From Volunteer to Leader, Sandy Thurmond’s Journey at Children’s

Since 1988, Sandy Thurmond, our VP of Primary Care Services, has surpassed her volunteer hours and grown as a valued employee of Children’s of Alabama.

Throughout her tenure, she has moved up the ladder within the organization. She has strengthened her skills in operations, facilities, contract management, strategic planning and practice management. After gaining a background in volunteering at Children’s and obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in pre-med from Birmingham-Southern College and Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from UAB, her career started here as an Administrative Resident. Since 1995, she has been crafting and developing her skills by working on the primary care side of Children’s of Alabama. In 2004, she stepped into a leadership role as VP of Primary Care Services.

“At Children’s of Alabama we have a large breadth of operations and services, and because of that I was able to move, grow, develop and remain with the same employer. I grew up with Children’s.”

What It Means to Be a Part of Children’s

“Everyone who works here lives out the mission of Children’s every day. We truly have an impact on patient care, advocacy, and research, not only in our community but within our state, region and in some cases, across the country.  Children’s is truly a valued member of the community and I am proud to be a part of it.”

What Children’s Does to Create Leaders of Today and Tomorrow

“Children’s has a very robust organizational development program. We offer a lot of classes, including leadership classes and management certifications classes. We have an excellent tuition reimbursement program that I know people have used for the undergraduate and graduate levels.

For me personally, through organizational development courses and great mentorship, I’ve been given the opportunity to work on different projects and to learn and grow many types of skills. Children’s has connected me with different professional networks across the country, such as the Medical Group Management Association and the American College of Healthcare Executives, giving me the ability to learn more from my peers.

For anyone looking to come to Children’s in order to grow as a leader, I encourage them to come here ready to learn.”

What Growth Looks Like at Children’s

“In the last five years, Children’s has had unprecedented expansion. For example, the Russell building grew in space, in programs and we have a lot of new technology available to our staff. With this growth we have had to expand our team, allowing current and new staff to develop their knowledge and leadership capabilities.

In regards to rolling out technology, such as Infor or iConnect, we have trained a lot of staff on becoming super users. It helps our employees better their skills and better our organization.”

What It Takes to be Successful

“A successful leader at Children’s needs to think differently about what they know and apply it in our ever-changing environment. Leaders here are a very diverse group. They are experienced, passionate, committed and very smart. You can’t work in this pediatric environment if you are not a caring individual.”

If you are interested in learning more about joining our talented leadership team, check out Our Stories on our career site and meet a few who have carved their own path to leadership just like Sandy.