The force behind two of Woman’s Hospital’s most aggressive expansions in recent years is an unassuming accountant whom colleagues call “The Velvet Hammer.”
During her 21 years at the hospital—largely away from the limelight—Stephanie Anderson has quietly guided projects that have impacted thousands of lives.
Anderson, a Lafayette native who is as Cajun as they come—Hebert is her maiden name—went to work for one of the Big Eight accounting firms after graduating from LSU. She specialized in health care and was hired by Woman’s Hospital, which at the time was one of her clients.
The transition from those early days of working in the male-dominated world of finance to an organization largely run by females was significant.
“But I’ve always found that if you work hard and prove yourself,” Anderson says, “you can achieve whatever you want.”
Early on, she led the hospital’s transition into managed care, and her tough—and often adversarial—negotiations with the insurance industry are legendary, earning her the moniker.
“She has successfully concluded many complicated contractual negotiations before her opponents knew what hit them,” Woman’s Hospital President/CEO Teri Fontenot says. “She unassumingly and unrelentingly accomplishes what’s set out in front of her.”
Anderson’s vision transformed a small employee fitness center and patient-focused rehabilitation program into the 59,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Woman’s Center for Wellness at Bluebonnet Boulevard and Jefferson Highway. The female-only club has 3,000 members.
And in January 2010, at a time when credit markets were in chaos and the country was in a deep recession, Anderson oversaw the $319.5 million sale of tax-exempt bonds to finance the hospital’s new campus currently under construction at Airline Highway and Pecue Lane.
Her division started an HIV transmission prevention program with the goal of protecting newborns from contracting the disease from their mothers. An HIV-positive baby has not been born to a mother enrolled in that program since 2005.
“I am responsible for all the financial aspects of running the hospital, but it’s really much bigger than that,” Anderson says. “We’re part of a team that’s carrying out the mission of this hospital to improve the health of women and infants in this community. And that’s what I love most about my job; it’s an opportunity to be a part of something to improve our community.”
Anderson accomplishes that in other ways, too. She is a graduate of the Leadership Louisiana and Leadership Greater Baton Rouge programs, and she is past president of the latter organization’s alumni association. She’s also involved in the Healthcare Financial Management Association and its CFO Forum, the Louisiana Hospital Association and the American Heart Association.
Anderson also is deeply involved in the lives of her children and other youth, having served as president of the board of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic School, as a member of Catholic High School’s Mothers’ Club and as a mentor at a local public middle school. She soon begins a two-year term as a student adviser and board member for Elan Cotillion.
She and her husband have three sons, ages 19, 17 and 12. Says Anderson: “My life outside the hospital pretty much revolves around whatever sports they are playing at the time.”
