Riley announces new president, its fourth in a decade

Riley Hospital for Children (submitted by Riley Children's Foundation)

Riley Children’s Health soon will be led by a new administrator who will oversee its growth across the state and run its downtown anchor, Riley Hospital for Children, which turned 100 years old this fall.

David Biggerstaff, who currently serves as chief operating officer for Intermountain Health’s Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, will start his new job as president of Riley Children’s Health on Feb. 2.

Riley Children’s Health is Indiana University Health’s pediatric system and has more than 50 locations across the state, including Riley Hospital, founded in 1924  and named for Indianapolis poet James Whitcomb Riley.

The system offers a wide range of medical and surgical services, including burn care, cancer care, trauma care, organ transplants and newborn intensive care.

But Riley has seen something of a revolving door in recent years in its executive suite and will now be on its fourth president in the past decade, not including interim leaders.

Biggerstaff will succeed Dr. Ryan Nagy, who was named interim president last year after the system parted ways suddenly in February with Gil Peri, president for three years, who left without explanation, and took a job in June as president and CEO of Children’s Wisconsin.

Other Riley presidents who departed in recent years include Dan Fink, who resigned suddenly in 2011 after three years and later became chief administrative officer of Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida; Dr. Jeff Sperring, who left in 2015 after four years at Riley to become CEO of Seattle Children’s Hospital; and Matthew Cook, who left Riley in 2020 after four years to become president of Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco.

IU Health called Biggerstaff “a seasoned professional with extensive history in both adult and pediatric academic centers, as well as community-based programs and facilities.”

Biggerstaff has nearly 30 years of experience as a health care administrator. He previously held leadership roles at top children’s hospitals, including Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas in Texas.

“His commitment to patient care and drive for excellence is exactly what we need to help to move forward of making Indiana a healthier state,” Nagy said in a media release. Nagy is also president of Methodist and University hospitals.

IU Health declined to make Biggerstaff or Nagy available to IBJ for comment.

Biggerstaff holds a master’s in health care administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Oklahoma State University.

“I am humbled to join an organization that has had such profound impact on the health of Hoosier children for more than a century,” Biggerstaff said in a media release. “Riley is the role model for pediatric health care in Indiana, and I am eager to contribute to this rich legacy.”