The Dayton regional is well ahead of the national average for women heading up hospitals, and experts credit a family-friendly community as well as a strong tradition of women leaders at local faith-based hospitals.

In the Greater Dayton region, five of 13 hospitals in Butler, Greene, Miami and Montgomery counties are helmed by women, or 38 percent, in contrast with 18 percent nationwide.

With her appointment last week as the first woman president of the 48-year-old Kettering Health Network, Terri Day became one of three area health care network chiefs, that include Fred Manchur, the networks chief executive officer; and Jim Pancoast, president and CEO of Premier Health Partners. Nationally, a mere 4 percent of health care companies are headed by women.

Day joins the ranks of high-powered female health care executives including Mary Boosalis, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Premier Health Partners; Eloise Broner, president and CEO of Good Samaritan Hospital; Deborah Feldman, president and CEO of Childrens Medical Center of Dayton; Bobbie Gerhart, president and CEO of Miami Valley Hospital; Jennifer Swenson, president of Fort Hamilton Hospital in Hamilton; and Carol Turner, president and CEO of Atrium Medical Center in Middletown.

It puts us on the map nationally, said Dr. Marjorie Bowman, who was recently tapped as the first woman to serve as dean of the Boonshoft College of Medicine at Wright State University. She is one of 18 female deans out of some 150 medical schools nationwide.

When I was being interviewed, it didnt feel like my gender was important and that felt very good, said Bowman, who came to Wright State from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. During my last job, it was still very clear that I was a woman, and I was still proving things relating to gender issues.

Evolving attitudes explain part of that difference, but not all. I think its partly because people in Dayton are open and warm and very welcoming, she said.

Feldman, a veteran of Montgomery County government who spent 15 years as its administrator, noted the Dayton community is one that is very accepting and one that values its local talent. Its a place where people who are competent and who work hard can get ahead, and that benefits women.

Day attributed also the phenomenon in part to the Miami Valleys family-friendly atmosphere, in marked contrast to southern California, where she raised her two children. In California, I never drove less than an hour to get somewhere, she said. Here, there is little traffic and the schools are good. Its very easy to go to your childrens events, which is not possible if youre traveling long commutes. Dayton has a lot for families and that is very significant.

Rising to the CEO suite

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Dayton on leading edge for women health care execs