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F O C U S S U C C E S S I O N P L A N N I N G Carolyn Jackson comes to Central Massachusetts with an executive's mindset, as Saint Vincent responds to shiing healthcare needs BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor New Saint Vincent CEO W orking at a pharmaceutical produc- tion site for the drugmaker Roche as a process engineer, Carolyn Jackson eyed her next career step: a plant site manager, someone in a corporate position responsible for oversight of quality and costs. With that in mind, Jackson went to business school to earn her master's degree. Coming up on her graduation in 2002, though, the timing wasn't great for manufac- turing. Fortunately for her, the hospital company Tenet Healthcare was on campus recruiting for leadership positions, and an opportunity to shi into a related field was before her. "I saw a lot of similarities between a hospital CEO and a manufacturing plant site manager," Jackson said. "You have the community engagement, and quality is first and foremost. You have the staff engagement, the cost and revenue side, and I said, 'at really is appealing to me.'" Jackson is now two months into her tenure as CEO of Tenet's Massachusetts operations, which include Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester and MetroWest Medical Center, which has campuses in Framingham and Natick. She also is the CEO of Saint Vincent itself, where she focuses much of her efforts. Responding to local health needs Jackson comes to Central Massachusetts from Phila- delphia, where she was the chief operating officer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, an 800-bed academic medical center. She oversaw large construction projects both in that role and in her previous position as CEO of the 188-bed St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. St. Christopher's launched a $110-million project in 2012 including a capacity expansion as well as a new Money to spare Saint Vincent Hospital is among the most profitable in Massachusetts, regularly reporting double-digit operating margins. 0 $20 $40 $60 $80 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 $50.3M $65.2M $44.9M $47.6M $51.9M 14% 15.6% 10.4% 10.2% 11.2% Operating margin percent Operating margin Source: Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis 14 Worcester Business Journal | July 22, 2019 | wbjournal.com PHOTO/EDD COTE Carolyn Jackson has led Tenet Massachusetts operations, which include Saint Vincent Hospital and MetroWest Medical Center, since May.