Justin Rhodes

Chief Executive Officer, Baptist Medical Group
Vice President, Baptist Connected Care

Justin Rhodes is the CEO of Baptist Medical Group and Vice President of Baptist Connected Care. In this role, Justin provides strategic direction and operational leadership for Baptist’s large multispecialty medical group consisting of over 1200 providers in over 200 practice sites across the Mid-South. Creating a culture of excellence and "systemness" in support of the Baptist mission, vision, values, and principles along with developing innovative strategies to increase market expansion throughout Baptist’s geographical regions are among the top areas of focus in his role.

In his role as Vice President of Baptist Connected Care, Justin is responsible for developing, implementing, and supporting a robust connected health platform across the entire continuum of care. In this work, he leads numerous initiatives focused on defined patient and employee populations from tailoring direct to employer services and solutions for many of the largest employers across our region; to developing a "Clinic of the Future" through a joint-venture with BCBS of MS which serves as an Innovation Center for Care Delivery Redesign. Justin has transformed how BMHCC interacts and partners with post-acute provides to provide patients the highest quality of care options via a streamlined transitions workflow aimed at improving patient flow management.

Justin was recognized as a Top 10 finalist for the Class of 2015 Top 50 Under 40 by the Mississippi Business Journal. He was a scholarship athlete in football and earned a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Arkansas State University and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Mississippi College.

Jason Little

President and Chief Executive Officer, Baptist Memorial Health Care

Jason Little, CEO, is the fifth president of Baptist Memorial Health Care. Under his leadership, Baptist has grown to a 24-hospital, $3.6 billion integrated health system in three states with over 20,000 team members and more than 5,000 affiliated physicians. He began his career at Baptist in 2002 after serving as an operations administrator at the Mayo Clinic. Prior to his role as president and CEO, Jason served as System COO and CEO of three different Baptist hospitals.

He is passionate about improving his community and the delivery of healthcare. He serves on the boards of the Greater Memphis Chamber, Memphis Tomorrow, the New Memphis Institute, the Tennessee Hospital Association, the Mississippi Hospital Association, the Healthcare Institute and the American Hospital Association’s Health Systems Committee. Jason also serves as a deacon and Sunday School teacher at Germantown Baptist Church.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in Health Administration from the University of Tennessee and master’s degrees in Business Administration and Health Care Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Chris Anderson

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Chris serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation. He has been with Baptist since March 2014 and served previously as Vice President and Market Leader for Mississippi (2017-2023), then for the Memphis Metro market (2023). From March 2014 to April 2017, Chris served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Mississippi Baptist Health Systems (MBHA). As President of MBHS, Chris was responsible for all operations for it and its subsidiaries. Chris has worked in healthcare for over 38 years. Prior to coming to Baptist, he served as the Chief Executive Officer for Singing River Health System for sixteen years.

Chris is a graduate of Mississippi State University, a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, and has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1986. He has served in numerous professional and civic organizations, including service on the Board of Directors of the USA International Ballet Competition, Board of Directors of the Mississippi Museum of Art, the Mississippi Hospital Association Board of Directors, and the Mississippi Economic Council.

Susan Livengood

Director of Inpatient Nursing, NEA Baptist

Susan Livengood began her career with Baptist Memorial Healthcare in 2002 as a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at NEA Baptist. While on the unit, she served as a head nurse before being promoted to ICU Nurse Manager. During her time as the ICU Nurse Manager, Susan was awarded the Patriotic Employer Award by the U.S. Department of Defense for her ongoing support of employees serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

In 2011, Susan was promoted to Director of Critical Care Services serving four years before becoming Director of Inpatient Nursing services in 2015. Susan received her undergraduate degree from Arkansas State University and her Master of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Phoenix. She is currently enrolled in the Doctorate of Nursing Practice program at Arkansas State University with June 2025 graduation date. Susan and her husband, Jimmy, reside in Bay, AR.

Paula Grimes

Chief Nursing Officer, NEA Baptist

Paula Grimes is the Chief Nursing Officer at NEA Baptist Hospital. She began her Nursing Career with Baptist Memorial Healthcare in 1996 as the ICU Nursing Director at NEA Baptist. She was recruited into this role to plan and implement the Cardiovascular Surgery Program at NEA and in September of 1966, NEA did their first open heart procedure. Paula served as the ICU Director for eight year, during which time she received the Critical Care Nursing Excellence Award for Northeast Arkansas. In 2004, Paula was promoted to Chief Nursing Officer.

Paula has been a Registered Nurse for 33 years and holds a Master of Science degree in Nursing. She is also a member of the Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society for Nursing. Paula resides in Brookland, AR with her husband Terry. They are the parents of two children and a five-week-old grandson.

Kimberly Young

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Kimberly Young is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Baptist Memorial Health Care. Prior to becoming CFO, she served as the Vice President of Financial Operations. Kimberly has served in various financial roles across the Baptist System for over 30 years. She has served as Chief Financial Officer for Baptist Medical Group, BMH-Desoto, BMH-Collierville, BMH-Women’s, and BMH-Tipton.

Before moving into the operational side of finance, Kimberly worked in managed care finance and system finance. Outside of work, Kimberly is an avid runner and CrossFit participant. She routinely participates in marathons and CrossFit competitions raising money for non-profit organizations. Kimberly has served on the board of Christ Community Health Services, LG&W Federal Credit Union, and the American Red Cross.

She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of Memphis.

Kristy Gay

Chief Experience Officer

Kristy Gay is the Chief Experience Officer for Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation. In this role, she is responsible for making strategic improvements to Baptist’s patient experience, employee experience, and provider engagement and collaborates with system and entity leadership teams to identify, prioritize, plan, and oversee improvement efforts. Additionally, she works closely with engagement leaders to identify best practice and opportunity for teams and partners with physician leaders to provide insight and coaching to hospital providers, including joint ventures. Kristy is also responsible for re-framing existing evidence based practices to better align with current healthcare processes.

Prior to joining Baptist, Kristy served as a Senior Advisor with Press Ganey for seven years. During her tenure at Press Ganey, she worked with organizations to present integrated approaches to employee and physician engagement and patient experience.

Kristy earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Henderson State University and masters in Healthcare Administration from Ohio University. Kristy serves as a STEM mentor with the American Heart Association and was named as a Woman of Impact in 2022.