Health Care

Power 100 2023 Hospital heads:

Reginald Coopwood, Chris Cosby,
Jason Little, Michael Ugwueke,
Michael Wiggins
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Power 100 2023

ILLUSTRATION BY MEREDITH SHEFFER | MBJ; GETTY IMAGES
IN THIS ARTICLE
• AwardsTopic

• Executive ProfilesTopic

• Recruiting & HiringTopic

• HospitalsTopic

• Baptist Memorial Health CareCompany

• Le Bonheur Children's HospitalCompany

• Methodist Le Bonheur HealthcareCompany

• More

By Greg Akers – Editor-in-Chief, Memphis Business Journal

Feb 8, 2023

Listen to this article 5 min

The fourth annual Power 100 list was released in the Jan. 27 weekly edition of MBJ. The
section profiles the 100 most powerful people in the Mid-South, as chosen by the
editorial staff. Those included were also honored at an invite-only event at The
Orpheum Theatre on Jan. 26.

The 2023 Power 100 is sponsored by Duncan Williams Asset Management and ProTech
Services Group.

We will be rolling out those profiles over the coming days. This year, we're grouping the
Power 100 by their industry, profession, and/or what they bring to the table.
MBJ subscribers can click here to read the full Power 100 issue.

Here are the profiles of the Power 100 hospital leaders, who oversee big, bustling health
care systems with numerous facilities, huge workforces, and multimillion- to billion-
dollar budgets, and the stakes for it all are life and death.
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Reginald Coopwood with Regional One Health
REGIONAL ONE HEALTH

Reginald Coopwood

President/CEO, Regional One Health

Under the leadership of Reginald Coopwood, M.D., Regional One Health has shored up
its finances and maintained its position as vital to the city and one of the metro’s largest
employers. Coopwood spent five years as CEO of the Metro Nashville Hospital Authority
before coming to Regional One in 2010. He serves as a board member of BlueCross
BlueShield of Tennessee and the Tennessee Hospital Association (THA). Coopwood has
received the THA’s CEO Meritorious Service Award, Diversity Champion Award, and
President’s Award. He was inducted into Belmont University’s Tennessee Health Care
Hall of Fame in 2022. Early in the pandemic, he and his wife, Erica Stiff-Coopwood,
helped establish the Pay It Forward campaign to benefit workers in the hospitality and
service industries.
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Chris Cosby with Saint Francis Healthcare
GREG CAMPBELL | SAINT FRANCIS HEALTHCARE

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Chris Cosby
Market CEO, Tenet Health – Saint Francis Healthcare

Chris Cosby was named the CEO of Saint Francis Healthcare’s hospitals in Memphis and
Bartlett in November 2021. Coming to the area with two decades of experience in the
industry, Cosby now heads Saint Francis-Memphis, locally one of the busiest hospitals.
He also serves as the market CEO for Tenet Healthcare’s Memphis market. Previously,
Cosby was with HCA Healthcare for 10 years, spending the last five years as CEO of
Poinciana Medical Center in Orlando, Florida, where he expanded the hospital’s service
lines and oversaw an ER expansion worth more than $22 million. He was tapped to lead
Tenet’s Saint Francis operations in Memphis because of his experience, leadership
skills, and strategic thinking.
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Jason Little with Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp.

TREY CLARK PHOTOGRAPHY

Jason Little
President/CEO, Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp.

Jason Little has now spent more than two decades with Baptist Memorial Health Care,
the huge health system with hospitals in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. He
began with Baptist as an assistant administrator in 2002. He then took on progressively
larger hospital CEO roles, going from a 61-bed hospital to a 741-bed facility. Successfully
navigating executive positions as metro market president and COO led him to Baptist’s
top job in 2014. He is Baptist’s fifth president since 1912. Little is also immediate past
chairman for the Tennessee Hospital Association and has served on the boards of the
Greater Memphis Chamber, Memphis Tomorrow, the New Memphis Institute, the
University of Memphis Foundation, and the Briarcrest Christian School System.
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Michael Ugwueke, President/CEO, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare

GREG CAMPBELL | METHODIST LE BONHEUR HEALTHCARE

Michael Ugwueke
President/CEO, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare

Across his career, Michael Ugwueke has risen through the ranks of Methodist Le
Bonheur Healthcare. Prior to becoming the system’s CEO in 2017, he led its North and
South hospitals; was COO over its five adult inpatient hospitals; and was named
president in 2014. He previously was VP of operations at a large hospital in Illinois.
Now, he heads the second-largest private employer in the Memphis area, with more
than 11,000 employees. In 2021, he received the Harry S. Hertz Leadership Award from
the Baldrige Foundation and another from the Tennessee Hospital Association’s CEO of
Distinction Award, recognizing his leadership and contributions to health care.
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Michael Wiggins with Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
LE BONHEUR CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

Michael Wiggins

President, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Since 1952, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital has been a staple in pediatric care, being the
only comprehensive pediatric hospital in the West Tennessee region. Atlanta
native Michael Wiggins was no stranger to the world of pediatric medicine when he
became the Memphis hospital’s president. He succeeded president and CEO Meri
Armour when she retired in 2019. Prior to his current role, he held positions as SVP of
Clinical Operations and the Northern Market at Children’s Health in Dallas and as
administrator for Children’s Medical Center in Plano, Texas. He served as VP of
operations at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham. Wiggins helms Le Bonheur in a
time of not only COVID-related challenges but also opportunities: The hospital is in the
midst of a $95 million expansion.