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Mayo Clinic has had a dozen leadership eras since 1864—and its current president and CEO, Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, steps down on December 31, 2026, with a successor taking office January 1, 2027.
LIST OF MAYO CLINIC CEOS & LEADERS
| Leader | Role | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. William Worrall Mayo | Founder | 1864–1892 |
| Dr. William J. Mayo & Dr. Charles H. Mayo | Founding partners | 1892–1939 |
| Arlie R. Barnes, M.D. | Chair, Board of Governors | 1947–1952 |
| Samuel F. Haines, M.D. | Chair, Board of Governors | c. 1953–1957 |
| James T. Priestley II, M.D. | Chair, Board of Governors | 1957–1963 |
| L. Emmerson Ward, M.D. | Chair, Board of Governors | 1964–1975 |
| W. Eugene Mayberry, M.D. | Chair, president & CEO | 1976–1987 |
| Robert R. Waller, M.D. | President & CEO | 1988–1998 |
| Michael B. Wood, M.D. | President & CEO | 1999–2003 |
| Denis A. Cortese, M.D. | President & CEO | 2003–2009 |
| John H. Noseworthy, M.D. | President & CEO | 2009–2018 |
| Gianrico Farrugia, M.D. | President & CEO | 2019–2026 |
Update, July 2026: an earlier version of this post admitted a 30-year gap in this timeline and asked readers for help. A member of Mayo Clinic’s own media services team wrote in and filled it—thank you. One stretch still resists documentation: who chaired the Board of Governors between the brothers’ deaths in 1939 and Dr. Barnes in 1947. If you can source it, please reach out.
DR. WILLIAM WORRALL MAYO
1864-1892
On January 27, 1864, Dr. William Worrall Mayo took out ads in the local papers announcing a new private medical practice in Rochester, Minnesota. What had brought him to town nine months earlier was a Civil War job: an appointment from President Abraham Lincoln as an examining surgeon for the Union Army.
So Dr. Mayo was sent to a small Minnesota town by Abraham Lincoln himself, which would plant the seeds of America’s most famous medical institution, the Mayo Clinic.
DR. WILLIAM JAMES MAYO & DR. CHARLES HORACE MAYO
1892-1939
These two brothers would transform their father’s small practice into a medical powerhouse.
On August 21, 1883, a tornado tore through Rochester, killing at least 37 people and injuring about 200. The northern third of the town was left in ruins, though the Mayos escaped serious harm. Relief began immediately, with a makeshift hospital set up in Rommel’s dance hall, where the Mayos treated the injured.
This disaster led to their partnership with Mother Alfred Moes and the Sisters of St. Francis. It became the foundation of Mayo Clinic as we know it.
On October 8, 1919, Will and Charlie signed a Deed of Gift handing the clinic’s property, assets, and the majority of their life savings to a new nonprofit association. The two most famous surgeons in America put themselves on salary so that Mayo Clinic would serve humanity forever.
THE COMMITTEE YEARS
1939-1957
The brothers died within two months of each other in 1939, and no single successor stepped forward—by design. Mayo Clinic ran on its physician-led Board of Governors, a committee structure the Mayos had built in the 1920s, while Harry Harwick, the business manager Will had hired in 1908, chaired the Mayo Foundation board.
Who chaired the Board of Governors through the war years is surprisingly hard to pin down—Mayo’s own staff newspaper picks the thread back up with Dr. Arlie R. Barnes, chair from 1947 to 1952. Barnes described the job plainly: “The Board labors to two chief ends; first, to provide the best possible care of the patient, and because the second purpose serves the first, to provide those conditions under which the staff shall work so that they may attain their maximal productiveness.”
Dr. Samuel F. Haines followed him until 1957, and made a decision that shaped modern Mayo: in 1956 the board reversed its long-standing policy and began accepting outside research funding.
JAMES T. PRIESTLEY II, M.D.
1957-1963
James T. Priestley II was one of the great surgeons of his generation—a pancreatectomy pioneer whose name still graces Mayo’s surgical alumni society. Vice chair of the Board of Governors by 1954, he took the chair when Haines retired in 1957.
The signature advance of his tenure was digital. In 1962, Mayo installed its first computer, an IBM 1620, and put it to work on medicine almost immediately—including automated scoring of the MMPI psychological test, some of the earliest computerized patient care anywhere.
L. EMMERSON WARD, M.D.
1964-1975
A rheumatologist who joined the staff in 1950, L. Emmerson Ward was elected to the Board of Governors in 1960, became vice chair in 1963, and took the chair in 1964.
His legacy admits students every fall: Mayo Medical School—today’s Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine—opened in 1972 under his chairmanship. He also built Mayo’s first organized fundraising program, and, in one of history’s stranger footnotes, chose the orange-and-blue colors of Mayo’s iconic patient calendar after his alma mater, Illinois.
Future CEO John Noseworthy never forgot Ward’s advice: “Your job is to make sure that you never lose sight of the Mayo Clinic values … If you don’t have the quality, you don’t have Mayo Clinic.”
W. EUGENE MAYBERRY, M.D.
1976-1987
Under W. Eugene Mayberry, an endocrinologist, the clinic finally left Minnesota. Mayo Clinic Jacksonville opened October 13, 1986, and Mayo Clinic Arizona followed on June 29, 1987—deliberately timed to Dr. Will’s 126th birthday. Rochester’s Saint Marys and Methodist hospitals were also brought into Mayo during his tenure, in 1986.
In 1987, President Reagan tapped him to chair the Presidential Commission on AIDS. Mayberry’s philosophy suited a decade of firsts: “Through change we move forward, it’s how we grow. Discomfort with change is only to be expected. With time, we realize that on the whole, change has been marvelously good for Mayo.”
ROBERT WALLER, M.D.
1988-1998
This humble eye doctor would orchestrate one of the most dramatic business transformations in healthcare history.
The Mayo Clinic that Robert Waller took over in January 1988 had 838 staff physicians as of 1984 and hadn’t even owned a hospital until 1986. By the time he stepped aside at the end of 1998, Mayo had 2,174 staff physicians, outpatient visits had nearly quadrupled to 3.68 million a year, and the Mayo Health System he launched in 1992 served more than 30 communities across Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
Waller cared for high-profile patients—he examined Barbara Bush’s eyes in Washington in 1989 and had a personal audience with President George H.W. Bush—yet his office remained strikingly modest. “I try to never use the word ‘I,’” he told the Rochester Post-Bulletin in 1991. “All I do is speak for a group of leaders who are temporarily in a position to guide the institution.”
MICHAEL B. WOOD, M.D.
1999-2003
An orthopedic surgeon renowned for reconstructive microsurgery, Michael B. Wood became president and CEO on January 1, 1999, after two years of carefully planned transition alongside Waller.
The skyline is his monument: the Gonda Building, the largest construction project in Mayo Clinic history, was dedicated in Rochester in October 2001 during his tenure, and the regional health system begun under Waller kept growing. He handed the reins to Denis Cortese in 2003.
DENIS A. CORTESE, M.D.
2003-2009
This pulmonologist didn’t just run Mayo Clinic, Dr Cortese helped shape national healthcare policy.
Cortese ran Mayo from 2003 until November 2009, after four years as CEO of Mayo Clinic Jacksonville. He chaired the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine and spent his tenure arguing that American healthcare should pay for value instead of volume—an argument that reached the top: campaigning for reform in September 2009, President Obama told a crowd, “Look at what the Mayo Clinic is able to do.”
He pushed Mayo into genomics-driven, individualized treatment before personalized medicine was cool, and opened a new 214-bed hospital on the Jacksonville campus in April 2008.
JOHN H. NOSEWORTHY, M.D.
2009-2018
John H. Noseworthy, M.D., a neurologist, served as president and CEO of the healthcare giant from 2009 to 2018. Under his leadership, Mayo Clinic was reorganized from a holding company into a single operating company with a unified strategy, which helped the system expand.
This included the 2013 launch of the Destination Medical Center, a $5.6 billion, 20-year economic growth plan in Rochester. On his watch annual revenue grew from $7.9 billion to $12 billion, and Mayo added 7,200 employees, reaching a workforce of more than 63,000.
Dr. Noseworthy’s decision to retire came after one of Mayo Clinic’s strongest years in terms of quality and safety. He also saw advancement in research, education, and clinical practice; and the completion of a $3.76 billion, eight-year philanthropic campaign.
GIANRICO FARRUGIA, M.D.
2019-2026
A gastroenterologist from Malta who joined the Rochester staff in 1994, Gianrico Farrugia co-founded the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation, ran Mayo Clinic in Florida, and co-wrote Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast before becoming president and CEO on January 1, 2019.
His tenure spanned a pandemic and a building boom. Farrugia launched Mayo Clinic Platform, the system’s AI and data arm, and greenlit the largest construction program in Mayo history—the roughly $5 billion “Bold. Forward. Unbound.” transformation of the Rochester campus, plus a $1.9 billion expansion in Phoenix. In 2025, Mayo posted record revenue of $21.5 billion.
On May 12, 2026, Mayo announced that Farrugia will step down on December 31, 2026. The Board of Trustees elects his successor in November 2026, and the new CEO takes office January 1, 2027. Farrugia isn’t going far: “I plan to stay at Mayo for the foreseeable future, enjoying my laboratory.”
MAYO CLINIC CEO FAQ
Who owns Mayo Clinic?
No one owns Mayo Clinic. It has been a nonprofit since October 8, 1919, when the Mayo brothers signed a Deed of Gift transferring the clinic’s assets to a charitable association. It is governed by a Board of Trustees, and money earned above expenses goes back into patient care, research, and education.
Who will be the next Mayo Clinic CEO?
It hasn’t been announced yet. Mayo Clinic’s Board of Trustees is scheduled to elect a successor to Dr. Gianrico Farrugia in November 2026, and the new president and CEO takes office on January 1, 2027.
How many CEOs has Mayo Clinic had?
Six physicians have held the modern president-and-CEO title: W. Eugene Mayberry, Robert Waller, Michael Wood, Denis Cortese, John Noseworthy, and Gianrico Farrugia—with a seventh arriving in January 2027. Before the mid-1970s, Mayo’s top job was chairing its physician-led Board of Governors.
