Jason Little
President and Chief Executive Officer, Baptist Memorial Health Care
Jason Little is Baptist Memorial Health Care’s president and CEO. He is the fifth president in Baptist’s 111 year history, and under his leadership Baptist has grown from a 14-hospital system in three states to a 22-hospital system in three states, $3.6 billion integrated health care system with 19,500 team members and more than 5,000 affiliated physicians. He came to Baptist in 2002 after serving as an operations administrator at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. Prior to his role as president and CEO, Little served as system COO and CEO of three different hospitals.
In 2011, Little received the American College of Healthcare Executives’ Early Career Healthcare Executive Award. He serves on boards of the Greater Memphis Chamber, Memphis Tomorrow, the New Memphis Institute, the Tennessee Hospital Association, the Mississippi Hospital Association, and the Healthcare Institute. He also serves on the American Hospital Association Health Systems Committee. Little serves as a deacon and Sunday School teacher at Germantown Baptist Church.
He received his bachelor’s degree in health administration from the University of Tennessee, where he received the prestigious Whittle Scholarship and was elected student body president. He earned master’s degrees in business administration and health care administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Bill Griffin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Baptist Memorial Health Care
Bill Griffin received his Bachelor of Accountancy from the University of Mississippi in 1982. He then began his career in public accounting, working 11 years with top accounting firms Arthur Andersen and KPMG Peat Marwick. In 1993, he joined Baptist Memorial Health Care and has served as the chief financial officer for Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, chief financial officer for Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis and corporate system director of finance. In 2000, Griffin was promoted to vice president of corporate finance and also served as corporate privacy and security officer. He was promoted to executive vice president-chief financial officer in December 2015. He is a certified public accountant, a chartered global management accountant, a fellow of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and an HFMA-certified healthcare financial professional.
Derick Ziegler
Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer
Derick Ziegler assumed his current position of vice president and chief transformation officer in March 2023. In this role, he leads all ongoing and future transformation initiatives as well as guiding all merger and acquisition synergy efforts across the system. He also serves as the executive sponsor for Baptist’s comprehensive telehealth program. Ziegler has enjoyed a highly successful healthcare leadership career spanning over three decades. He rose to the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army, where he served as the administrator of some of the largest hospitals in the U.S. Army. After retiring from the military, Ziegler joined Baptist in August 2008, and initially served for two years as CEO of Baptist Memorial Hospital Union City and then for four years as CEO of Baptist Memorial Hospital Memphis. Ziegler was promoted to Vice President of Affiliate Integration and of the West Tennessee Market. In this role, he led numerous transitions, transformation projects, acquisitions, and mergers. Most notably, Ziegler helped lead the efforts to integrate Baptist Memorial Health Care and Mississippi Baptist Health System, realizing more than $209 million in synergy savings. He also spearheaded previous comprehensive transformation improvement initiatives supported by both Navigant and Vizient. In these roles, he has helped Baptist capture significant savings year-over-year through the activation of numerous improvement work streams.
Karen Smith
Baptist Health Sciences University Director of Faith & Service/Chaplain
Hampton Hopkins, Ed.D.
President of Baptist Health Sciences University
Dr. Hampton Hopkins became the third president of Baptist Health Sciences University in July 2023. Most recently, he was president of Carolinas College of Health Sciences in Charlotte, North Carolina. A South Carolina native, he earned his baccalaureate degree in business administration from Winthrop University, and his master and doctoral degrees in educational administration from the University of Tennessee and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, respectively. Dr. Hopkins is a leader, educator, speaker and consultant who has served more than 30 years in various leadership and higher education roles. He is often invited to speak about leadership and higher education and has delivered more than 50 speeches to both domestic and international audiences. Additionally, he has taught and developed curricula at the undergraduate and graduate level and has served on more than 25 student dissertation committees.
Zach Chandler
Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer
Zach Chandler serves as Baptist Memorial Health Care’s executive vice president and chief strategy officer. After completing his Frank Groner administrative fellowship at Baptist, Chandler held several leadership roles within the organization, including serving as CEO and administrator at four Baptist Memorial hospitals. Before being promoted to his current role, he served as vice president and head of metro-Memphis operations, and, prior to that, vice president and head of regional operations. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Baylor University and a master's degree in health administration from Washington University. In addition to his leadership roles at Baptist, he spent two years as president of Methodist Charlton Medical Center in Dallas. The American College of Healthcare Executives has honored Chandler with its Early Career Healthcare Executive Award.
Margaret Chisholm Massey
System Director of Baptist One Source
Margaret Chisholm Massey has worked for Baptist since 1989 and has served in multiple roles during that time. Massey came to Baptist from KPMG where she had audited several of our hospitals. She served as chief financial officer for three of our hospitals in addition to holding director roles in information technology, integrated applications, and finance administration. Massey was one of the first remote workers for Baptist from her home in Nashville where she is active in the community. She has served as treasurer for multiple non-profit organizations and is a volunteer for cross-country, track and field, and swimming clubs. Massey holds a Bachelor of Arts from Rhodes College and an MBA from the University of Memphis.
Holly Turner
System Director of Learning and Engagement
Holly Turner holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Tennessee as well as a Master of Health Administration from the University of Memphis. She began her career with Baptist as an administrative intern in 2003 through the University of Memphis graduate assistant program. In 2005, she was hired as a human resources representative at Baptist Memphis. Starting in 2008, she served for seven years as the human resources manager for Baptist Memphis. She transferred to Baptist’s corporate office in 2015 as human resources director. In 2018 Turner became the system director of human resources for the West Tennessee and East Arkansas markets, during which time she continued to provide strategic and operational human resources support for the corporate office, the physician revenue cycle, Baptist Restorative Care Hospital, Baptist Cancer Center, Medical Financial Services Incorporated, and the Baptist College of Health Sciences. In 2021, Turner returned to Baptist Memphis as human resources director. She was promoted to system director of learning and engagement in 2022. She holds senior-level certifications through both the HR Certification Institute and the Society for Human Resources Management.
Mary Ellen Sumrall
MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Vice President/Chief Nursing Executive
Mary Ellen Sumrall currently serves as the vice president-chief nursing executive for Baptist Memorial Health Care and chief nursing officer for Baptist Memorial Hospital Memphis. In this dual role Sumrall strives daily to deliver high quality nursing care while at the same time building teams to innovate and improve the nursing model-of-care to better meet the needs of patients, families and communities. Prior to her current position, Sumrall worked for over 34 years serving in various nursing leadership roles at Baptist Memorial Hospital – Golden Triangle to include director positions of education, emergency department and ultimately Chief Nursing Officer. Known for building high performing teams and putting patients at the center of all decisions, she led efforts that achieved national recognition for delivering high quality, safe, efficient, and satisfying care for patients. Sumrall received her BSN from the University of Mississippi and her MSN in Nursing Administration from Union University. She is board Certified by the American Nursing Credentialing Center (ANCC) as an Advanced Nurse Executive.
Kristy Gay
Patient Experience Officer
Kristy Gay has served as the Patient Experience Officer for Baptist since May 2019. Gay started in health care in 2000 and worked in two health systems in Arkansas and Tennessee before joining Press Ganey in 2011. While at Press Ganey, Gay provided patient experience support and insights to health systems across the country. She transitioned into a Senior Advisor role at Press Ganey, continuing her support of patient experience and also supporting employee and physician engagement. Gay holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Healthcare Administration.
Parker Harris
Baptist Memorial Hospital Tipton Administrator and Chief Executive Officer
Parker Harris was raised 80 miles east of Memphis in Jackson, Tennessee. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Memphis with an undergraduate degree in accounting. Harris returned to the University of Memphis for a Master of Health Administration degree. Upon graduation, Harris joined the Baptist Memorial Health Care system and completed a fellowship-training program. He has served in an administrative role leading the organization in mergers, acquisitions and integration. In 2019, Harris assumed the role of CEO and administrator of Baptist Memorial Hospital- Tipton and the Baptist Cancer Center locations in the state of Tennessee. Harris currently serves as the immediate past president for the American College of Healthcare Executives-MidSouth Chapter.
Jackie Barton
Baptist Memorial Hospital Tipton Chief Nursing Officer
In her current role, Jackie Barton is accountable for nursing practice across all of Baptist Memorial Hospital Tipton, including Baptist Cancer Centers. Barton is responsible for the development and implementation of key strategic initiatives while working in close collaboration with the nursing leadership team to ensure the success of the facility. Prior to joining BMH-Tipton, Barton served as director of nursing, ICU/stepdown, cardiac monitoring, and hemodialysis at Baptist Memorial Hospital Memphis. There she was responsible for clinical, operational and financial leadership for nursing and clinical inpatient services. Prior to becoming director in 2016, Barton was the Nurse Manager of a 40-bed Neurosurgical Unit. While serving as nurse manager, Barton was able to build and sustain a nursing team and reduce the nursing turnover from greater than 40% to less than 12%. Barton received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Baptist College of Health Sciences and her Master of Science in Nursing in Executive Leadership from the University of Memphis. Barton has received several honors and awards throughout her nursing career such as Outstanding Leadership Award from Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis and the Medical Executive Award for Outstanding Dedication to the Nursing Profession from Baptist Memorial Hospital Memphis Medical Executive Committee. Barton was also selected to participate in the Baptist Executive Leadership Institute in collaboration with the University of Memphis in 2017. Her nursing career has been dedicated to creating high quality, reliable systems of care and developing the next generation of nurses and health care professionals to lead in these ever-changing times.