine to even greater heights.”
Before joining Temple in 2020, Barcellona served in several senior financial and operational leadership roles at UPMC in Pittsburgh. He holds degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University and serves on a variety of community boards.
“I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to join the WVU Medicine team as it continues its journey of building a truly exceptional health system for the people of West Virginia and beyond,” Barcellona said.
“The excitement, energy, and enthusiasm for WVU Medicine were all very evident when I met with the members of the Search Committee. The success of WVU Medicine is driven by the world-class culture Albert and his team have established. I am thrilled that I will be part of a team that is so dedicated to its mission and patients.”