After nearly two decades leading one of southeastern North Carolina’s largest health systems, Cape Fear Valley Health CEO Michael Nagowski is preparing to step away from the job.
Nagowski will retire effective July 1, 2026, ending a run that began in 2008 and coincided with a period of major growth for the organization. When he took over, Cape Fear Valley was a county hospital. Today, it operates as a fully integrated system with eight hospitals and close to 100 care sites spread across multiple counties.
Much of that transformation focused on expanding both physical infrastructure and the region’s medical workforce. During Nagowski’s tenure, the health system built out graduate medical education programs that now include roughly 330 physicians in residency training across several specialties…