Ms. Conners leads BayCare Health System, West Central Florida’s largest academic health system with nearly 34,000 team members and an operating revenue of $7 billion. In less than four years, she has driven a transformative restructuring that unified the system under a single nonprofit corporate entity and positioned the organization for long-term resilience. As part of a committed $2.8 billion investment in new facilities and technologies, BayCare opened a new 424,000-square-foot hospital in Plant City, Fla., completed a $110 million expansion of Bartow (Fla.) Regional Medical Center, broke ground on the only nonprofit hospital in the state’s Manatee County, launched the first proton therapy center in Florida’s Tampa Bay, and secured a $50 million donation to support the development of a new children’s hospital. Ms. Conners also forged a strategic collaboration with Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine to expand access to advanced treatments, enhance research and improve physician training. She’s also guiding an ambitious expansion of BayCare’s graduate medical education program, with a goal to double residency slots to 650 by 2029. A nurse by background, Ms. Conners has prioritized workforce wellbeing through nurse-led initiatives, expanded mental health resources, leadership development programs and the launch of “Earn as You Learn,” a paid training and education pathway for aspiring healthcare professionals. These efforts have earned BayCare recognition as a “Top Workplace” byUSA Today, Fortune and Newsweek. She serves as a board member of the Florida Hospital Association and Tampa Bay Thrives, and is a national advocate for hospital-at-home legislation, health equity and the integration of behavioral health into primary care.
