When you’re taking Exploration in Health and Society at Coe College with retired president and CEO of Mercy Medical Center, Tim Charles, as your professor, you can expect a story-centric masterclass across three threads. The first is personal development. Second is the array of career options across the health care industry. The third addresses larger issues surrounding trends and policy in health care.
Mr. Charles is uniquely qualified as a leader in all three sub-subjects, and he is thrilled to be bringing his wealth of expertise and experience into the Coe classroom. He started teaching the seven-week course March 3.
At Coe, Mr. Charles is the latest prominent local industry leader to bring their first-hand knowledge and connections straight to Kohawks in the classroom. Eastern Iowa Airport Director Marty Lenss is currently teaching the initial introduction to aviation course.
For 19 years, Mr. Charles held leadership roles at Mercy and its subsidiaries — first as COO for four years and then as CEO for 15 years. He left his roles at Mercy with valuable insights, stories and connections.
“The one thing I know is true is I’m bringing 46 years of experience coupled with a continued passion for the advancement of health care,” Mr. Charles said.
Work as orderly sparked interest in health care
His deep understanding of health care systems originates in Utah and grew in various leadership positions, up and down the West Coast and Texas — “a long and circuitous journey” prior to being invited to join Mercy.
While he was an undergraduate student at the University of Utah, Mr. Charles’ interest in health care formed as he worked as an orderly in a local hospital – a position that met his desire for something “a little more interesting” than the typical jobs students held at the time.
Following graduation, he worked on both the nonprofit and for-profit sides of health care in various senior leadership positions in Oregon, California and Utah. One of his goals was to be appointed CEO of a hospital before the age of 30, which he accomplished in California.
In those early years, Mr. Charles gained experience in hospital administration, network development and strategic planning. He also learned that corporate positions left him wanting. He continually found himself drawn back to hospital CEO roles.
“I actually was able to interact with and connect directly with the people we served and the professionals at the bed-side,” he recalled.
Innovation, growth marked tenure as Mercy CEO
Joining Mercy in Cedar Rapids in 2003 fulfilled his yearning to have a more direct and visible impact on people’s health and wellness at a larger scale. At that time, then-Mercy CEO, Jim Tinker, was developing his succession plan.
“This was an opportunity to not only run Mercy Medical Center, but also to lead the entire company, with its myriad subsidiaries given Mercy’s independent corporate status. This had been a goal of mine my entire career,” Mr. Charles said.
He officially became Mercy’s CEO in July 2007, and led the company through periods of great growth, innovation, and challenges, like the catastrophic flood of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also helped establish the MedQuarter Regional Medical District (MedQ) in Cedar Rapids, a 55-square-block health district, which encompasses part of Coe’s campus as well as features a multi-specialty physician clinic and is book-ended by two hospitals with several thousand employees and practitioners.
Mr. Charles ties the creative and critical thinking it took to have such success as Mercy’s CEO back to his own liberal arts education. He holds a sincere belief that a broad educational base is key to sustained success as it spawns being interested, interesting and an essential passion for life-long learning.
“I’m a strong believer that the liberal arts has an incredibly important role in the preparation of individuals aspirating to become successful leaders,” he said.
Early ties to Center
Now, Mr. Charles has taken on a new challenge as an educator in higher education. He has guest lectured before in classes taught at Coe, but this will be his first opportunity to teach a full course. He will guide students in a 100-level course, Exploration of Health and Society.
“I’ve been hoping for this opportunity to engage and connect in this kind of environment on this topic,” he said.
Within the classroom, Mr. Charles will draw from his deep well of 46 years of health care delivery experience, leadership lessons, as well as his network. He is particularly pleased to be teaching a course that ties directly into the mission of the David and Janice McInally Center for Health & Society (CHS), which is to enable an intentional health focus across the liberal arts and facilitate dialogue on the future of healthcare.
As the idea for the CHS came to fruition, Mr. Charles was there for many critical steps, including early conversations with David McInally, the groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting. He is a supporter of the multidisciplinary approach within the CHS, the people who are involved with the CHS, and sees its potential, especially considering the center’s MedQuarter location.
“In economic terms, health care is nearing 20% of this country’s GDP, and it just keeps expanding,” Mr. Charles explained. “Looking at the field’s big picture and layering the CHS into that, you’re now talking about an exciting universe of possibilities for students. The educational commitment of the CHS, complemented with its MedQ location, will address one of the greatest challenges in health care, which is identifying and developing the next generation of professionals.”
With an eye on widening the students’ aperture of understanding career possibilities in healthcare, he wants students’ engagement to help drive the direction of the course.
He plans to be nimble and align the direction of the course with the experiences, backgrounds and interests of his students. His intent is to weave these together in considering life design, career development and an introduction to salient health policy concerns.
First-hand experience vital for student success
Mr. Charles supports a core Coe tenet that gaining first-hand experience as a student provides the invaluable perspective and knowledge in determining if what is being studied is going to lead students to an enjoyable career. He will tap into his network and introduce them to a wide variety of careers through guest lectures by successful local leaders in the field.
“My intent is that students gain an appreciation for and an interest in what’s going on right here in the MedQ. Most, if not every, professional opportunity a student might want to pursue is available in Cedar Rapids. They can link up right now with someone who is already doing that work,” Mr. Charles said.
When the end of the term arrives, the three core threads — personal development, career exploration and studying health care systems — will create a line-of-site beneficial for students in navigating a winding and gratifying road just like the one Mr. Charles has traveled.
“All leadership involves education and mentoring. I’ve been hoping for an opportunity such as this to engage and connect with aspiring professionals in this manner, at the CHS, and on this topic. I was excited when Coe approached me,” he said.
