Teri Fontenot is someone I think you should know more about.
Teri Fontenot has a reputation of being extremely competent, having a marvelous vision for the institution she heads and caring deeply about the people in her care. I could add from personal experience that she is extremely articulate, has great character and is widely admired by her peers.
She is someone I think you should know more about.
At first I knew Teri only by name and the things that I heard from others about the wonderful job she was doing with the Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, La. But in the past three years I have had the pleasure of getting to know her much better and found that all of what I heard about her is true and a lot more.
Teri Fontenot is the president and CEO of Woman's Hospital, a Level III regional referral hospital for obstetrics, newborn and women's cancer care. Woman's is the largest birthing and neonatal intensive care facility in Louisiana and provides the highest level of critical care for women and infants. Woman's is one of only four Magnet hospitals in Louisiana, a distinction awarded by the American Nurses Association in recognition of the highly skilled and dedicated care provided by the staff. It has been named as a Top 100 Places to Work in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare magazine all eight years the award has been given. The hospital opened a $350 million replacement campus in August 2012 with increased capacity for current services and new growth opportunities.
Teri Fontenot has led Woman's since 1996, but she arrived there in 1992 as senior VP and CFO. Only a year later she rose to COO before assuming her current position. Like so many of her peers, she is committed to her nation and immediate community; she served two terms on the board of directors of the sixth Federal Reserve Bank and chaired its audit committee. She is on the boards of the Louisiana State University System Research and Technology Foundation, the Louisiana Hospital Association's Professional and General Liability Insurance Fund (as chair), Baton Rouge Water Company (audit committee), and the Baton Rouge Advisory Board for IberiaBank. She is an independent director on the Capitol One Mutual Funds board and chaired its audit committee, and she has chaired the board of the Greater Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce. She also served a six-year term on the advisory committee on women's health research at the National Institutes of Health.
In 2012, she was the chair of the American Hospital Association board of trustees. She was the first Louisianan and fifth woman to hold that post in the AHA's 116-year history. She has chaired the chief executive officers committee of the American College of Healthcare Executives and has also served on its board and officer nominating committee. She was the chair of the Louisiana Hospital Association in 2002.
Her leadership capabilities have been recognized by a number of organizations, including receiving the inaugural Becker's Hospital Review Healthcare Leadership Award in 2013. She was the only Louisianan named to Modern Healthcare's 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare list in 2011 and 2012. She was also named in 2012 as one of the most powerful people in healthcare by Becker's, was a 2011 inductee of the Louisiana State University E.J. Ourso College of Business Hall of Distinction, received the ACHE Service Award in 2009, and was named to Modern Healthcare's inaugural list of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare in 2005. In 2013, she was named Businessperson of the Year by the Baton Rouge Business Report.
By now I think you get idea as to who Teri Fontenot is and why much of what has been accomplished at Woman's has to do with her quiet leadership. When you speak with her, however, she attributes all of the success that Woman's has enjoyed to the management team, the board, physicians and nurses.
The words "I" and "me" are left out of the conversation. It's all about "them," it's all about their dedication and it's all about their hard work. When I point out to her that someone had to be the person that set the tone and culture of Woman's, she simply smiles and tells me how proud she is to be associated with so many wonderful people who have given so much to make Woman's the institution it is today.
Another interesting part of this story about Woman's and Teri Fontenot is the fact that Woman's is an independent hospital at a time when hospitals all over the country, rocked by decreasing reimbursements and inpatient census, are consolidating into powerful systems. But here is Woman's, basically standing alone and still prospering. Another trend that has taken hold across the country is physicians becoming employees of hospitals, seeking greater security in a fast-changing economic climate. That definitely isn't the case in Baton Rouge, where physicians still prefer to own their practices.
So at a time when the industry is in a state of flux and there are all sorts of new challenges arising, Woman's continues to stick to its basic mission of helping women recover their health and deliver healthy babies in a state-of-the-art healing environment that guarantees safe and high-quality patient-centered care. It's a simple mission, and when Teri Fontenot talks about the future for Woman's she does so with the enthusiasm and dedication that all great leaders seem to possess. She is optimistic about the future and believes "this a great time to be in healthcare because there are so many challenges and opportunities now and in the future to make this industry even greater than it has ever been. I consider myself to be lucky to be part of it."
And if I were to speak for Woman's, I bet that all of the people there are delighted that Teri Fontenot is their leader at this pivotal time in healthcare.