Chattanooga, Tennessee -- Ruth W. Brinkley, President and CEO of the Memorial Health Care System, is the recipient of the Chattanooga Area Manager of the Year Award for 2007. She will be honored with the award during a luncheon on June 6 at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

The Manager of the Year Award is made annually by member organizations of CAMOY (Chattanooga Area Manager of the Year). Now in its 20th year, the award recognizes an executive manager who has made a significant contribution to the Hamilton County area.

Tom Edd Wilson, president and CEO of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and winner of the 2006 Manager of the Year Award, praised Brinkley for her accomplishments. "Under Ruth’s leadership, Memorial Health Care System has been recognized as a national leader for the quality of care it provides to our community," he said. "She has also demonstrated her commitment to the future by moving forward with a major development program that is projected to create 700 new, family-wage jobs for our citizens."

Ms. Brinkley came to Chattanooga to serve as interim CEO for Memorial. At that time she was senior vice president of Performance Management with Catholic Health Initiatives, Memorial’s parent organization and one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the United States.

After working with her a few weeks, the executive staff at Memorial urged the search committee to consider Ms. Brinkley, the interim CEO, as a candidate. She exceeded all the search committee’s leadership expectations and was selected for the position over all other candidates.

Her goals at Memorial Health Care System are to provide a quality work environment to attract and develop professionals with a passion for Memorial’s mission and values, to make Memorial a world-class facility so people do not have to leave Chattanooga for technology, expertise, or treatment; and to empower people in the community to improve their health and make informed decisions about their health care, and she has had phenomenal success.

Ruth has led Memorial to receive state recognition for the past two years as one of the Best Places to Work in Tennessee, and for the last three consecutive years Memorial has received national recognition for its high quality patient care, for excellence in cardiac care, and for meeting a high standard of patient safety goals.

These awards, based on objective, comparable data and patient outcomes of hospitals across the nation, include the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals®: Benchmarks for Success 2006 for the fourth time, the Solucient Top 100 Hospitals®: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success 2006 for the fourth time, and named to the first ever Leapfrog Top 50 Hospitals 2006.

With Ms. Brinkley’s leadership, Memorial was able to gain support from physicians and area leaders and was granted a Certificate of Need for a $320 million renovation and expansion project in the Glenwood community. The expansion, designed to meet the future health care needs of the Chattanooga community, will create new jobs, boost the economy, and help prepare the community to better provide for the needs of long-term population growth.

Ruth is very active in the Chattanooga community. When Claude Ramsey initiated his education initiative, he tapped Ruth to serve. She did a stellar job and served as the Education Chair for the same initiative at the Chamber of Commerce.

She was quick to respond to the Riverfront Development project with a major grant from Memorial Health Care System. She presented a million dollar direct community investment grant to Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise from Catholic Health Initiatives to provide lending capital to low income residents in neighborhoods surrounding Memorial.

Grants from CHI to Memorial North Park Hospital sparked a healthy community initiative for communities north of the river and a pilot health program in 7 schools in those communities.

Ruth is in constant demand to speak at churches and at commencement services, for groups like 100 Black Men, InterCity Ministry, Girls, Inc. and women’s groups. Ruth is immediate past chair of the Chattanooga Area Hospital District of the Tennessee Hospital Association, and serves on the boards of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, SunTrust Bank, Chattem, Inc., The Women’s Leadership Institute, and United Way. She is immediate past chair of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chancellor’s Roundtable, a member of the Chattanooga Rotary Club, and Transforming Faith Baptist Church where she chairs the Strategic Planning Committee and teaches adult Bible Study Classes.

Nationally, she is a delegate to the Region 4 Policy Board of the American Hospital Association; a member of the Women Business Leaders of the US Health Care Industry Foundation; and a member of the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE). Ruth is a registered nurse and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Ms. Brinkley has over 30 years of health care experience working in private and public health care organizations, including academic, teaching and community-based hospital systems.

Prior to joining CHI, Ms. Brinkley served as senior associate and engagement manager at APM/CSC Healthcare, working with many of the largest and most complex academic medical centers and community hospitals in the United States and Canada. Her responsibilities included assisting organizations to improve overall operating and clinical performance and service delivery. She also held previous executive leadership positions at the University of Alabama Hospitals; De Paul Health Center, St. Louis, MO; and St. Anne’s Hospital, Chicago, Illinois.

A native of Georgia, Ms. Brinkley holds BS and MS degrees from De Paul University in Chicago. Ruth received the 2004 Senior Healthcare Executive Award from the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE); she was named one of Chattanooga’s Women of Distinction, and was selected for the Girls, Inc. "UnBought and UnBossed" Award for ethical leadership. She is married to the Rev. Dr. Kenneth Brinkley and they are the parents of 5 children and 3 grandchildren.

Since 1985, a group of professional organizations in the Chattanooga area has come together to select and honor a Chattanooga Area Manager of the Year. These organizations work together under the leadership of a steering committee in an effort to enhance the recognition of management as a profession. Each year, they honor a Manager of the Year from those that are nominated by the professional community and who meet the established criteria for such designation. The honoree is recognized at an annual event held during Management Week in America.

The organizations that participate on the steering committee include American Society for Training and Development, Better Business Bureau, Building Owners and Managers Association, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Chattanooga Engineers Club, Chattanooga State Technical Community College, Chattanooga Technology Council, City of Chattanooga, Executive Women International, Hamilton County Government, Institute of Management Accountants, National Management Association, River City Company, Society for Human Resources Management, Southeast Tennessee Workforce Investment Board, Tennessee Society of CPA’s, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and Urban League of Chattanooga.