What pathways lead to becoming a children's hospital CEO? WittKieffer, an executive search and leadership advisory firm based in Oak Brook, Ill., sought to answer this question with its recent survey of those at the helm of children's hospitals.
The survey is based on the firm's evaluation of the career paths and "route to the top" of more than 90 CEOs. It examined leaders of U.S. acute care children's hospitals with a designated CEO as the top executive of the organization. Data and information on the CEOs was compiled from reputable, publicly available sources.
Here are six findings from the survey.
1. The common paths for children's hospital CEOs to ascend to their roles: 30% from COO, 26% from clinical leadership, 24% from CEO or president roles elsewhere, and 20% from functional leadership.
2. Children's hospital CEOs have diverse educational backgrounds, with 22% of survey respondents possessing an MD.
3. Children's hospital CEOs typically possess advanced degrees, with MBAs (32%) and MHAs (26%) being the most common.
4. Twenty-five percent of CEOs surveyed are 65 or older.
5. Only 15% of CEOs surveyed are people of color.
6. Thirty-nine percent of CEOs surveyed are women.