Stephanie Conners, MBA, BSN, RN, president and CEO of BayCare Health System, has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the Louise Whitfield Carnegie Award for Leadership Excellence in Healthcare by the TIAA Institute.
Sponsored by the TIAA Institute and presented in partnership with Becker’s Healthcare, the award, which will be given annually, recognizes a senior health care executive who is setting a higher standard through values-driven leadership, strong workforce practices and measurable community impact.
“BayCare Health System is recognized as West Central Florida’s leading health care provider, and Stephanie Conners has been a driving force behind that distinction,” said Surya Kolluri, head of the TIAA Institute. “A nurse by training and a visionary by nature, she has championed the well-being of both patients and team members, proving that the strongest health care systems are built on the strength of their people.”
The award is named in honor of Louise Whitfield Carnegie, a philanthropist whose leadership of the Carnegie Corporation of New York helped advance health, education and social progress in the early 20th century. Her husband, Andrew Carnegie, founded TIAA in 1918.
Under Conners’ leadership, BayCare has grown into the largest academic health care provider in West Central Florida, operating 16 hospitals with a 17th under construction and hundreds of outpatient facilities. BayCare has committed $2.9 billion to strengthen care across the continuum — from highly specialized, advanced treatments to care delivered in the home — guided by Conners’ vision of supporting patients from “first breath to last breath.”
Her leadership has been defined by an unwavering commitment to the people who deliver care. In the post-pandemic environment, Conners led dozens of town halls and listening sessions with physicians and team members across the system to better understand their needs, challenges and priorities. Under her leadership, BayCare has launched several transformative initiatives, including installing the region’s first proton therapy accelerator, creating a virtual hospital model and developing an artificial intelligence partnership to reduce clinician cognitive burden. She also championed the Nurse Well-Being: Building Peer and Leadership Support program, which features Stress First Aid and was developed in partnership with the American Nurses Association to support frontline caregiver well-being.
A candy striper and nurse early in her career, Conners later became one of the nation’s youngest chief nurses and one of the first five Six Sigma Black Belts in health care. Today, she leads the region’s largest not‑for‑profit academic health care system, which in 2025 returned $500 million in community benefit to West Central Florida.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to receive this award,” Conners said. “This recognition reflects our collective commitment to harnessing innovation, investing in our team and expanding to better serve our communities. It belongs to the 34,000 team members who are the heart of BayCare and our greatest asset.”
The Louise Whitfield Carnegie Award will be bestowed annually by the TIAA Institute, with recipients selected by an independent panel of judges.
Learn more: Louise Whitfield Carnegie Award
