HCA Florida St. Petersburg and Pasadena Hospitals announce promotions

Tampa, FL– HCA Florida St. Petersburg and Pasadena Hospitals are pleased to announce the promotions of Diane Conti, RN, MSN, as Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) and Maria Caruso, MBA as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for both hospitals effective immediately. Conti and Caruso have both been serving in interim roles over the two hospitals over the past several weeks.

“Diane and Maria have shown exceptional leadership skills, dedication and commitment to our mission of providing the best possible care to our patients,” says Brent Burish, chief executive officer of HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital and HCA Florida St. Petersburg Hospital.  ‘We are confident that their expertise and experience will help us continue to improve and provide excellent healthcare services to our community.

Diane is an accomplished nurse leader and resident of Pinellas County for more than two decades. With her extensive experience in overseeing Critical Care, Respiratory Therapy and Women's Services, she has made a significant impact in her career. As an emergency room nurse, Diane served as the director of Emergency Services for more than 12 years at St. Petersburg Hospital. In 2019, she was appointed as the assistant CNO at HCA Florida Largo Hospital. Diane's exceptional leadership skills led her back to St. Petersburg Hospital in 2022 as the CNO. Since then, she has been instrumental in driving patient engagement, RN recruitment and nursing retention. As CNO, she oversees all nursing departments and clinical education for both hospitals, and works to mentor future nursing leaders.

For more than 15 years, Maria has been a distinguished financial leader in the hospital industry. She has been serving as the CFO at Pasadena Hospital since early 2019, where she has brought in her vast experience and expertise. Before joining HCA Healthcare, Maria held various financial roles with Community Health Systems. She progressed from financial analyst to controller to assistant CFO, and ultimately became the CFO at Venice Regional Medical Center. Since joining Pasadena Hospital, Maria has supported significant growth in orthopedic and cardiology service lines and has also directly overseen multiple departments. Her exceptional leadership skills have resulted in some of the highest caregiver engagement results throughout HCA West Florida. As the CFO for both hospitals, Maria will supervise multiple financial and essential services, including Information Technology, Patient Access, Case Management and Supply Chain operations.