In December, Amanda Hedgpeth was promoted to assistant vice president at CoxHealth, making her the youngest member of the health system’s administrative team at age 28.
It’s not the first time she’s blazed a career trail. When she was 25, she was promoted to director of budget management, becoming one of the youngest department heads in CoxHealth’s history.
In her current role, she coordinates executive leadership projects, administers the utilization of $25 million in annual capital expenditures and supervises the assimilation of a $2 billion annual budget for the board of directors.
Hedgpeth joined CoxHealth in 2005, and in 2006, she became a Missouri Quality Award examiner for the statewide program the health system was adding to improve the organization.
“Since that time, a group of six employees, including myself, have worked to implement the practices we acquired from other highly successful organizations,” Hedgpeth says.
She also is one of the original 16 CoxHealth employees trained in lean processes and working to reduce waste and eliminate redundancies in the system. “With the ever-changing health care environment, staying agile and efficient is a requirement, and being part of our transformation to deliver high-quality health care in a different way is extremely rewarding,” she says.
She isn’t too busy, however, to help others on their professional journeys. Hedgpeth has served as a mentor for another employee through CoxHealth Young Professionals, a group designed for employees younger than 40.
“Having this opportunity to meet and influence another employee in their career and community involvement goals helps both of us grow,” Hedgpeth says.
She also manages the executive team internship program to attract and retain future CoxHealth leaders. Last year, she hired an intern from the health care administration graduate program to help out during a busy budget cycle.
“While working (with the intern) throughout the summer, he developed into the industrious type of employee that CoxHealth desires,” Hedgpeth says. “I felt fortunate in December when he agreed to a permanent position on the CoxHealth team. Working with a college student to help him achieve his initial career goals allowed me to give back to someone who was in a similar situation to where I was seven years ago.”
Hedgpeth has been active with Junior League of Springfield for three years, serving on several committees, including one for the group’s 50th anniversary charity ball. “Educating the community on the great services Junior League and Isabel’s House provides is an incredibly important message,” she says. “I feel honored to be a part of that message.”
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