‘I want to make a difference, not just work and go home’
Lenetra King, FACHE, knew exactly what she wanted when she applied to work at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth in 2016.
“I was looking for a few key things,” she said. “One was an organization where I could really be comfortable practicing my faith.”
So she began to research faith-based health systems, and there was Texas Health Resources, on the annual Forbes “Best Places to Work” list. She was looking for a system that was not only faith-based, “but really an organization where I felt like I could be supported as a woman and as a mother — particularly on this career trajectory, where there can be a lot of demands.”
The family has moved a few times as she followed her career path, so the potential for upward mobility within a regional health care system fit into her plans.
She began her Texas Health career as vice president and professional services officer at Texas Health Fort Worth.
“Lenetra is an incredibly talented healthcare administrator,” said Joseph DeLeon, hospital president. “She is a strategic thinker, coupled with her drive to successful execution. She leads with heart and is go-to leader in the organization.”
Today, Lenetra is a key leader in Texas Health’s transformation to be a consumer-centric organization, serving as Texas Health’s chief operating officer of Program Development and Integration and focusing on implementing strategies in support of Vision 2026.
“Lenetra’s leadership embodies Texas Health’s commitment to the consumer,” said Barclay Berdan, FACHE, chief executive officer. “Her determination keeps us focused on our goal of providing care that is consistent, seamless and consumer-centric.”
After serving several months as interim, she was chosen to fill the position permanently in October 2019.
“Lenetra has been a wonderful addition to the channel leadership,” said Kirk King, FACHE, executive vice president and hospital channel chief operations officer. “She is an expert at building teams and has been tenacious at confronting and — more importantly — resolving some major problems, particularly in the area of organizational alignment. Her approachable leadership style combined with her operations skills will clearly contribute to both her own and our organization’s success.
“Finally, how can we go wrong having another King from Alabama in the Texas Health Resources family!”
Consumer focus, differentiation
Lenetra described her job this way: “I work collaboratively with the other channels, leaders, and physicians across the organization to advance transformation and achieve differentiation in the service lines while helping to achieve goals around consumer focus, financial, quality, safety and high reliability.”
She oversees Pharmacy, Behavioral Health, Heart and Vascular, Sports Medicine, Support and Palliative Care, and Emergency Medical Services Growth.
“Our focus right now is to optimize our service lines, make sure that we are consistently providing a highly reliable and consumer-focused experience as well as develop capabilities for us to compete on health and well-being,” Lenetra said.
“Across all service lines, we are evaluating opportunities to be more consumer-facing while supporting achievement of Vision 2026. Everything we do in this channel impacts our core business, so ideating around how we can best impact our consumers is critical.”
For example, in Behavioral Health many consumers want to access care via a smartphone app to consult with a psychiatrist and counselor with the convenience of never having to leave their homes or offices. “They don’t want to take off work and wait for an in-office appointment,” Lenetra said. “Continuing to evolve our services to meet these kinds of needs is important work for us.”
‘Paying it back’
Lenetra is passionate and determined about everything she does, from consumer focus at Texas Health to giving back to the community and being dedicated to her family.
“A lot of my work and things I focus on outside of work that really drive me are helping people get access or exposing them to opportunities they may not have had otherwise,” she said. “So many people were instrumental in helping me, giving me personal and professional advice. Serving the community and doing volunteer work is my way of paying it back.
“I want to make a difference, not just work and go home.”
One of the ways she’s putting her expertise in strategic thinking to work is at her church, Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, where she was asked to be on a small team developing the church’s multi-year strategic plan.
As an alumna of Florida A&M University, Lenetra serves on the university foundation’s board of directors. “Attending FAMU has been one of the most instrumental decisions of my life, and I am honored to serve the university that gave me so much by being a steward of our assets to help future generations of scholars,” she said.
Lenetra has been a volunteer with the Boys and Girls Clubs for many years, previously serving on the board of directors of the Greater Kansas City Clubs, where she lived prior to moving to Fort Worth. She is now on the board of directors for the Greater Tarrant County Boys and Girls Clubs.
Humble beginnings
One of Lenetra’s favorite Bible verses is “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin…” from Zechariah 4:10.
She grew up in the small town of Montevallo, Alabama: “I tell people if they drove from Birmingham to Montgomery, they probably missed it.”
Lenetra was a first-generation college student, inspired by her hardworking mother and grandmother, who were determined to make sure she had a good education.
“I’m so grateful and fortunate I came from a family-oriented background focused on giving me the best access to educational opportunities.”
Both her mother and grandmother worked at the local hospital – her grandmother as a scrub tech and her mother as a nurse.
“I knew growing up I was going to be in a hospital in some capacity,” Lenetra said. “It was just a matter of figuring out where. I don’t have a clinical bone in my body, so I knew I wasn’t going that route.”
But she loved the business side.
She received her bachelor of science degree from Florida A&M in Tallahassee; a master’s of health administration from University of Alabama at Birmingham; and a master’s of business administration in marketing from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, while completing her administrative residency for the MHA.
Family life
Lenetra is career-focused but also fiercely devoted to her family.
She and her husband, Roger, have been married since 2013. She took a moment during an interview to show off photos of her family and their son, R.J., in her office. He starts kindergarten this year.
“We are so fortunate and blessed to be able to have an amazing son who keeps us crazy busy,” Lenetra said. “He is super-engaged and involved in activities like soccer, music classes, he’s in the youth choir at church and usually plays seasonal sports such as T-ball or basketball.”
She said they also travel a lot to visit family members in other parts of the country. “Since we don’t have any family in the DFW area, we spend a lot of time and effort to make sure we all maintain connections.”
Lenetra said it’s important to her and her husband that R.J. has a strong foundation.
“All my energy and all my efforts are really on my family, because that is my legacy.”
About Lenetra King
What did you want to be as a kid?
I wanted to be an attorney. I felt like it was a nice, respectable job. I didn’t see very many people who looked like me being an attorney, so I decided “Hey, I’m going to shoot for the stars and be an attorney.”
What is your pet peeve?
One of my biggest pet peeves, honestly, is probably all of technology and how we use it. Tech isn’t a bad thing, but being constantly tethered to cell phones and devices takes us away from being present and fully engaged. It’s particularly annoying talking to folks whose faces are buried in the phone the whole time.
What do you like to do outside work?
Much of my time outside work is spent with family and friends. We enjoy sports and especially Alabama and New Orleans Saints football, so football season is always a lot of fun for us. We also love coming up with different meaningful experiences to create great memories for our family.
What is your biggest weakness?
I have an undeniable penchant for statement accessories and amazing scarves – these are definitely a weakness!
What’s something no one knows about you?
I would love to learn how to sew. I am actually looking to take some sewing classes so I can develop this desire of mine that I have had for years.
By Judy Wiley • Posted February 18, 2020
