3 CEOs at Mercy Health carrying on decades-long legacy of female leadership
Local women have had successful leadership roles at Mercy Health hospitals in Youngstown and Warren for over a hundred years since St. Elizabeth’s Hospital was founded in 1911.
As of this month, Bon Secours Mercy Health has 2,812 female leaders and 1,050 male leaders.
This statistic refers to a leader of a team of people who takes team members’ reports as part of their role, but it doesn’t include male and female physicians.
Meet the three CEOs of Mercy Health
Meet the three women running day-to-day operations at Mercy Health’s main campuses: St. Elizabeth’s in Youngstown, St. Elizabeth’s in Boardman and St. Joe’s in Warren.
Eugenia Aubel is the president of St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital.
Charlotte Gardiner is the president of St. Joseph Warren Hospital and Kathy Harley is the president of Mercy Health – St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
For the last 100 years, women in the Sisters of the Humility of Mary have led operations in all three presidents’ offices.
“On this campus, the first male CEO was in 1993,” said Harley. “1993 was the first year a lay non-sister leader, not just a man, but the first lay leader, male or female was in the office.”
The three CEOs come from different backgrounds in healthcare and regularly meet to discuss issues, exchange ideas, and solve problems.
“We have different hospitals, but we have the same service lines going across all three of them,” said Aubel. “We’re getting our best practices from each other. I mean, Char might try something there that I haven’t thought of that works well at Warren. Let’s bring that idea here.”
“We’re blessed. We’re very lucky that we get to do what we do to protect and uphold the legacy that we have become a part of,” said Gardiner. “The sisters have been here for 170 years this July. It’s truly an honor to lead people that share the vision and the mission of caring for the most vulnerable patients in our community because that’s what we do. So it’s it’s just a blessing to even be able to do that every day.”
Today’s relationship with the Sisters of the Humility of Mary thriving
Aubel got her start in healthcare leadership from Sister Susan Schorsten.
“Thirty-five years ago, I did a fellowship under her and then was was hired on, so I have a close affinity with the Sisters,” said Aubel. “I’m very old fashioned. I know we are Bon Secours Mercy Health, but I still think of us as the hospitals. Things have changed business wise, but I still think of it as being the Sisters’ hospital because they started this and it’s really their legacy that the three of us and all the rest of our colleagues that we work with.”
The Sisters of the Humility of Mary sit on Mercy Health boards and today are receiving the part of the mission award healthcare visionary award. Before COVID-19, they’d meet with staff members for Tea with the Sisters.
“They built this hospital. This is their legacy, they own it. And so we try to do those other special things for them because this is their home. This is who they were. This is why we exist,” said Harley.
Harley described the working relationship with the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, who founded St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Youngstown in 1911, as “close” and packed with stories.
“There are certain Sisters who stand out in all three of our sites, like everybody knows Sister Margaret Mary,” said Harley. “She’s been very much embedded in saving lives and she still comes here on a regular basis. The one thing she’ll always tell you is to hug heart to heart, something she told me the Dalai Lama taught her that personally. So these sisters have had amazing backgrounds building these institutions.”
A call for more women to be in leadership
As of 2023, 10.6% of American CEOS and 30% of American board members were women, according to the Pew Research Center’s data on women leaders.
“I personally believe women are very well rounded. They bring more than one aspect to the table,” said Harley. “That’s not to say that men aren’t good leaders. We all know very many men who are good leaders, but I do believe that women bring another dimension. And for a long time, that wasn’t considered to be part of the C suite. People are learning over and over again that we are successful, we can get the outcomes, we can build relationships and do it very well. I believe that these young women need to see themselves in those roles too. If anything, I think we’re all providing an example of how well this can be done.”
In Youngstown, young female leaders are learning skills with organizations like Inspiring Minds and mentorship programs through the United Way, among others.
“I started out as a staff nurse in the ICU,” said Gardiner. “It’s important for young women to understand those different journeys because everybody’s path is different and you learn every step of the way. If you’re fortunate, like I know we all have been fortunate to have mentors, people that give us a chance, people that challenged us to grow because they may have seen something we didn’t even see it.”
