Franklin-based Community Health Systems continues to refine the company's portfolio of hospitals and recently announced the departure of two long-time executives.

Rachel Seifert

Rachel Seifert, EVP, secretary and general counsel will retire at the end of this month. Seifert is a 19-year veteran of CHS and has more than 35 years of legal experience. She joined the company as the first and only member of the Legal Department and steadily assembled a strong team of attorneys. Previously, Seifert worked for Columbia/HCA where she served as vice president and associate general counsel after spending seven years in private law practice. She received her law degree and bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland.

Larry Cash

It was also announced that W. Larry Cash, president of Financial Services and chief financial officer, will retire from his executive management position and the company's board on May 16, the date of the company's 2017 annual meeting of stockholders. Cash has served as CFO since joining the organization in September 1997 and was elected to the board in 2001. He will continue as a consultant to the management team on issues related to healthcare finance, management and operations. Widely recognized as a top healthcare financial executive, Cash came to CHS after a short stint with Columbia/HCA. Prior to that, he had spent 23 years at Humana. Cash, a certified public accountant, received his bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky.

Thomas J. Aaron, who currently serves as SVP-Finance, will be appointed CFO immediately following Cash's retirement. Ben Fordham, who currently serves as SVP and chief litigation counsel, will be appointed interim general counsel upon Seifert's retirement.

In other news, company officials announced a definitive agreement to sell eight hospitals and their associated assets to subsidiaries of Steward Health Care LLC last month. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017. In reporting 2016 fourth-quarter operations in late February, Chairman and CEO Wayne Smith announced the company's intention to sell additional hospitals and other assets by this fall. Despite 2016 losses of $1.7 billion, CHS outperformed expectations and stock prices have risen over the past three months.