Leadership

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Travis Sisson - Chief Executive Officer
Travis Sisson joined Merit Health Wesley as CEO in March 2024. He previously held the position of chief operating officer at the hospital from 2008 - 2013.

Sisson has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry. He has demonstrated an ability to guide health systems through new changes and initiatives, forge strong relationships with physicians, and engage with both employees and the community.

Sisson came from Merit Health Biloxi, where he has served as CEO since 2022. Prior to his role at Merit Health Biloxi, Travis was COO at Longview Regional Medical Center, where he was instrumental in recruitment and the launch of several new service lines.

He earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and an MBA from the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

Rachael Williams, R.N., BSN, MSN - Chief Nursing Officer
Rachael Williams serves as the chief nursing officer. We welcomed Rachael from our sister facility on the Gulf Coast, Merit Health Biloxi. She served as their CNO for six years, but her career began there as an ICU nurse in 1999. She also served as their director of medical-surgical, orthopedics and telemetry before accepting the CNO role.

Rachael earned her nursing degree from the University of South Alabama and her graduate degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Christy Wilson, CPA - Chief Financial Officer
Christy Wilson serves as the chief financial officer. Wilson began her career in Hattiesburg at Horne, LLP, as a healthcare consultant and has returned to the Pine Belt with 20 years of healthcare finance experience.

Prior to her return to Hattiesburg, she served as the CFO for Princeton Baptist Medical Center, a 505-bed hospital located in Birmingham, AL, as well as Walker Baptist Medical Center, a 267-bed hospital in Jasper, AL. Her experience in Mississippi also includes serving as executive director of the Neuro Institute at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and as CFO for two CHS-affiliated hospitals in the Jackson area: Merit Health Woman's Hospital and Merit Health River Oaks.

Christy earned her Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. She has been a board-certified public accountant in the State of Mississippi since 2010.

Susan Bellows MSN, RN, CPHQ
Susan Bellows serves as the chief quality officer. A true Hattiesburg native, Bellows graduated from Hattiesburg High School, earned her nursing degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and graduate degree from William Carey University. Bellows joined Merit Health Wesley in 2013 as director of quality management and added facility compliance officer to her role in 2017.

Bellows is a certified professional in healthcare quality (CPHQ.) She began her career as a cardiac nurse and has followed an impressive path into leadership roles, including charge nurse, clinical coordinator, nurse education specialist, director of clinical services and chief nursing officer.

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Vice Presidents

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Officers