Randall Delkus, chief executive officer of the Cedars at the JCA, announced late last month that he will resign his position in September, according to the Cedars.

Delkus has worked at the Cedars, a senior care facility located in Town and Country, since 1998, and has served as CEO since 2003.

Delkus announced his decision to resign on June 29. He leaves the Cedars to become president of The Incubation Factory, a St. Louis firm that assists private and public start-up businesses.

Kenneth Rubin, president of the Cedars’ board of directors, said Delkus’ resignation came as a surprise to the board, but noted that he and other board members were confident that there would be a smooth transition in finding a new CEO.

“Any time the CEO leaves, it will be a challenge,” Rubin said. “But we feel very comfortable with our COO Cindy Forbis.”

“As far as continuation of the day-to-day operations, I don’t think we’ll miss a beat,” Rubin said.

Forbis was hired in April as chief operating officer, and came to St. Louis after serving as the CEO of The Bluffs, a retirement community in Columbia, Mo. with 130 beds, compared with the 252-bed Cedars at the JCA.

That experience as a chief executive will provide the Cedars with strong interim leadership as the board searches for a new CEO, Rubin said.

“We feel very fortunate that Cindy is there, and she has been doing a great job for the three months that she has been there,” he said.

Rubin said that as of Friday, the board of directors had not established a timetable or an official search process.

“We’ve got plenty of time to outline what we have in process and what responsibilities Randy [Delkus] will have for the next 90 days, what other responsibilities we’ll have to transition, and that gives us time to determine what our next step will be,” Rubin said.

Rubin praised Delkus’ work at the Cedars.

“He’s very professional and great to work with,” he said. “He’s very well respected in the local health care community, and he has done an excellent job of working with the community to provide a number of auxiliary services to the Cedars.”

Rubin, who is in his fourth year serving as board president, said Delkus was vital in establishing a dialysis care center and an on-site long-term acute care hospital.

Delkus could not be reached for comment.

Rubin said the board is confident about the Cedars’ future.

“We’re sorry to see him go,” Rubin said. “But we will continue to move forward in a great way.”