Modern Healthcare – August 12, 2019

16 Modern Healthcare | August 12, 2019

By Maria Castellucci

Risk-taking key for

women to ascend to

leadership positions

THE TAKEAWAY

Women leaders

say confidence

and risk-taking is

key to combating

challenges during

career progression.

They also emphasize

the role institutions

must play to elevate

women to leadership

positions.

2019

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 ex-
pected her to take the helm as part of an es-
tablished three-year plan.
But Conroy shocked the board and her
colleagues when she turned down the op-
portunity and instead took the role of chief
healthcare officer at the Association of Amer-
ican Medical Colleges.
“That was a crazy sidestep,” she said during
a panel at Modern Healthcare’s Women Lead-
ers 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 exec-
utive suite for many was rarely
conventional and several gath-
ered at the conference empha-
sized 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 for-
ward. She met about 80 CEOs of academic health systems
and gained more expertise in finance because
she was able to evaluate the earnings and op-
erations 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 technolog y division. The de-
cision 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 be-

lieve the box you get stuck,” she said.

The same advice applies when looking to make

any career advancements. Joanne Inman, presi-

dent 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.

DR. JOANNE

CONROY, CEO

of Dartmouth-Hitchcock,

said a “crazy sidestep”

in her career trajectory

proved to be exactly

the right move.

PHOTOS: RYAN LEWIS