Ed Daech joined UF Health Shands as chief human resources officer in January.

Daech is a seasoned senior human resources executive with a career spanning more than two decades in various human resources and operations roles, including a number of years in the health care sector as well as in food service and manufacturing.

“Ed has spent a number of years building and managing human resources teams and functions for large multi-state and multi-site organizations,” said Traci d’Auguste, MBA, MSHA, chief operating officer for UF Health Shands. “His wide-ranging experience will be instrumental in helping us better align and integrate our human resources operations and functions across our multi-hospital systems to support continued growth and expansion for UF Health.

At UF Health Shands, he will lead efforts to attract and retain a high-performing workforce in the midst of a highly competitive labor market, champion next-generation workforce and succession planning, direct HR operations and foster a culture that values diversity and inclusion.

“I am truly honored to have been selected for this position and excited to join the UF Health Shands family,” Daech said. “I look forward to supporting the human resources team, and everyone across UF Health, as we continue to focus on attracting, retaining and engaging highly skilled and compassionate employees. UF Health Shands has an excellent reputation of offering the highest level of quality care to the patients and communities it serves and I am proud to be part of UF Health. I am also excited to become an honorary member of the Gator nation!”

Daech comes to the hospital system from Saint Peter’s Healthcare System in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he was hired to lead efforts to support a health system merger. He previously spent almost nine years with Ascension Health, serving as regional vice president for human resources, among other key HR roles during his tenure, and overseeing 35 hospitals in three states. Prior to that, he spent time with Community Health Systems in Franklin, Tennessee, and with Health Care Service Corp., a private health insurance company in Chicago.

He brings a demonstrated track record of aligning HR systems with business goals to deliver outstanding results, with a focus on implementing process improvement strategies, enhancing operating efficiencies and achieving cost savings. He has developed and operationalized HR strategic plans to support business operations, as well as workforce strategies to drive business decisions that support recruitment, retention, talent development and succession planning. He also has managed mergers, acquisitions and systems integration, building standardized, scalable processes to support growth. Additionally, he has extensive experience with organizational design, shaping cultural transformation and enhancing employee engagement.

Daech graduated from Southern Illinois with a bachelor’s in workforce education before earning an MBA from North Central College in Illinois.