WellStar Health System has reached severance agreements with two top executives the system fired in March, according to copies of the agreements obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Dr. Richard Lopes, the former president of the system's medical group, will be paid his annual salary of $562,661 for 18 months after his official termination in April. Ronald Strachan, WellStar's former chief information officer, will be paid his annual salary of $288,766 for 12 months under his agreement, which was obtained under the Georgia Open Records Act.
Lopes and Strachan both agreed to make no disparaging or derogatory comments about WellStar for two years. Both Lopes and Strachan were fired without cause. The dismissals came after WellStar's abrupt firing of Dr. Gregory Simone, WellStar's former CEO, and Bonnie Wilson, the system's former general counsel, in late summer.
Both sides declined to be interviewed about the agreements.
WellStar Health System is a non-profit corporation that runs five public hospitals in Cobb, Paulding and Douglas counties.
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