Ms. Fontenot’s first position in the healthcare industry was as director of accounting at a health system in northeast Louisiana, which was the senior financial position at the health system in 1982. “I was there for four years, and when I left my title was CFO,” says Ms. Fontenot.
In 1992, Ms. Fontenot began working as the CFO at Woman’s Hospital, a 350-bed level III regional referral hospital for newborn, obstetrics and women’s cancer care. Woman’s Hospital is the largest birthing and neonatal intensive care facility in the state of Louisiana, and among the largest freestanding, nonprofit women’s hospitals in the country.
After being the CFO at Woman’s Hospital for four years, Ms. Fontenot was named CEO of the hospital.
Even though Ms. Fontenot has now been a CEO for 18 years, her financial knowledge is still a valuable asset. “I’m so thankful I have a financial background because even though I’m the CEO I rely on it every single day,” she says. “I would be extremely nervous in the current environment, with the financial risk involved, without an accounting degree.”
Ms. Fontenot believes CFOs have a more important and broader job description than most CFOs realize. “Many times CFOs are hesitant to look into other areas of operations, but if an area involves money, it is part of the CFO’s responsibility,” she says. For example, if there is a new piece of equipment the hospital needs to purchase, the CFO should see the equipment and understand how it works.
“More frequently CFOs are being viewed as an important part of the C-suite and not just the person that counts the beans,” says Ms. Fontenot. “There is a lot more to being a CFO than knowing how budgets are prepared.”
For CFOs interested in following in Ms. Fontenot’s footsteps and moving into another C-suite position, she advises them to step out of the box. For CFOs with aspirations of doing something broader than finance, Ms. Fontenot advises them to “raise their hands for projects, provide comments that are not accounting-specific in meetings, offer strategic suggestions and ask for responsibilities outside of finance, so the decision makers can more easily visualize them in the position to which they aspire.”
She advises all executives to “let opportunity take them where it needs to take them.” “Often our career paths are not very clear, and they don’t go the way we think,” she says. “I never thought I would be working in healthcare, and the opportunity to do so has been very gratifying and a good fit culturally, professionally and personally.”
No matter what executive position a person holds, Ms. Fontenot says it is vital for them to surround themselves with trusted, hard-working individuals. She attributes her success as CEO to her own team. “CEOs are successful or they fail based on the talent they are surrounded with,” she says. “It’s important to have a team that shares the same work ethic and values as you.”
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