Chestnut Health Systems is changing its top leader.
Chief Operating Officer Puneet Leekha will become the Bloomington-based not-for-profit's CEO next year. Current CEO Dave Sharar will transition to do more research with the Lighthouse Institute wing of Chestnut.
Leekha joined Chestnut in 2015. He oversees business operations, strategy, administration, policy, legislative affairs, corporate governance, and risk management. Leekha is also active in a variety of community organizations and recently headed the board of the McLean County Chamber of Commerce. He's a lawyer with a finance and marketing background.
Sharar became CEO in 2018. He was Chestnut’s chief clinical officer from 2015 to 2018.
He has been with Chestnut since 1989. From 2000 to 2015, Sharar was managing director for Chestnut Global Partners, a behavioral health/employee assistance firm with more than 600 employer customers and 1 million covered employees in more than 100 countries.
Chestnut will announce plans later to transition Leekha's current duties to a successor by the fall of 2025.
Chestnut employs 800 people in four states. It integrates services in substance use, mental health, primary medical care, oral health, housing and supportive services, and research. Chestnut has annual revenue of $80 million.
Chestnut is Illinois’ only organization that is simultaneously a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, Federally Qualified Health Center, Community Mental Health Center, and U.S. Housing of Urban Development grantee. It is home to the largest research institute in the country housed in a community-based organization.
