For-profit Steward Health Care System says it has a new president yet again at St. Elizabeth’s, Steward’s flagship hospital.

Steward said that Beth Hughes left this week after about a year as president. The company gave no reason for her exit and she couldn’t be reached for comment. She’ll be replaced, on an interim basis, by longtime Steward executive Joseph Ciccolo.  He’ll be at least the sixth leader of the hospital in as many years.

Steward is the largest for-profit hospital company in Massachusetts, with nine hospitals, including the former Caritas Christi system, previously operated by the Archdiocese of Boston.

The Boston Globe reported that St. Elizabeth’s “is challenged by its proximity to bigger hospitals with strong brand names {such as Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess} just a few miles away. But it has been making money, with operating profits of $13.6 million last year and $16.7 million in 2014.

To read The Globe’s article, please hit this link.