The Ensign Group, Inc. Announces Retirement of Its Executive Chairman
- Smooth leadership transition with experienced internal candidates - CEO Barry Port has 21+ years with the company
- Appointment of Marivic Uychiat brings 22+ years of clinical expertise to the board
- Current leadership team averages 20+ years of experience with the organization
- Company maintains strong market presence with 347 healthcare facilities across 17 states
- Loss of long-term executive chairman could impact strategic continuity
- Consolidation of CEO and Chairman roles under Barry Port may raise corporate governance concerns
Insights
Christensen's retirement represents an orderly leadership transition maintaining operational continuity while promoting an experienced internal candidate to the board.
This leadership transition at Ensign Group demonstrates a carefully orchestrated succession plan, with minimal disruption expected to the company's strategic direction. The appointment of Barry Port as Board Chair while retaining his CEO position creates a unified leadership structure that streamlines decision-making. Port's 21-year tenure with Ensign brings deep institutional knowledge to this expanded role.
The appointment of Marivic Uychiat to the board is particularly noteworthy. With 22 years at Ensign and extensive clinical expertise, she brings critical operational perspective to board-level discussions. Her background in nursing leadership and specialized care management adds valuable clinical governance during a period when post-acute care faces increasing complexity.
Christensen's comments emphasize Ensign's decentralized operating model as a key strength, suggesting this leadership approach will continue. The average 20+ year tenure among leadership team members indicates remarkable stability and alignment with the company's cultural values, which should reassure stakeholders during this transition.
The timing of this announcement - providing over two months' notice before the September 1 effective date - demonstrates thoughtful succession planning and transparency. This orderly transition suggests the company has strong governance practices in place, with succession planning being a priority rather than a reaction to unexpected circumstances.
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif., June 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ensign Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENSG or “Ensign”), the parent company of the Ensign™ group of companies, which invest in and provide skilled nursing and senior living services, physical, occupational and speech therapies, other rehabilitative and healthcare services, and real estate, announced today that Christopher Christensen, Executive Chairman and member of the Ensign Board of Directors, has provided notice to the board of his intent to retire from both his roles effective September 1, 2025.
Barry R. Port, Ensign’s Chief Executive Officer, has been appointed to serve as Chair of the Board of Directors, effective September 1, 2025. Mr. Port will continue to serve as Ensign’s Chief Executive Officer, a role he’s held since May 30, 2019. Prior to that, he served as Chief Operating Officer for Ensign Services, Inc. for five years and has been with the organization in various operational roles for over 21 years.
In addition, Marivic Uychiat has been appointed to serve as a member of the Board of Directors, filling the vacancy on the board created by Mr. Christensen’s retirement, effective September 1, 2025. Ms. Uychiat has been a key contributor in the organization for over 22 years and has served as Executive Vice President of Clinical Services at Ensign Services, Inc. since 2016. Before assuming her current role, Ms. Uychiat served as Director of Clinical Services for the company’s California operations. Her extensive background also includes a decade-long tenure as Director of Nursing at Vista Knoll Specialized Care, where she oversaw comprehensive care for psychiatric/neuro-behavioral, dementia, and short-term post-acute rehabilitation patients. Her professional expertise spans skilled healthcare management, clinical program development, and policymaking.
“Marivic is a mission-driven healthcare leader committed to clinical excellence, operational efficiency, and leadership development. Her approach has consistently driven performance improvements across Ensign's portfolio. She brings nearly three decades of nursing excellence and leadership in the Skilled Nursing and Post-Acute Care industry to the board. We are excited to spread her influence more broadly across the organization,” said Port.
Discussing his retirement, Christensen added, “As I start my next chapter, I am confident that the leadership team that has been in place since 2019 will remain true to the cultural values that have and will continue to make us strong. The members of the Company’s leadership team, on average, have been part of this organization for more than twenty years and, as a team, they have continued to show, over and over, that they will guide this organization by following the principles upon which it was founded. While words cannot describe my time with this incredible organization, I am confident that Ensign is ideally situated to continue growing our post-acute care businesses around the country.”
He added, “Ensign has been able to consistently achieve outstanding clinical and financial performance because the organization’s local leaders and caregivers dedicate their lives to the service of their patients, families and their local healthcare communities. With the support of their Service Center resources, these talented local teams continue to deliver high quality healthcare outcomes to increasingly complex patients, in a cost-effective setting. And it’s that commitment to our unique operating model and our collective distrust in a traditional, top-down corporate model, that gives me the confidence Ensign will continue to achieve great things into the future.”
Christensen concluded, “Having Ensign in my life has truly been a gift. So many inside and outside the organization have shared their personal stories with me and what Ensign means to them. I have so much respect and admiration for the more than 50,000 partners who have committed their lives to the service of others, and it has been an honor to serve alongside them. I have never been more energized or exhilarated about the health of this organization and the opportunities that lie ahead. These are exciting times for all of us. I have been honored to serve as the executive chairman of a company that has created value for so many. As an ambassador for Ensign, I look forward to supporting and promoting my dear friends and colleagues in any way I can as they strive to continue our mission to dignify post-acute care in the eyes of the world.”
About Ensign™
The Ensign Group, Inc.'s independent operating subsidiaries provide a broad spectrum of skilled nursing and senior living services, physical, occupational and speech therapies and other rehabilitative and healthcare services at 347 healthcare facilities in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, Nebraska, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. References herein to the consolidated “company” and “its” assets and activities, as well as the use of the terms “we,” “us,” “its” and similar terms, are not meant to imply that The Ensign Group, Inc. has direct operating assets, employees or revenue, or that any of the operations, the home health, hospice and assisted living businesses, the Service Center or the captive insurance subsidiary are operated by the same entity. More information about Ensign is available at http://www.ensigngroup.net.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
This press release contains, and the related conference call and webcast will include forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current expectations, assumptions and beliefs about its business, financial performance, operating results, the industry in which it operates and other future events. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "potential," "continue," "ongoing," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding growth prospects, future operating and financial performance, and acquisition activities. They are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to materially and adversely differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.
These risks and uncertainties relate to the Company’s business, its industry and its common stock and include: reduced prices and reimbursement rates for its services; its ability to acquire, develop, manage or improve operations, its ability to manage its increasing borrowing costs as it incurs additional indebtedness to fund the acquisition and development of operations; its ability to access capital on a cost-effective basis to continue to successfully implement its growth strategy; its operating margins and profitability could suffer if it is unable to grow and manage effectively its increasing number of operations; competition from other companies in the acquisition, development and operation of facilities; its ability to defend claims and lawsuits, including professional liability claims alleging that our services resulted in personal injury, and other regulatory-related claims; and the application of existing or proposed government regulations, or the adoption of new laws and regulations, that could limit its business operations, require it to incur significant expenditures or limit its ability to relocate its operations if necessary. Additionally, our business and operations continue to be impacted by the unprecedented nature of the changes in the regulations and environment, as such, we are unable to predict the full extent and duration of the financial impact of these changes on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements and are encouraged to review the Company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-Q and 10-K, for a more complete discussion of the risks and other factors that could affect Ensign’s business, prospects and any forward-looking statements. Except as required by the federal securities laws, Ensign does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changing circumstances or any other reason after the date of this press release.
Contact Information
The Ensign Group, Inc., (949) 487-9500, ir@ensignservices.net
FAQ
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