New UNT System Chancellor Brings 'People-First' Philosophy, History Of Disrupting Systems

Arlington TX

09 November, 2021

6:46 PM

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By Alexis Allison, Fort Worth Report November 8, 2021 When a 13-year-old boy died after delays in his emergency care at Hill Country Memorial Hospital in Fredericksburg, Dr. Michael R. Williams made a request of the boy's parents: Partner with the hospital to make it better. This was 2009, and Williams had taken the helm as the hospital's chief executive officer the year before. Back then, the hospital's metrics were consistently low: low patient satisfaction, low employee satisfaction, a budget operating in the red. Williams had been an anesthesiologist in Fredericksburg and "didn't know a thing" about running a hospital, he said. "I went to the team and said, 'We're going to make this about the patients.'" Williams cut across industries to improve the hospital: He asked an executive from Southwest Airlines to train his staff in the company's all-hands-on-deck culture. He asked a trainer from The Ritz-Carlton to up his staff's customer service standards. And, he asked a Toyota employee to show his team how to cut costs. The boy's parents agreed to share their story, too. Williams will replace the outgoing chancellor of the University of North Texas System, Lesa Roe, in the coming months, the System announced Nov. 8. His plans for the System mimic his ventures at Hill Country Memorial Hospital: Disrupt outdated norms to put people first. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.