Kidada Hawkins

Kidada Hawkins of Auburndale, Florida, is a successful healthcare leader who has enjoyed a long and diverse career. After earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Morehouse College, he went on to earn both his Master of Business Administration and Master of Health Services Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In addition to these degrees, Kidada Hawkins has earned several certifications that have allowed him to expand his knowledge base.

Since 2007, Kidada Hawkins has been investing in healthcare administration, primarily in Alabama. He spent several years working for Stringfellow Memorial Hospital, where he worked in recruitment and other administrative areas. After this, he moved to St. Vincent’s Health System, where he took his first executive position. In his five years within this health system, Kidada Hawkins worked with two different facilities and made substantial changes. He increased employee engagement, helped one facility move from an annual loss to making a profit, and drastically improved patient experience ratings. 

After his time with St. Vincent’s Health System, Kidada Hawkins took a position at Shoals Hospital. As the CEO, he worked hard to reverse the financial decline, improve community perceptions of the facility, and mend physician relationships. In his three years there, Kidada Hawkins decreased serious safety events by 47%, reduced turnover rates, improved inpatient satisfaction rates, and more. His success in this position paved the way for his promotion to Market Chief Operating Officer for Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Working with two different facilities, Walker Baptist Medical Center and Princeton Baptist Medical Center, Kidada Hawkins continued his trend of improving patient experience and other key performance metrics.

Looking at Kidada Hawkins’ career, it is clear that he is an effective leader who drives results and helps teams realize their full potential. He has helped multiple facilities turn around from incredibly poor fiscal performance and negative community perception to becoming thriving medical facilities. He has worked for both for-profit and not-for-profit systems, giving him unique insight into the ways these different models are run. His accomplishments have been recognized outside of his organizations as well, as Kidada Hawkins was included in Becker’s Hospital Review in both 2019 and 2020 as a top African American leader in healthcare.

While Kidada Hawkins’ career benefits his community, he still volunteers his time in other ways outside of his professional endeavors. Kidada has served on multiple nonprofit and philanthropic boards, including the FORGE Breast Cancer Survivor Project and Kid One Transport. Kidada Hawkins is passionate about making healthcare accessible for community members and enjoys these opportunities to give back.