MASSENA -- The Massena Memorial Hospital Board of Managers on Monday voted to hire a new interim CEO who will split his time between MMH and Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center in Ogdensburg.

However, the MMH board chair says there has been no decision with regard to MMH affiliation.

The MMH board hired Charles Gijanto as the interim chief executive officer of the hospital effective Aug. 27. Hospital officials say they expect him to hold the post for “the next nine to 12 months,” according to a statement from Massena Memorial. He is a former MMH chief financial officer.

He replaces interim MMH CEO Ann Gilpin, who was hired in June for a two-month term. She replaced former CEO Bob Wolleben, who resigned the night Gilpin was hired for reasons that have not been fully explained.

Before returning to the North Country, Gijanto was CEO at Oswego Health. There, he replaced Gilpin after she resigned as their CEO in 2015.

At MMH, Gijanto will be paid $17,800 per month for no more than nine months with an option for a three-month extension, MMH board chair Scott Wilson said.

Both hospital boards have a letter of agreement to share his leadership for their respective facilities, according to a news release from MMH.

Gijanto’s appointment comes amid the hospital and town boards reaching an asset transfer agreement “in principle,” according to a Tuesday news release.

MMH is in the process of going from a town-owned entity to a private, non-profit facility. Hospital officials are trying to affiliate with a larger health network. However, MMH board chair Scott Wilson in a prepared statement said splitting CEO duties with CHMC “is not an indication that the Board of Managers has made any decision regarding affiliation.”

“This is an on-going process,” Wilson said in a statement sent to the press on Tuesday afternoon.

Gijanto is “a native New Yorker with over 35 years of healthcare management experience,” MMH said in a news release.

“Chuck comes to us with extensive healthcare leadership with a broad based community hospital background,” Wilson said in the release. “We are very pleased to have a talented healthcare executive who has had experience running two hospitals at the same time. During his tenure the board has asked that he focus on our path to privatization, our affiliation strategy, financial realignment, medical staff, employee engagement and patient satisfaction. Since Chuck had previously held the position interim Chief Financial Officer here at MMH and worked with most of the current senior leadership team that is in place today, he will be able to hit the ground running.”

During his career, Gijanto has been chief executive officer, chief financial officer or chief operating officer and vice president of finance in several hospitals, including Fletcher Allen Health Care, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, Baystate Health in Springfield, Mass., Massena Memorial Hospital and Oswego Health. He has held the position of CEO at Claxton-Hepburn since May.

“I am very excited to be joining the team at Massena Memorial Hospital,” Gijanto said in a prepared statement from MMH. Having spent some time working there in the summer of 2015 I grew to know the organization and got to meet a lot of the folks who are there. I it is an essential community resource and I am excited and humbled to have been asked to come in and help take the organization forward. It is a great organization in a wonderful community and it deserves a strong and vibrant hospital.”

“We are excited to continue the relationship with Massena Memorial Hospital. We as a board of directors is confident that Chuck can effectively lead both hospitals and continue our tradition to provide great care to our communities,” Chet Truskowski, Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center Board of Directors chair, said in a statement from MMH.