When Roper St. Francis Healthcare hired Joseph DeLeon as president and CEO in June 2024, he called the planned relocation of its flagship hospital “enormous.”

“To replace the flagship (hospital) is just incredible, and it’s exciting to hear about,” he told The Post and Courier.

Two years later, the job is his to finish. Steel is rising on a $1.2 billion Roper Hospital campus near North Charleston City Hall that the health system says is on track for completion in 2029. Roper Hospital, which opened downtown in 1856, will keep operating on Calhoun Street until the move.

A Texas career

DeLeon spent most of his career in Texas. He joined Texas Health Resources in 2005 as a vice president at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, became president of its Southwest Fort Worth hospital in 2013 and returned to the Fort Worth hospital as president in 2018, according to Roper St. Francis. That hospital has 851 beds and a Level I trauma center.

There, he oversaw Texas Health Resources’ biggest project, the $304 million, nine-story Jane and John Justin Tower, Roper St. Francis said.

He served as a captain in the Air Force’s medical services corps and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s in public administration from Texas A&M University, according to Roper St. Francis.

Why Charleston

Family helped bring him east. His son-in-law was being stationed with the South Carolina Air National Guard near Columbia, along with two of DeLeon’s grandsons, The Post and Courier reported in 2024.

“That was the icing on the cake,” DeLeon said.

So did the mission. Roper St. Francis is a joint venture of Bon Secours Mercy Health and the Medical Society of South Carolina, according to Bon Secours Mercy Health. DeLeon’s first job was at a Catholic hospital, the newspaper reported.

“The ministry mission it serves in the greater Charleston area is very familiar to me and is very comfortable to me,” he said.

He started Aug. 5, 2024, succeeding Dr. Jeffrey DiLisi, who had chosen not to renew his contract. Dr. Megan Baker, who had been interim CEO, became chief operating officer.

The system says it has nearly 7,000 employees, four hospitals and nearly 700 beds, making it the Lowcountry’s largest private employer.

Building outward

Five days after DeLeon started, Roper St. Francis announced plans to sell its downtown property, including the 900,000-square-foot hospital building, to MUSC by 2029, WCSC Live 5 reported.

DeLeon has pointed to the system’s long-standing goal of having facilities within 20 minutes of where people live. “And that’s getting tougher and tougher in Charleston and in the surrounding area,” he told The Post and Courier in 2024.

The system broke ground on the North Charleston campus in June 2025. “We’re here to celebrate more than steel and concrete, although there is a lot of it,” DeLeon said, according to Live 5.

In November 2025, Roper St. Francis and MUSC Children’s Health cut the ribbon on a 16-bed children’s unit at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital in West Ashley, a partnership the two systems called the first of its kind in South Carolina.

In June, Roper St. Francis finished major construction on an expansion of Berkeley Hospital that doubled its beds to 100, grew its emergency department from 14 to 35 patient care bays and added 350 health care jobs, according to the system.

“This expansion reflects our commitment to grow alongside our neighbors and ensure families have access to advanced healthcare close to home,” DeLeon said.

Later that month, the system cut the ribbon on a 45,000-square-foot health pavilion with a 24-hour emergency department, imaging and lab services on Sawmill Centre Drive in Summerville. Another is planned on Johnnie Dodds Boulevard in Mount Pleasant in late 2027, the system said.

“As our region continues to grow, it is critical that healthcare grows alongside it,” DeLeon said in the system’s announcement.

The projects are part of the system’s 2030 Strategic Plan, which calls for expanding its footprint across the region.

What he says matters most

DeLeon said in 2024 that growth should not come at the expense of quality.

“That is the No. 1 goal for us is taking care of patients and doing it well,” he told The Post and Courier. “We’re going to keep our eyes on that no matter how fast we grow or no matter where we grow.”