AN EVEN KEEL: A-STATE ALUMNA HELPS GUIDE ST. JUDE

COVER STORY

Ashining example of success for non-traditional college students, Pat Keel ‘97 was a working mother at Northeast Arkansas Rehabilitation Hospital when she returned to Arkansas State University in the 1990s to finish her degree. Now, she’s the chief financial and administrative officer and an executive vice president at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

As the only National Cancer Institute designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children, St. Jude relies heavily on donor funding to achieve founder Danny Thomas’ vision that “no child should die in the dawn of life,” and a major role of Keel’s is to make sure the hospital has the financial resources to meet that goal.

“As the CFO, my role is to ensure the organization has adequate financial resources to accomplish the mission, and to identify financial risks and work to mitigate those risks,” Keel said. “Operationally, I partner with others in the organization to evaluate how we are using our financial resources and identify opportunities for financial improvements. My goal is to enable clinicians and researchers to do their best work as well as continue to strengthen processes on an ongoing basis. It is also to ensure our patients receive the highest level of service while they are here.”

Fulfilling the responsibilities of her role requires her to wear multiple hats as both CFO and CAO, and Keel said she feels fortunate that her days at the hospital are rarely the same. St. Jude has more than $1 billion in construction projects scheduled over the next five years, and Keel monitors each of those projects, while also teaching leadership classes, participating in strategic planning meetings, developing financial projection models, and, her favorite, mentoring young leaders.

AN EVEN KEEL: A-STATE ALUMNA HELPS GUIDE ST. JUDE

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“The most rewarding part of my job is seeing the results of what we do – the children,” Keel said. “Since its opening in 1962, St. Jude has advanced cures and treatments for cancer, sickle cell disease and other life-threatening diseases. Some of our former patients are in their sixties, thriving today as grandparents and great-grandparents. It is just miraculous.”

Keel credited her time at A-State as being influential in developing the ability to lead the hospital in so many facets of its operation.

“My time at Arkansas State University prepared me in my career and more specifically for my position at St. Jude, not just through gaining the technical accounting knowledge but also how to work with teams, develop relationships and juggle multiple, competing priorities,” Keel said. “I learned to ask for help when I needed it, make course corrections when I got off course, and most importantly, developed solid critical thinking skills to solve complex problems.”

The need to solve complex problems was taken to a new level as the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep the globe in early 2020. The hospital’s supply chain director retired in March, leaving yet another role for Keel to fill until the interim director arrived 30 days later.

“Initially, my role during the pandemic was dramatically different,” Keel said. “I was the logistics leader in the St. Jude Incident Command Center, the central hub for decision making during the COVID-19 crisis. I was responsible for ensuring we could source key personal protective equipment to keep our patients, families and staff safe. This required working with our buyers to identify alternative vendors, ensuring they were thoroughly vetted and validating the supplies were legitimate when they arrived.

“I also participated in small groups developing new processes to zone the campus to protect the clinical staff, patients and families,” she added. “We had to change many processes related to how we received supplies, which vendors would be allowed on campus, how patients and families as well as staff would access the campus and how we would clean areas, especially if we had a COVID-19-positive patient or family member. I also helped most of my direct departments make the transition to remote work.”

After the first two months of the pandemic, she moved to more of a monitoring mode over many of these duties, a role that continues today as spikes in cases and the rate of positives require that the hospital make adjustments to its practices. She also advocates for “masking up” to protect the children and those who care for them.

The unique trials presented by the pandemic are many. A constant challenge is providing the personal protective equipment needed to keep staff, patients and families safe. Guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control change frequently, sometimes daily, and zoning the campus to keep clinical areas insulated and protected from COVID-19 is an ongoing responsibility.

affordable to work and go to school. “It took me a long time to find my passion so I had several gap years. I then returned with more focus and drive.”

That drive led to her amassing more than 30 years of experience in managing hospital financial operations. She held leadership positions at University Health System in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she served as chief financial officer and senior vice president, at Good Shepherd Health System in Longview, Texas, and also at CHRISTUS Schumpert Health System, also in Shreveport.

In addition to her Bachelor of Science in accounting from A-State, she also holds a Master of Healthcare Administration from Trinity University. Keel is also a William G. Follmer Bronze award recipient in HFMA (Healthcare Financial Management Association), and in December 2015, she was named to Becker’s Hospital Review list of 130 women hospital and health system leaders to know – an honor that has been repeated five consecutive times. In January, she was named by Forbes magazine as one of the best non-profit CFOs of 2020.

As a student at Arkansas State, Keel said she enjoyed watching A-State compete in football, volleyball, women’s and men’s basketball, and tennis. Most of her accounting classes were held at night, were small, and often included the same students.

“The group of students were very special and from a wide variety of backgrounds,” she said. “It was great going through the classes together and I had two really great faculty members in Dr. Coy London and Patricia Toney-McLin.”

Now, as an alumna of Arkansas State University and an employee at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, she’s certainly aware that A-State’s Up ‘til Dawn organization is consistently among the nation’s leaders in campus fundraising for St. Jude.

“Truthfully, everything about Arkansas State is a source of pride for me,” she said. “It’s a great school with great leadership, and it’s part of my foundation and roots. I love that students these days not only focus on their education, but they also give back to the St. Jude kids.”

Keel’s immediate family consists of one son, Jonathan, and his wife Ally. Keel enjoys traveling, attending sporting and cultural events, gardening, cooking, cycling, hiking, tennis, music and reading, saying, “I really like variety in my work and life.”

QA AND

with student Allysa Weaver, executive director of A-State’s Up ‘til Dawn board

What is the most rewarding part of being involved with Up ‘til Dawn?

The connections. Between the board, the ambassadors, the advisers, and the relationships we cultivate with sponsors it’s the most rewarding blessing. Fundraising is great but being away from the hospital we do not really see the fruit of our labor firsthand. For me getting to watch those around me grow in their skill sets, become better leaders, and cultivate a passion for the mission of Up ‘til Dawn is better than any dollar sign.

How many years have you been on the Up ‘til Dawn board?

As a freshman and sophomore I was a participant with Up ‘til Dawn and the last two years I have been on the executive board. Four years total, two years leading.

Why did you get involved with Up ‘til Dawn?

I fundraised for St. Jude when I was in high school, but I was naive to the true impact St. Jude was making. When I got to college I met Bailey Owens ‘19 who was on the executive board. She encouraged me to participate, so I jumped at the opportunity. My sophomore year she was the executive director and really pushed me to apply for the board, and now here I am. I am thankful for the legacy she left because otherwise I would not be as involved and be as passionate as I am about the mission of St. Jude Up ‘til Dawn.

Arkansas State is one of the national leaders for colleges in supporting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Do you think there is an awareness of this on campus, and what does this distinction mean

to our students? I think that Up ‘til Dawn as a whole is misunderstood on campus. The branding makes it very hard to be personal to people, but our heartbeat this year is awareness – for the mission, for the meaning, and for what St. Jude does for others. As a person who has been actively involved with Up ‘til Dawn, the distinction is valuable and important. It definitely goes to show how hard past boards have worked to get our campus invested with Up ‘til Dawn. We hope to keep that going this year as well.

What is your goal for Up ‘til Dawn this year?

Our fundraising goal set by St. Jude is $100,000, but personally I have set the goal to aim for $106,000. I would love to see A-State break a record this year of exceeding more than we have ever raised. Otherwise, our goal is to bring the mission of St. Jude to the community of Jonesboro. Most people in Jonesboro who are avid St. Jude lovers are unaware that there is a student group right under their noses that fundraises for the kids. Our theme and heartbeat this year is “Hometown Throwdown” and we are striving to partner with local businesses and sponsors to bring awareness to the many small businesses in Jonesboro. We want to do everything we can to equip our town to help us in return, especially after the course of the pandemic and the tornado. We as an organization want to do any and everything we can to bring a new kind of fire to the mission of St. Jude.

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