Article by Ray Nolting, Parsons Sun
Brian Williams, a decorated Army veteran and an executive at CoxHealth in Springfield, Missouri, is looking forward to his next post in health care: CEO of Labette Health in Parsons.
The hospital’s board of trustees hired Williams Monday to be CEO on a five-year contract and Williams will start by Sept. 1, after his contract at CoxHealth ends.
Williams is a vice president and chief of business development and neurosciences for CoxHealth.
His pay at Labette will be $290,000 a year and he could qualify for another $10,000 depending on his ability to live in Labette County, meet strategic goals for the hospital and improve quality and patient satisfaction measures, among other factors (meeting operating revenues and income goals, etc.). He replaces Jodi Schmidt, whose base pay was $230,000 plus other compensation.
Williams said he is familiar with Kansas, previously living in Leavenworth during his high school years, and wanted to stay close to both of his daughters, one of whom is a neonatal ICU nurse in Kansas City and the other a pediatric ICU nurse in Springfield.
“I think it’s a great community. Labette Health’s got a great reputation,” Williams said.
He’d heard many positive comments from people with ties to Parsons who intimated their family members received great care at Labette. Those reasons made him decide to apply for CEO.
Williams said he was impressed with the people he met through the interview process, including community leaders and a county commissioner.
“It’s just been a real nice experience to get to know folks over there, so I’m excited,” he said.
At his current job and with its myriad responsibilities, he was supposed to give six month’s notice before leaving, but administration agreed to cut the notice period to three months. He still has major projects to complete, including a new neuroscience tower. Once that is complete in mid-summer, Williams hopes to find more time to drive to Parsons and visit with staff and community members.
Williams holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and general business from Southwest Missouri State University, and a master of business administration from Drury University. He is also a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College. Williams is a Gen. George C. Marshall Award recipient and is a certified medical practice executive through the American College of Medical Practice Executives.
He attended college on a three-year ROTC scholarship and received his regular Army commission on May 17, 1985.
“And that is when I signed my contract and agreed to join Labette Health was May 17, 2015. I wanted to sign on that day because May 17 has meaning to me,” Williams said.
He completed infantry officer training and specialty training and his first assignment was in the Fourth of the 54th Infantry at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He served in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield in Iraq and his final assignment was company commander at Fort Hood, Texas, with the First Cavalry Division.
“I worked for Gen. (Tommy) Franks when he was a one star (general),” he said of the commander of the invasion that toppled Sadam Hussein.
Franks ended up a four-star general.
“Tommy Franks was a good man. He was an inspiring role model and inspiring leader,” Williams said.
He said Gen. Franks’ rating for him as an officer indicated that Williams is a person someone would want to serve with in combat.
“Which sometimes is good and sometimes is bad. I always try to do the right thing,” Williams said.
Williams earned a Bronze Star for service in Iraq. He also won the Southwest Asia Service Medal, the Kuwait Liberation Medal, the Army Accommodation Medal and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
With one child in his family and another on the way, Williams said he made the decision to resign from active duty and he returned to Springfield, Missouri.
He found work at Boatmen’s Bank in Springfield and stayed in the Army Reserves attached to a field artillery unit, from which he retired in 2006 as a lieutenant colonel.
In 1997, Williams was part of the management team that started THE BANK in Springfield. Through that work, he met a customer, a neurosurgeon in Springfield, who lived down the street from the branch for which Williams served as president.
The neurosurgeon’s clinic ran into problems and the doctor asked Williams to work for him. The doctor spoke to Williams over the course of a year. Williams said he resisted because he said he didn’t know anything about health care. Eventually, the doctor asked key questions. He asked Williams if he knew about combat before he served in Iraq, if he knew about being a platoon leader before he became one, if he knew about banking before he became a banker. Williams said he didn’t know about any of those endeavors before starting them.
“He said, ‘Well, there you have it, and you did pretty good. So we want your leadership.’ Probably one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life working with a neurosurgery clinic and helping them grow. Now, they’re a national leader. They’re one of probably the top 25 groups in the country. I can’t say enough good about that experience.”
Through that job, he worked closely with CoxHealth, which ultimately thought enough about Williams’ work to ask him to join its management team in 2010.
Now he has three offices in his current job in Springfield. He still goes to Springfield Neurological and Spine Institute once a week. The institute is part of the CoxHealth network. His second office is at CoxHealth Network, which is responsible for $750 million of the health system’s revenue. The network does contracting, contracting relationships with all the major payers and oversees a number of other direct contracts with local employers, among other tasks. His third office is at CoxHealth executive offices, where he serves other varied corporate responsibilities.
Once he starts at Labette Health, Williams said his first task will be to get to know people in the community. The hospital is a community asset, he said.
“So I think it’s important to listen to what the desires of the community are,” he said.
Once he finds out what the community wants from its hospital, he said he will work strategically to make sure those services that are wanted and needed are also prudent to offer here.
He knows there is an interest in cardiac services and the hospital’s foundation is working on a capital campaign to bring that to Labette Health and remodel patient rooms for recovery for orthopedic patients.
He said he will “look at the geography of Southeast Kansas and make sure that Labette Health is positioned as strong as it can be in the future to remain independent, remain a community asset and be a leader in Southeast Kansas.”
Once in Parsons, Williams said he will look, listen and learn.
“Typically, I learn, I listen and I try very hard to work with people, move toward team objectives. My leadership style is not to come in and be autocratic, dictatorial, it’s really to be collaborative.”