Leadership

Todd E. Steward, FACHE

Chief Executive Officer

St. David’s Medical Center

In April 2019, Todd E. Steward was named CEO of St. David’s Medical Center, which comprises four of the eight member hospitals of St. David’s HealthCare, including St. David's Medical Center, St. David’s Rehabilitation Hospital, St. David’s Georgetown Hospital and Heart Hospital of Austin. He came to St. David’s Medical Center after serving for 9 years as CEO of St. David’s South Austin Medical Center.

Steward has more than 40 years of experience in acute care inpatient hospital management, healthcare consulting and physician practice management. Prior to joining St. David’s HealthCare, Steward served as chief executive officer of HealthONE’s North Suburban Medical Center, a 157-bed acute care hospital in Denver, Colorado. Earlier in his career, he served as chief operating officer of Lakeview Regional Medical Center, a 185-bed medical-surgical hospital in Covington, Louisiana. Previously, he served in various leadership roles at PhyCor, Inc., which provided administrative management services to physician networks and medical groups, ultimately serving as the interim Executive Director of a 72-physician multispecialty group practice.

Steward received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Abilene Christian University and his master’s degree in healthcare administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He is board certified in healthcare management as an American College of HealthCare Executives Fellow (FACHE).

Laura Wiess

Chief Financial Officer

Laura Wiess was named chief financial officer of St. David’s Medical Center in July 2025. She brings more than 25 years of experience within St. David’s HealthCare, having served in financial leadership roles across multiple hospitals in the system.

Before returning to St. David’s Medical Center, Laura was CFO at St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center, where she led significant capital projects and service expansions, including growth in cardiovascular and stroke care, the addition of in-house dialysis, and the opening of a freestanding emergency department. Her previous roles also include CFO at the Heart Hospital of Austin and St. David’s Georgetown Hospital, as well as assistant CFO at both St. David’s North Austin Medical Center and St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center.

Earlier in her career, Laura served as controller at St. David’s Medical Center for nearly a decade. Her return marks a meaningful homecoming to a facility where she helped build a strong foundation in financial operations. Laura is known for her strategic insight, operational excellence, and long-standing commitment to advancing high-quality care across the region.

Rudy Garza, MD

Chief Medical Officer

St. David’s Medical Center

Rudy Garza, M.D., was named chief medical officer of St. David’s Medical Center in August 2023.

Dr. Garza most recently served as the chief medical officer at Methodist Hospital Northeast, a 237-bed acute care facility in San Antonio. In this role, he implemented a number of initiatives and processes to significantly improve the hospital’s clinical performance, including creating advanced patient treatment plans to better support cardiothoracic surgery and oncology services and leading multidisciplinary rounds to improve patient care and throughput to reduce the length of stay for patients.

Prior to his role at Methodist Hospital Northeast, Dr. Garza served as an associate chief medical officer at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, and he was a medical director of a dialysis unit and an executive partner of San Antonio Kidney. He also served in various physician leadership roles, including chief of medicine and chief of staff, at Methodist Hospital Stone Oak.

Dr. Garza is board certified in internal medicine and nephrology through the American Board of Internal Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Garza is currently pursuing a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Charles McCoy

Chief Nursing Officer

St. David's Medical Center

Charles McCoy was named chief nursing officer of St. David’s Medical Center in June 2025.

McCoy most recently served as chief nursing officer at Heart Hospital of Austin, a campus of St. David’s Medical Center. During his time as chief nursing officer at Heart Hospital of Austin, the facility was recognized with several accolades, including being ranked by Healthgrades as the No. 1 cardiac program in Texas.

McCoy started his career at St. David’s Medical Center in 2005 as a new graduate nurse. He took on a variety of roles with increased responsibility over the next 16 years, including serving as assistant chief nursing officer during his final three years at the hospital, beginning in 2018. In that role, McCoy oversaw the daily nursing operations of critical care, neurosciences, orthopedics, women’s services, NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), chaplain services and palliative care.

McCoy earned a master’s degree in nursing administration from The University of Texas at Arlington and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Jacksonville University.

Katie Lattanzi Perkins

Chief Operating Officer

St. David’s Medical Center

Katie Perkins was named chief operating (COO) of St. David’s Medical Center in May 2023.

Perkins has served in a number of leadership roles within St. David’s HealthCare facilities for more than a decade, most recently serving as the chief operating officer at St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center. During her tenure at the hospital, Perkins managed $70 million in capital projects that led to increased hospital capacity, including the addition of seven emergency bays, an intensive care unit expansion, and catheterization lab renovation.

Prior to her time at St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center, Perkins was the associate chief operating officer at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center. She managed several significant growth projects in that role, including an emergency department expansion. Perkins also spent four years at Heart Hospital of Austin, where she oversaw strategic planning efforts, renovation projects and the expansion of services offered at the hospital’s Heart Valve Clinic.

Perkins earned her master’s degree in healthcare administration and a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing from Trinity University in San Antonio. She is also a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.