• Name: Michele Molden
• Current job: President and CEO of the Piedmont Heart Institute in Atlanta
• Past jobs: Molden started her career as a microbiologist, making medical devices for a small, start-up company.
In her 30-year career, she has been vice president of planning and marketing at St. Joseph's Health System in Atlanta and senior vice president of outreach services for Olympic Health Management in Bellingham, Wash.
Molden joined Piedmont Healthcare in 2002 as executive vice president of business development and helped create the Center for Health and Learning, a partnership between Piedmont Healthcare and Mercer University.
In 2007 Molden facilitated the integration of three Atlanta-region cardiology groups and became president and CEO of the new Piedmont Heart Institute.
• Recent accomplishment: Modern Healthcare magazine named Molden to its Top 25 Women in Healthcare list for 2009. Candidates must be proven leaders who have shown the ability to effect change in health care and have demonstrated a willingness to share expertise with others in the field.
• Family: She lives in Atlanta with her husband, Jack, and two of their three daughters.
• What makes a good leader? "Really good leaders are introspective and know their own strengths and weaknesses. They must bring in people who are stronger in areas where they are weak, to create a high-performing team.
"I'm very invested in working with teams. The hierarchical model of management is outmoded. You have to be adaptable enough to create an environment where everyone on the team can meet personal and professional goals."
• What are you most proud of in your career? "I'm proudest that there are no dead bodies in my past. I've always done my best to support the organization and all the people above and around me wherever I've worked.
"I was probably the worst career planner on the planet, but I always worked hard and brought my best to work every day. As a result, I've had a very unusual and rich career replete with great relationships."
• Who has inspired or mentored you? "I was blessed in every job to have senior management who took the time to help me develop as an individual. My boss now, Tim Stack [president and CEO of Piedmont Healthcare], has a very direct style and I tend to position things when I lead. We struggled with that at first, but now have a phenomenal relationship.
"I give him a lot of the credit for many of the opportunities I've had on this seven-year journey at Piedmont. A case in point: Stack told me one day, 'You're the only women in senior leadership here; fix that.' That led to my developing Piedmont's first Women's Leadership Alliance."
• Away from work: "I love reading, movies and being with my family."
• Rule to live by: "I believe in the sacredness of the human spirit. Whatever tough message must be delivered — and leaders have to deliver tough messages sometimes — it should be done in a way that doesn't denigrate or diminish anyone else's spirit in any way."
— By Laura Raines, Pulse editor. Do you know a health care leader who deserves to be recognized? Send an e-mail to pulseeditor@ajc.com.
