Women leaders still face roadblocks on path to C-suite

CHICAGO—In the late 2000s, Dr. Joanne Conroy was on well her way to being named CEO of Atlantic Health System. At the time she was chief operating officer of the large New Jersey health system and the board expected her to take the helm as part of an established three-year plan.

But Conroy shocked the board and her colleagues when she turned down the opportunity and instead took the role of chief healthcare officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges. 

“That was a crazy sidestep,” she said during a panel at Modern Healthcare’s Women Leaders in Healthcare conference held July 31-Aug. 1 in Chicago.

Conroy’s experience echoes that of other female C-suite leaders. The path to the executive suite for many was rarely conventional and several gathered at the conference emphasized the importance of taking unusual risks to get where they are today.

Now CEO of Dartmouth-Hitchcock in New Hampshire, Conroy said joining the AAMC positioned her well for her career going forward. She met about 80 CEOs of academic health systems and gained more expertise in finance because she was able to evaluate the earnings and operations of their organizations.

“Jumping off the cliff to do something really different, it gives you a different perspective,” said Susan DeVore, longtime CEO of Premier.

DeVore did a brief stint nearly 20 years ago at Ernst & Young, where she took charge of a poor-performing technology division. The decision was risky because up until then DeVore only had experience in healthcare, but she said it gave her more confidence.

That confidence helped her as she ascended to higher C-suite positions at Premier. When she applied for the COO job and later the CEO role at the group purchasing organization, DeVore said she faced pushback from others who questioned her ability to take on the positions.

“There is a box they put you in, and if you believe the box you get stuck,” she said.

The same advice applies when looking to make any career advancements. Joanne Inman, president of Sentara Leigh Hospital, said women tend to question their readiness for promotions so they don’t apply.

“You don’t want to wait until you can check all of those boxes, because when you are ready it’s too late,” she said, adding that men are less likely to behavior similarly.

While tenacity can help women ascend to leadership positions, the status quo remains a key barrier, noted Amy Perry, CEO of the hospital division at Atlantic Health System. Although women make up about 80% of the healthcare workforce, they account for less than 20% of leadership positions. Boards and C-suites are still dominated by older white men, some of whom haven’t yet bought into the idea that diversity is important, she added. Many of those leaders are close to retirement, but until then women in leadership positions have to vouch for other women.

“We have to keep pulling each other up,” she said.

While most healthcare organizations talk about the importance of diversity, achieving such an environment requires purposeful actions by C-suite leaders and board members, according to health system leaders who focus on the effort.

“If it’s not something you talk about with the leadership ranks it just won’t happen,” Chuck Stokes, CEO of Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, said during a panel discussion.

To make meaningful inroads on diversity, organizations have to invest in programs and training, which requires buy-in from leadership. 

For example, Memorial Hermann allocated $50,000 to start a program four years ago that supports women in the organization interested in advancement. The participants are mentored by members of the leadership team and provided leadership training. The program, called Women Leaders of Memorial Hermann, has grown to include 650 women, up from 400 in 2015. Additionally, women now hold half of the organization’s 22 top leadership positions. 

“We are working hard to make sure the diversity in that group mirrors the diversity of our community,” Stokes said. 

At City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., department heads are involved in the work to increase diversity in leadership. The cancer center is about to launch a five-year diversity and inclusion strategy that involves a dashboard allowing everyone in the organization to see the breakdown of race and gender in each department.

“We can hold people accountable, set goals and ask them to meet those goals,” said Kety Duron, chief human resources and diversity officer at City of Hope. 

Inroads are also only made if the organization doesn’t tolerate staff who refuse to abide by priorities involving diversity and inclusion.

“It’s pretty well known in our organization that if you don’t appreciate diversity and inclusion at any level, this isn’t the organization for you and you aren’t going to stay,” Memorial Hermann’s Stokes said.

Boards are also feeling the pressure to become more diverse as awareness continues to grow, said Keith Pitts, co-vice chairman of Tenet Healthcare Corp. 

“While there hasn’t been a whole lot of turnover on boards, you are going to see more turnover in the next several years” as boards try to enhance diversity, 
he said. 

This awareness means it’s a good time for women to apply for board positions, said Nancy Schlichting, former CEO of Henry Ford Health System. Few women currently serve on boards and Schlichting said she has been on boards where she is the only woman. One way to persuade boards to increase diversity is to show the breakdown of the staff, which the board should reflect. 

“It’s not about you. It’s not about being a woman. You should have a board that represents what the group (employees) looks like,” Schlichting said.