John R. Farnen is the Vice President of Planning, Design and Construction for Mercy. John has worked in the planning, design and construction industry for more than 30 years with the last 20 of those exclusively in healthcare. He has managed hundreds of healthcare projects worth over a billion dollars which includes projects of all acuities and sizes. He was the Mercy executive in charge of the Joplin recovery efforts after the EF-5 tornado disrupted all services. In his role, John oversees the team?s performance and manages design, schedule, budget and project execution. He has built strong team relationships to accomplish projects built under various types of construction contracts. He started his career working for a general contractor focused mainly in industrial work. He was then hired by Anheuser-Busch to manage projects in its St. Louis facilities prior to joining Mercy in 1998. He holds a bachelor degree in construction engineering from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.