A Road Less Traveled Podcast · Hilary Haron

Leading with Heart: Katie Zenovich on Healthcare & Leadership | A Road Less Traveled Podcast

·40 min·3 clips

Katie Zenovich was told to cut her hair and tone it down by a nun CEO in a room full of men.

Host Hilary Herron interviews Katie Zenovich, Senior Vice President for Development and External Affairs at a major Central Valley healthcare system. Zenovich oversees philanthropy and fund development for the region's largest private employer. She is one of four women on a 13-member senior leadership team. Zenovich explains she entered healthcare accidentally, taking a clinic job to pay rent after moving to attend Fresno State. She later fitted patients for wheelchairs and walkers at a medical equipment company, finding it empowering. Her career progressed through connections and "monkey rings," moving to roles at St. Agnes hospital for 11 years and later to Community Health System. She recalls an early, discouraging experience where a female CEO told her to "tone it down" and cut her hair after a board presentation. The organization now raises a minimum of $15 million annually in philanthropy, having secured $20 million in three years for a community cancer institute originally budgeted at $68 million. A key insight is her view of fundraising as facilitating investments in community assets that pay off for decades. She notes the Central Valley's only Level I trauma center serves a 15,000-square-mile radius between Sacramento and Los Angeles. Zenovich is currently leading a campaign to raise $30 million for a downtown neuroscience institute, which is already over halfway funded. She emphasizes the institute will consolidate care for conditions like Parkinson's and spinal injuries, preventing patients from traveling four hours for treatment. The project's location near Terry's House, a free lodging for families, and the trauma center creates a supportive care triangle. Zenovich shares a poignant moment shadowing a trauma chief and seeing a young girl with severe injuries, reinforcing her mission. Her advice for finding passion includes ensuring you believe in the mission, like the work, respect colleagues, and feel fairly compensated. She also recalls her mother's counsel that you can decide to make any new endeavor "the best thing you've ever done." The tone is conversational and inspirational, blending personal narrative with professional insights. The style is interview-based, with the host prompting reflections on leadership and adversity. Listeners interested in healthcare administration, nonprofit fundraising, or women's career journeys in male-dominated fields will appreciate this episode. Those seeking highly technical or clinical healthcare discussions might find it less relevant.

As heard by us

Healthcare leadership here means building people, not just filling titles.

The episode treats healthcare leadership as something built through people and programs, not just a title on a badge. Katie Zinovich talks through a role that spans development, external affairs, and philanthropy, and the clearest part is the path she lays out for medical…

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Why you'd press play

You want to hear a health system leader talk about promotion ladders, mentorship, and community impact without sounding like a board memo today.

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