Journal of Healthcare Management - November/December 2014 - (Page 390)

I N T E R V I E W Interview With Ninfa M. Saunders, DHA, RN, FACHE, President and CEO of Navicent Health N infa M. Saunders, DHA, RN, FACHE, is president and CEO of Navicent Health, formerly known as Central Georgia Health System and the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon. Previously, she was president and chief operating officer (COO) of Virtua Health in southern New Jersey. From 1995 to 2002, she was COO of Dekalb Medical Center in Decatur, Georgia, and from 1980 to 1993 was director of nursing resources at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. From 1974 to 1980, she held various positions at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey. Dr. Saunders has served on the Governor's Georgia Cancer Coalition and holds academic appointments as dean's professor at the Mayers School of Business, as distinguished faculty at Emory University, and as an associate professor at Rutgers University. She is a Fellow of ACHE and serves on the board of directors for the American Hospital Association as the chair of the Institute for Diversity in Health Management. She also has served on the board of the American Heart Association. Awarded the 2011 Woman of Distinction award from the New Jersey Go Red for Women public awareness campaign from the American Heart Association, Dr. Saunders was also honored with the 2012 American Red Cross Citizenship and Good Neighbor award for her dedicated service to healthcare. The 2013 recipient of the Georgia Diversity Council's Most Powerful and Influential Woman award, she was most recently named the 2014 CEO of the Year by the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals. Dr. Saunders earned her doctorate in healthcare administration from the Medical University of South Carolina, an MBA degree from Emory University, an MSN degree from Rutgers University, and a BSN degree from Concordia College in Manila, Philippines. She holds a Black Belt in Six Sigma from the University of Michigan College of Engineering. Dr. O'Connor: Reflecting on the differences between the job of CEO and that of COO, how should a COO best prepare to become a CEO? What do you see as the most important behavioral competency a CEO needs to possess in order to succeed in today's healthcare environment? Dr. Saunders: When I think about our work as leaders in healthcare, I think about three simple yet comprehensive aspects: strategy, operations, and people-with people being the most important. A COO should focus on all three, but his or her main job is to translate the strategy of the organization as defined by the CEO into an implementable, workable framework. In other words, the work of the COO is translation and execution. How should the strategy be executed? What areas need to 390

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Journal of Healthcare Management - November/December 2014

Interview With Ninfa M. Saunders, DHA, RN, FACHE, President and CEO of Navicent Health
Career Management in Today’s Healthcare Environment
Using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing to Identify Value Improvement Opportunities in Healthcare
Charity Care in Nonprofit Urban Hospitals: Analysis of the Role of Size and Ownership Type in Washington State for 2011
Management Involvement on the Board of Directors and Hospital Financial Performance
Social Media: How Hospitals Use It, and Opportunities for Future Use

Journal of Healthcare Management - November/December 2014