Gordon Hawthorne ’71, ’74
Founding Partner
Sante Fe Sabbatical
Santa Fe, NM
For Gordon Hawthorne ’71, ’74, “Trinity was my laboratory for gaining social, critical thinking, and professional competencies—the health care field was and remains my laboratory for mastery of the profession.”
Hawthorne’s mastery of the profession began with his residency and increasing responsibilities in positions with the Baptist Medical System (now Baptist Health) in Little Rock, Arkansas where he earned his doctorate of jurisprudence degree at night. During the President Bill Clinton years of health care reform and managed care, Hawthorne led the repositioning of the system brand and designed, in partnership with the chief operating officer (COO) of Arkansas Blue Cross, an early-entry integrated financing and delivery system that included a statewide hospital network, provider-owned HMO (health management organization), and an integrated medical group. Elements of that model are still in place today with a focus on value-based care and population health.
After roughly 20 years in health care systems, Hawthorne “identified a predisposition for consulting.” He left Baptist to form his own consulting company prior to joining the health care division of Hay Group, a global consulting firm in 1996. Ten years later, Diversified Search, a global executive search firm, recruited him as an equity partner, health care practice leader, and president. He remained in the firm’s leadership until recently, but continues to serve as a senior adviser.
As a consultant, Hawthorne worked with more than 80 health care markets across the country interacting with boards, CEOs and executive leadership of several hundred health care organizations. “Although the issues and market challenges are often similar and predictable, their histories (souls), current cultures,leadership intent, and tone are very unique,” he says. “Consulting at this level is personal in nature as clients engage you for the insight, perspective, and value you bring. I truly value my long-term leadership clients whom I have supported in both their successes and some of their challenging transitions.”
In 2017, Hawthorne completed his last executive search for Diversified Search. The task was finding a replacement for the founding CEO of Camden Coalition, a national model for dealing with complex care patients. By coincidence, his younger daughter was their chief strategy officer. Working with her to co-facilitate a strategy retreat for their National Center Advisory Board was “a very meaningful example of experiencing first-hand the upcoming generations of health care leadership,” he recounts proudly.
In 2016, Hawthorne moved from Washington, D.C. to Santa Fe, New Mexico full-time and formed Santa Fe Sabbatical, his professional platform for continued professional and pro bono advisory work. Santa Fe Sabbatical encourages individuals and teams to step back when faced with increased complexity and discontent and “provides the bridge for leaders to lead from an emerging future as opposed to dealing with the future while mired in the status quo of current thinking.”
He currently restricts his work to a few select advisory clients a year but remains keenly interested in two emerging areas of health care: end of life care and behavioral care, specifically the science of emerging treatment models for substance abuse and addictions. Not surprisingly, he is active in the Santa Fe recovery community.
Hawthorne says his personal capstone is that he has a partner of 20 years, two successful, married adult daughters from an early marriage, and four grandchildren. He is active on community boards and the advisory board of the Trinity HCAD Program, he volunteers at a homeless shelter, serves on a grief ministry, continues his almost daily habit of journaling and declares himself an “evolving minimalist, environmentalist and part-time art collector (very eclectic).”
He enjoys spending time with his partner, attends the theater, cinema, and “one obligatory opera” a year at the Santa Fe Opera. He stays fit with the help of a personal trainer and pure food from their organic garden. “My serenity strategy includes periods of solitude and reflection, reading, hiking, being around water, unstructured travel and practicing hospitality with friends and family.”
“I need all this, as I am disturbed daily by the lack of civility and leadership in this country and the increasing bias, discrimination and growing economic and social disparity.”
To students or young careerists, Hawthorne says “given the disruption and speed with which the industry is changing, we are all in some form young careerists faced with increased complexity and challenges.” Despite the complexity and challenges, he maintains “the deeper satisfaction weighed against the seemingly unresolvable issues that make working in health care always motivating, dynamic and compelling.”
Words by Mary Denny
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