Female executives get a great liftoff to their careers by enrolling in this health-care system’s New Leader Pathway program. Designed to sharpen their management and leadership skills, it was originally offered as a set of initiatives that totaled 11 days, but has recently evolved into a two-year class schedule that includes lessons on critical thinking, handling workplace change and more. Prospective leaders at the manager level and above follow a structured development plan, which may necessitate additional courses at the University of Richmond and Notre Dame. Specialized coaching, skills assessments and $5,000 in annual tuition assistance help them reach their potential.

CEO: Peter Bernard

Administrative Director, Work & Family Services: Dawn Trivette

% of senior managers who are women: 70%

% of corporate executives who are women: 33%

% of promotions to manager, senior manager and corporate executive positions that went to women: 78%

% of the top 10% of the company’s earners who are women: 83%

% of corporate executives with profit-and-loss responsibility who are women: --

% of the executives running divisions with revenues of more than a billion dollars who are women: --

% of executives who report directly to the CEO who are women: 24%

% of the members of the board of directors who are women: 44%

% of female workforce participating in mentoring: 3%

Shelly Buck-Turner, who began in health care as a certified nurse assistant in high school, has been on a constant trajectory of education, growth and advancement, even as she’s raised her children, part of the time as a single mother.

Today, Shelly serves as the VP of Patient Care/Chief Nurse Executive for Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellows program announced in May that Shelly was among just 20 individuals selected nationwide for the foundation’s prestigious three-year fellowship.

“It’s a wonderful honor to be in a select and elite group of nurse executives across the country to not only learn and grow, but to impact health care on a local, regional and national level,” says Shelly.

Her professional interests include nursing leadership and disparities in care.

 “One of my passions has always been nurse leadership, particularly in the area of business development,” says Shelly, who holds a nursing degree from Helene Fuld School of Nursing, a bachelor’s of science in nursing from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a master’s in business administration from the University of Maryland.

Shelly has held certifications in critical care, neuroscience and wound care and is a member of numerous national nursing associations. “I always believed it would come to a point where nurses would be able to put a value on their contributions and what they bring to patient care,” she says. “We’re in that time now.” 

When Allison Peterson, a director of admissions and marketing, adopted now-4-year-old daughter Maria from China, this health-care system gave her $3,500 to offset her costs. She was also allowed to job-share with mom Kristen frago, a marketing executive. Like Peterson, any woman who adopts here may take 14 job-guaranteed weeks off, with three days fully paid. Some 10% of workers currently job-share, but many also reduce their hours, telecommute or try on-call positions. The system’s three day-care facilities serve nearly 600 children; teens get a college coaching program and can apply for $1,000 scholarships. Parents who make less than $13 per hour get new backpacks filled with school supplies to give to their kids.

CEO Peter Bernard

Administrative Director, Work & Family Services Dawn Trivette

Women managers/execs 74% 

Women among top earners 83% 

Women hires in 2010 78% 

Average weeks of fully paid maternity leave offered 1 

Allows new moms to “phase back” into work with reduced hours? Yes

Offers affinity group for new mothers? No

Offers backup childcare? Yes

Employees working flexibly 85%

Teaching its employees to aim high is the secret to success for this Virginia-based health-care system. At least three times per year, its leaders are trained on how best to manage and advance hourly workers, and high-potential employees are encouraged to apply to the on-site School at Work program, which prepares them for nursing and other medical careers. “It inspired me,” says recent valedictorian Bernadette Johnson, a food service worker and mom of four who has since enrolled in a college medical assistance program. All employees cheered last summer when the system’s higher-education reimbursements were raised to $5,000 from $3,500 for full-time hourly workers (those who put in at least 32 hours each week) and to $2,500 from $1,750 for part-timers. Anyone earning less than $11 per hour gets tuition and books paid for up front and qualifies for 50% tuition discounts at three on-site child-care centers. Alternative schedules ease stress, with 65% of full-time hourly workers adjusting their hours, 35% compressing their workweeks and 18% sharing jobs. As a result, turnover is plummeting among new employees and—among hourly staffers in environmentalservices—even drops as low as zero.

Hourly workers 82% 

CEO Peter Bernard

Administrative Director, Work & Family Services Dawn Trivette

Female hourly workers 85%

Work hours required for family health insurance 16

Job skills training during work hours for hourly workers Yes

Encourage breaks so nursing moms can breast-pump Yes

Average annual paid time off taken by hourly workers 30 days

Minimum job-guaranteed maternity leave offered to hourly workers 16 weeks

Minimum paid maternity leave offered to hourly workers 7 weeks at partial pay

Forgivable loans of $5,000 help employees at Bon Secours Richmond Health System secure their first homes.

With a workforce that's 82% female, this health-care system offers moms plenty of opportunities to advance. "Women are fully incorporated into the cellular level of the organization‚" says Toni R. Ardabell, CEO of St. Mary's Hospital, in Richmond." There were female executives here long before women were traditionally in executive roles." Women flock to the system's mentoring and career counseling programs, apply for up to $5,000 in annual tuition aid and score 72% of top salaries. Three on-site family centers offer extended hours and subsidies to employees making less than $11 per hour (two near-site facilities offer 10% discounts). In 2009, new parents became eligible for at least 26 job-guaranteed weeks off, up from 12 in 2008; for birth moms, seven weeks are partially paid.

CEO Peter Bernard

Administrative Director of Work & Family Services Dawn Trivette

Women managers, senior managers and corporate execs 75%

Women among top earners 79%

Women on board of directors 38%

Women corporate executive hires in 2009 100%  

Women participating in management or leadership training in the past year* 19%

Women participating in formalized executive succession planning last year* 1%

Women promoted last year who utilized a formal flexible work arrangement 44%

Do formal compensation policies reward managers who help women advance? Yes

*Percentages reflect number of women participants versus company’s total female workforce.