Daniel Morissette, the newly appointed chief financial officer (CFO) of Stanford Hospital & Clinics, ascended to his post just in time to oversee the Hospital’s $1 billion renovation and expansion project.

The former top finance officer of the University of Toledo and its medical center, Morissette replaced Ray Santorella, who left Stanford in mid-2006 to become president and chief operating officer at a San Francisco security company.

“We’re delighted to have Dan join us, especially as we embark on the opportunity to build an entirely new hospital,” said Martha Marsh, president and CEO of Stanford Hospital & Clinics, in an Oct. 17 press release.

The expansion project Marsh describes comes on the heels of updates to seismic safety standard laws in California. Facilities must comply with the regulations by 2015. Construction for the Hospital is expected to begin by 2012, with hopes of opening the entire Stanford Hospital & Clinics facility by the 2015 deadline.

“The urgency for the Hospital expansion is partially led by the fact that we do need to construct or expensively retrofit our hospital anyway,” Morissette said. “Having said that, we also did an intensive study with faculty physicians in the School of Medicine on the size of a hospital needed to maintain the clinical care and clinical research components we provide.”

In conjunction with counterparts at the University and Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, Morissette will oversee much of the project’s expenditures.

“It is my responsibility to make sure that we have the internal financing in place to complete this project and communicate what we are doing to the community and the outside financial agencies involved,” Morissette said.

Although the project is still in its early stages, Morissette said it is going well.

“We have a long way to go,” he said. “We are going through the permit process in conjunction with the University right now, but we are confident that it is going to work out. It seems like everything is on track.”

While Morissette said it was too early to speculate on specific challenges the Hospital may encounter, he said the present focus is on acquiring the necessary permits.

There have already been concerns, however, from some community members who view the expansion project as a burden to the City of Palo Alto, citing increased traffic and greater congestion as potential problems.

“Concerns like these still exist,” Morissette said. “But we are doing everything we can to alleviate them.”

He emphasized that it was important to remain in constant communication with the greater Palo Alto community, especially those who have already voiced concern.

“We are very closely aligned with the University and we are working together to find a solution that works for everyone,” he said. “In that regard, I think the process is going well since the Hospital leadership and the University leadership understand our role in the community. We are taking into account the concerns now so that we are better able to handle them in the future.”

Despite the fact that the Hospital is affiliated with the University, the construction funding will come from the Hospital’s own resources.

“It is going to be a challenge for us to make sure that we maintain our fiscal solvency and deliver the type of facility we want,” Morissette said, “but, like the rest of Stanford, we are very aware of our desire and need to be the place of choice.”

While he and others working on the project remain enthusiastic about its outcome and impact on Stanford, Morissette recognized that there is still a long way to go.

“This is a very large and elaborate project, [one] which requires a lot of planning,” he said. “There is a lot of money that needs to be expended before the shovels ever go in the ground.”