ABC-7 sits down with UMC’s first female CEO
Rosemary Garcia
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Maria Zampini is off to work as University Medical Center of El Paso’s new chief executive officer. The native El Pasoan has been with UMC for more than 30 years now, marking an exciting step in her career — and the hospital’s history as its first female CEO.
Zampini is a Coronado High School graduate and obtained both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Business Administration from UTEP.
She began at UMC in 1993 when the hospital was still known as the Thomason General Hospital. Zampini was a Nursing Development Coordinator. She has been the Chief Operating Officer since 2013.
This change at UMC is part of an overall organizational restructure. UMC said Zampini will still report to Jacob Cintron, who is the CEO and President of the El Paso County Hospital District.
Zampini said that over three decades ago she never imagined she would one day become the hospital’s CEO. She feels humbled to enter this new role.
“One of the things that you always want to do is mentor others and make sure that there’s others that are also following along and that say, ‘Hey, I can do this.’ This is something that women can do in nontraditional roles,” she told ABC-7.
During her time as COO, Zampini oversaw multiple bonds, expansion projects, and facility renovations.
In November 2024, El Paso taxpayers approved UMC’s $396 million bond for more than 20 projects to improve the UMC campus, increase healthcare access points and develop a burn center. ABC-7 asked Zampini how these projects are moving along.
“This is the part of any bond where it doesn’t seem like a lot is happening because you’re not seeing the cranes. But so much has happened. We’ve done a lot of outreach to the local community for contractors and other vendors we’ve been working on that. We’ve secured architects, we’ve secured properties. And so it’s going very well, and it’s on pace for where it should be in this, in this point of a construction project.”
Zampini said the bond projects that will be completed first are an observation unit and the rehabilitation facility.
ABC-7 also asked Zampini how she plans to address financial pressures and staffing shortages at UMC.
“I think that that’s something that we talk about on a daily basis, right? Those are the things that we’re always looking at is how can we do things a little better? How can we be more cost-effective? And the things that we’re doing, how do we recruit?”
ABC-7 asked the new CEO how she plans to be transparent with the community and taxpayers.
“I think transparent means that we’re constantly communicating about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, and that’s something that we strive for and that we’ve been doing with, with everything that we do.”
The new CEO said University Medical Center of El Paso continues to adapt to the growth of the El Paso community and meet the needs of patients.
Zampini said she’s been at UMC for so long because she’s passionate about improving the quality of life of UMC patients.
“You can see that whatever we work on actually changes people’s lives. And so there’s an impact, to, the community. That’s very positive.”
For now, Zampini said she will continue to listen to various stakeholders, help execute current projects and continue UMC’s mission.