Excellence in Governance - 2022

Thompson joined Baptist Health’s board of directors in 2016 and was named chair in 2021. He is the first in his family to graduate high school, college, graduate school and earn a doctorate. More recently, he is the first Black native Kentuckian to serve as president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education—his role outside the health system. In his board work, Thompson helped spearhead Baptist Health’s three-phase plan to enhance work-life culture and its diversity, inclusion and equity efforts. During his tenure, the organization broadened healthcare access across the state with $1 billion in capital projects, ended fiscal 2021 with a 3.8% operating margin, and its bond rating was upgraded in January 2022 from A2 to A1 by Moody’s Investors Service, right on the heels of an upgrade to A+ by Fitch Ratings.