Many of you probably recognize Sandi Fenwick, Children's chief operating officer (COO), because she is one of the most visible leaders the hospital has had in its 136-year history. Sandi epitomizes the Children's spirit. She's intelligent, committed and compassionate. Sandi came here in 1999 as the senior vice president of Business Development, Strategy and Ambulatory Care. By the end of the year, she was promoted to COO, and shortly thereafter, the previous CEO resigned, and Sandi became the most senior hospital administrator while a new CEO was being recruited. It was a tough year to take charge—the hospital culminated six years of losses with an $80 million operating loss. Sandi worked with her leadership team to develop a recovery plan that today has led Children's to a financial turn around.

The amazing part of the success story is that Sandi championed this financial recovery while working with her new CEO, Dr. James Mandell, to improve employee morale and convince Children's Board of Trustees to invest in two new buildings—The Karp Family Research Laboratories and our soon-to-be-opened Clinical Building Expansion.

Many of you may not know that Sandi was planning a career in medicine and was taking pre-med classes in college when she was recruited to run a research project in Saudi Arabia, where she met her husband. She then went to work at Beth Israel Medical Center, and for the next 23 years rose through the ranks and eventually became a senior vice president at Care Group. While she left a piece of her heart at the BI, we know her heart is big enough to fill the halls of Children's. We are fortunate to have such a experienced, caring and loyal employee at our helm.