Meet the CEO: Bennett Geister

We are pleased to announce we have a new CEO at Hillcrest South, Mr. Bennett Geister. Bennett was born and raised in Oklahoma City and is excited to be in the Tulsa area. We sat down with Bennett to learn more about his background and discuss what motivates him personally and professionally.  

Working in health care runs in the Geister family – Bennett’s grandmother was a director of nursing, his dad is a medical oncologist and he has a brother who is an internist. “The people who are significant in my life were firsthand examples of how big of an impact you can make in the lives of others,” Bennett explained.

Sharing what he is most excited about in becoming the CEO at Hillcrest South, Bennett noted, “I’m excited about the opportunity itself. Hillcrest South is a great hospital in a great part of town.” One of Bennett’s favorite things about Hillcrest South is the fact that it’s small enough to offer the chance to get to know doctors, staff and patients, while still offering the activities and services of a large hospital. “We do open heart surgeries, we do spine surgery, and we’ve got critical patients that we’re managing and taking care of and are getting back into the community. You get a little bit of all worlds whenever you get to step into this role and work at a hospital like South.”

“Since I first started working, I’ve had the opportunity to see a lot of different operating environments. I’ve worked in both the not-for-profit and for-profit sector, and I’ve worked in rural hospitals and larger metropolitan hospitals, so those experiences will lend themselves to this particular opportunity. I’ve learned a lot about the different ways people do things, so I’ve taken the things that meant the most to me and I applied them here to make this hospital better,” Bennett explained.

The best professional advice that Bennett has ever received is to be authentic. “Be who you are. Be who you are wired and called to be and you’ll never go wrong from that.” He shared that he is motivated by his faith and beliefs, adding, “Getting to work with so many diverse groups of people, that’s what’s so fun about hospitals. How you bring that wide diversity of people together to achieve a common purpose…that’s really exciting about the work that we get to do.“

Outside of work, you can find Bennett spending time with his wife, Kelsey, and son, Baker. Bennett and Kelsey are anticipating the arrival of their second son in January, with Bennett adding how excited they are to be growing their family. Bennett loves golfing, running and reading. He admits he “loves reading fantasy,” adding that one of his favorite books is “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss. If you put a slice of pizza in front of him, he will never turn it down, but he also loves chili and corn bread and counts that as one of his favorite meals.

If there is one thing Bennett wants you to know about him, it is that he tries to live his life and lead from his convictions and beliefs. “I try to live those values out on a daily basis.”

 

Welcome to Hillcrest South, Mr. Geister!