Quarles announces resignation from SMH Foundation

The Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation Board of Trustees announced the resignation of President and CEO Alexandra Quarles Tuesday in a release. 

“She’s accomplished so much and she wants to move on,” said Art Wood, Chair for of the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation Board of Trustees. “She is the catalyst who got this whole thing going when the Century Club and the original foundation merged when she started. She’s took the foundation as a fledging organization and made it what it is today.”

Quarles joined the foundation 22 years ago and in her time as SMH Foundation President and CEO, the foundation granted more than $63 million to Sarasota Memorial Health Care System. Endowment funds have increased from $7 million to $26 million during her time. 

Her non-profit career has spanned more than 30 years and Quarles is taking the time to explore other career opportunities. 

“Being part of such a unique foundation, supporting a world-class healthcare system like Sarasota Memorial, has been an honor few people get to experience in their lifetime,” Quarles said in a release. “It has been my extreme pleasure to serve this organization and the greater Sarasota community.”

Her final day will be June 1. Until then a committee has been put together of board members and senior staff members to find a replacement. 

The announcement comes at a busy time for projects involving the hospital. The new Rehabilitation Pavilion is under construction as well as an Internal Residency Program with Florida State University and further improvements to the Trauma Center. 

“The hospital is absolutely operating at full throttle going on,” Wood said. “It’s like one thing after another so the foundation wants to be as impactful as possible.”