New CEO at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minn.

The Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota announced Friday that Robert Bonar Jr. will take over as chief executive officer when current CEO Alan Goldbloom retires in December.

Bonar is the CEO of Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas and has also spent the last two years as president and CEO of Seton Family of Hospitals' 11-hospital system. He helped establish a Level 1 pediatric trauma center and formed a partnership with a University of Texas teaching hospital to create a congenital heart surgery program.

Board Chair for Children's Russ Becker said once Bonar settles into the Twin Cities, he wants him to forge new partnerships and solutions with otherwise competing area pediatric care providers.

"He has a unique ability to build consensus and build winning solutions so that all parties involved can come away from it feeling good about the outcome and the result," Becker said.

Bonar initially entered healthcare as a teacher and paramedic in West Virginia. He earned a doctorate in health administration and policy from the Medical University of South Carolina and also holds advanced degrees in administration from West Virginia University and the University of Oklahoma.

When current CEO Goldbloom leaves Dec. 8, Becker said, he will leave behind a legacy that reaches beyond burgeoning neuroscience care of the new Minneapolis Mother Baby Center.

"You can't describe his accomplishments in terms of bricks-and-mortars," Becker said.