2021 Woman of the Year

Deborah Hayes holds the distinction as the region’s one medical executive who has worked more than three decades at the hospital she now leads.

In more than 30 years as a nurse, information scientist and operations boss, Hayes has touched nearly every corner of the 132-year-old Christ Hospital Health Network.

Since November, she steered the facility through the coronavirus pandemic. She became chief executive officer in May.

“From the time that I arrived here, this institution has embraced creativity, innovation and ideas,” Hayes says. “It’s always been about promoting people who take initiative. You put all that opportunity together, there’s no reason to go anywhere else.”

People who know Hayes describe a font of positive thinking with a monster work ethic and long practice with the hospital’s folkways and argot.