Alyson Pitman Giles

Alyson Pitman Giles, a pioneering New Hampshire healthcare executive whose leadership helped save and rebuild Catholic Medical Center, passed away on October 27, 2026, at the age of 73. A resident of New London, NH, she was born in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, to Albert and Marion (Bateman) Rock.

Alyson earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Tufts University in 1977 and a Master of Science degree from Southern New Hampshire University in 1988. In 2008, Rivier College awarded her an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Across a healthcare career spanning more than three decades, Alyson became known as a determined, innovative, and deeply engaged leader. Beyond her professional achievements, she was a devoted wife and mother, a loving grandmother, and a generous mentor who helped shape healthcare across the state.

A Career in Healthcare Leadership

Alyson began her career as an occupational therapist in 1977. At a time when women made up much of the healthcare workforce but were still underrepresented in senior executive roles, she advanced from clinical practice into hospital administration and became a model for other women pursuing leadership roles in healthcare.

In 1992, at age 38, she accepted her first chief executive position at Lake Shore Hospital in Manchester, a psychiatric hospital facing serious challenges. Although she had never led a hospital before, she embraced the opportunity as a chance to grow professionally and help an institution that needed strong leadership.

The decision reflected an approach that would define her career: she was willing to accept difficult assignments and take informed risks while continuing to learn from more experienced leaders. She encouraged others to approach their careers in the same spirit: by taking on responsibilities beyond their comfort zones and trusting in their ability to grow into them.

The following year, Alyson became president and CEO of New London Hospital, where she formed a lasting bond with the community she would later call home. During her six-year tenure, she connected the hospital more closely to home health and local physicians by bringing the Lake Sunapee Region Visiting Nurse Association into the organization and founding New London Physician Group, a multispecialty practice comprising 25 physicians. She also built deep and lasting professional relationships that shaped the rest of her career.

Transforming Catholic Medical Center

When Alyson assumed leadership of Catholic Medical Center (CMC), the hospital was emerging from the collapse of Optima Health, its failed merger with Elliot Hospital. Many senior leaders and physicians had departed, and important medical and surgical programs had been eliminated. CMC was operating at an annual loss of approximately $6 million, and its future as an independent acute-care hospital was in serious doubt.

Alyson refused that CMC’s decline was inevitable. Instead, she assembled a new management team, recruited physicians, restored clinical programs, and rebuilt confidence among employees and the Manchester community. Within 18 months, CMC had returned to a positive operating margin.

During her 13-year tenure, CMC’s revenue tripled and its workforce grew from approximately 600 to more than 2,000 employees. The New England Heart Institute quadrupled in size and became a defining regional program, extending CMC's reach throughout New Hampshire. Alyson also restored obstetric and gynecological care through the creation of The Mom's Place, expanded outpatient and surgical services, and invested in advanced medical technology, including New Hampshire's first da Vinci surgical robot and first 64-slice CT scanner. Together, these efforts helped CMC recruit physicians, expand patient care, and establish itself as a regional medical center in its own right.

By the time Alyson stepped down in January 2012, CMC had become a vibrant, modern, and high-quality Catholic institution with renewed standing in the community and national recognition for its cardiac care. Although her final years at CMC brought intense public and regulatory scrutiny of the hospital’s governance and future, she met these challenges with characteristic resilience and remained committed to the institution she loved. The hospital she rebuilt remained independent and continued serving patients for more than a decade after her departure.

A Legacy of Mentorship and Service

Alyson received numerous honors for her contributions to healthcare leadership. She served as chair of the American College of Healthcare Executives and, in 2012, received its Gold Medal Award, the organization’s highest individual honor. In 2005, Business NH Magazine named her Business Leader of the Year.

Among the accomplishments she valued most were the leaders she helped develop. Three women and one man whom she mentored at Catholic Medical Center went on to become hospital CEOs across the country, extending her influence well beyond the institutions she led herself.

For Alyson, leadership required both courage and humility, and mentorship was central to how she led. She was visible and accessible, spending time with employees in the cafeteria, operating rooms, kitchens, and patient-care areas, listening carefully to their experiences and showing respect for every kind of work. She gave talented people the trust and support to grow into greater responsibilities. After leaving CMC, she used her experience to advise other healthcare organizations and help them fulfill their missions.

A Pioneer for Women in Leadership

Alyson understood firsthand how difficult it could be for women to pursue ambitious careers while raising a family. She spoke candidly about the ways motherhood shaped her professional life. After six years of infertility, she welcomed her first child at age 31 and went on to raise two children and two stepchildren.

Despite the demands of leading a major medical center, Alyson always made her family a priority. She attended her daughter's field hockey games and her son's musical performances, coached their teams, brought them to hospital events, and remained actively involved in their lives. She was their biggest cheerleader and proudest advocate.

Although balancing an ambitious career with family life was never easy, her example showed other women that they could accept substantial professional responsibility while remaining deeply present in the lives of the people they loved.

Family and Lasting Legacy

Above all, Alyson cherished her family. She is survived by her beloved husband, William C. Giles; her children, Seth Pitman and Sarah Sanford; her stepchildren, William K. Giles and Megan DeSantis; her six grandchildren; and her sister, Andrea. She was predeceased by her brother, Albert.

An avid reader, Alyson embraced adventure both on the page and beyond it. She traveled the world and especially loved sailing with her husband and family, often with a Diet Pepsi in hand.

Her influence lives on in her family, in the colleagues and healthcare leaders she supported, and in the communities helped by the hospitals she led. At Catholic Medical Center, she turned uncertainty about the hospital’s survival into more than a decade of continued independence and service.

Alyson will be remembered for her courage in accepting difficult challenges, her perseverance in adversity, and her conviction that leadership is ultimately an act of service. Her family will remember, above all, the love and encouragement she gave them, her relentless curiosity and energy, her infectious laugh, and her unmistakable zest for life.

Words cannot convey how deeply she will be missed by her family, friends, former colleagues, and the many others whose lives she touched.

Calling hours will be held at Lambert Funeral Home & Crematory, 1799 Elm Street, Manchester, on Friday, November 6, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers or other gifts, the family invites donations in Alyson’s memory to Easterseals NH (https://eastersealsnh.org/donate/), an organization that held a special place in her heart.