Chief Executive Officer, Southern West Virginia Health System
by Kensie Westerfield
AS THE LEAD SINGER in The LC Band, a southern rock band, Brian Crist is no stranger to the spotlight. Aside from his time spent playing with his friends in their band, Crist has been busy since 2001 growing one of the largest non-profit community health care systems in Southern West Virginia.
After losing his father to Lou Gehrig’s disease at the age of nine, Crist experienced the heart-breaking side of health care. Now, as an adult, he is the CEO of Southern West Virginia Health System, a company of Lincoln Primary Care, and is dedicated to doing all he can to help the 16,000 patients they serve.
Growing up in Ansted, WV and being raised by his mother and grandmother gave him the foundation that he needed to succeed. Along with his supportive family, Crist has also been blessed to have great mentors. “My first true mentor was and still is Bob Musick from Morgantown,” says Crist. “He taught me (and continues to teach me) some of the most important things I know about management, supervising and being a good human being. Since being in Hamlin, David Burch has become a great friend and mentor to me as well. Plus having older brothers taught me a lot…good and bad!”
His first job was mowing for his grandmother. “This was stressful because my uncle lived with her and he was the head groundskeeper at Hawks Nest State Park, which meant the lawn had to be perfect.” His first professional position came during his undergraduate studies when he worked as a residential assistant at a crisis unit for a comprehensive community mental health center in Morgantown. The experience taught him a great deal as well as ignited a new-found passion within him for the health care industry.
Crist, who’s desire to help people keeps him motivated, has also been blessed with his own family. With the support of his wife, Stephany, he has seen much success. “I have been very fortunate and very proud of the things I have achieved in my life,” says Crist. “If I have to choose the one success that stands out to me the most now, it is the number of programs, jobs and new medical clinics I have helped create for Lincoln Primary Care Center, as well as the number of people we have been able to reach because of our ability to spread access to services across four counties. We reach people of all ages with more than 50 different programs and services at seven clinic sites with two more being constructed and a third in the planning stages.”
Before joining Lincoln Primary Care, Crist was the regional manager of Valley Health Care System and also spent time at Rainelle Medical Center. Aside from the 50 or more new programs that have been created to better serve their patients, Crist has increased revenues by nearly $6 million through federal funds, grants and broadening services.
He serves his community as a buddy league basketball and little league baseball coach, the president of the Hamlin Lions Club, the secretary of the Community Health Network of West Virginia, the president of the West Virginia School Based Health Assembly, the past board president of the West Virginia Council on the Prevention of Suicide, a board member of the Lincoln County Economic Development Authority and an adjunct professor for the WVU Division of Social Work.
Crist finds it easy to devote so much to caring for the people of West Virginia because he loves living here. “I have had the great opportunity to travel all over the U.S. and I have never been any place where I have seen the beauty of West Virginia or the kindness and friendliness of the people. The people of West Virginia are proud and hard-working and truly care for one another. That’s hard to find anywhere today. I have lived in every region of West Virginia and you won’t get me to move across those imaginary lines on the map! I love it here—it’s my home.”
Photography by Tracy Toler
