The Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors has chosen three finalists for the position of hospital CEO.

After posting the job opening online, the board narrowed the candidate pool down from 35 applicants.

Aaron McPherson is the only in-house candidate. He is Wrangell Medical Center’s Long Term Care director of operations and director of the Rehabilitation Department. He has been working in Wrangell for about a year and a half.

Robert Rang is Long Term Care Administrator at a hospital in Kodiak, and he previously worked for the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation.

The third finalist, Jeffrey Lyle, is from Texas and has served as an interim director and CEO at several hospitals.

All three candidates will be in town later this month, and the board will hold an open community reception on Aug. 19 at the Nolan Center. Wrangell residents can meet the candidates and give feedback. The board will likely make its final decision that same week.

The board started a CEO search after interim CEO Marla Sanger announced she would resign at the end of October. She has been interim CEO since November 2012.