Lorenelle White Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Tom Jones

Tom Jones works for West Virginia's total wellness.

His career as a former chief executive officer of health care systems and continued efforts to promote development in the Mountain State directly impacts its residents' physical health and economic vitality.

Jones is the 2015 recipient of the Lorenelle White Lifetime Achievement Award.

"There is not a hospital executive that has done more for the state of West Virginia for health care delivery than Tom Jones," said Dr. Christopher C. Colenda, who succeeded Jones as president and CEO of West Virginia United Health System in 2014.

"Tom has a great capacity for seeing beyond the quarter-over-quarter financial performance," Colenda said. "He understands the dynamics of health care - the relationship of patients to their doctors, the relationship of patients to their community hospitals, and the importance of an academic medical center to the overall infrastructure of a comprehensive health care system."

Jones was CEO of WVUHS for 12 years.

"That was my dream job," he said.

Jones recalled how he set his sights on running a hospital when he was still studying for his bachelor's degree in business administration at West Virginia University. His first job was in the food service department at WVU Hospitals. Next, he worked at the paging desk taking phone calls. Then he became the admissions office supervisor on weekends when he was just 20 years old.

"My dream job was always to be CEO of WVU Hospitals and by becoming CEO of the system it is part of; I was able to achieve that goal," he said. "I was there from 2002-2014 and I had opportunities to leave but when you get your dream job you should keep it."

Why did he want that job? His answer shows the layers and detail he had to his dream.

"First of all, it was the premier hospital in the state of West Virginia," he said. "It had leading-edge technology. It had the best doctors who provided not only medical services but education and research as well.

"The teaching and research components were important to me as well as rendering medical services to people."

Jones also spent part of his childhood in Glen Dale, Marshall County, and in Morgantown. He has two children, a son who was killed at age 19 in 1995, and a daughter. He has three grandchildren and his wife, Judy, has five grandchildren. They split their time between homes in Morgantown and Florida.

He received a master's degree in hospital administration from the University of Minnesota and began his health care career in 1973 as an assistant administrator at Wheeling Hospital. Jones rose to the post of chief operating officer. In 1990 he became CEO of St. Mary's Medical Center in Huntington, and in 2000 he was selected to lead Genesis Hospital System, which included St. Mary's, Cabell Huntington and Pleasant Valley hospitals. When that system disbanded, he returned to Morgantown to head what would become the largest health care system in the state.

Under Jones's leadership, the system, which was WVU Hospitals in Morgantown and United Hospital Center in Clarksburg, added hospitals in Martinsburg, Ranson and Parkersburg.

"The thing I'm most proud of is growing the system into the largest health care provider in the state with an annual revenue of $1.5 billion and assets of $2 billion," Jones said. "It employs over 11,000 people as the second largest employer in the state of West Virginia. Only Walmart is larger.

"We touched the lives of literally hundreds of thousands of people in rendering both inpatient and outpatient care that stretched from the Potomac River in the East to the Ohio River in the West and covered the breadth of the state as far south as Flatwoods," he said.

Richard Adams, chairman and CEO of United Bankshares Inc., served on WVUHS Board of Directors during Jones's tenure and described Jones as one of the most capable executives he had ever met.

"This is truly a well-deserved honor for someone who has done so much for the health care industry and for the people of our state. I am privileged to call him my friend," Adams said.

Michael G. Sellards, president and CEO of St. Mary's Medical Center, has known Jones for 30 years and described one aspect of Jones's involvement that makes him a leader in the industry.

"Typically, hospital executives 20 years ago did not engage in business development or chamber of commerce activities," Sellards said. "Tom reasoned that hospitals were usually the largest employers in their respective communities and should play a leadership role in community development.

"Today it is more common to see hospital CEOs serving on the Business Roundtable, State Chamber and local economic development boards. Tom led the way."

The size of the health care industry necessitates its leaders get involved in business, Jones said simply.

"Health care employs more people in West Virginia than any other industry," he said. "It creates good-paying jobs with benefits and purchases lots of goods and services from businesses in the state.

"We're absolutely an economic engine for the state of West Virginia. If you're a hospital administrator, you want people to have health insurance so you get paid. You've got to generate good-paying jobs with benefits. I have always had an interest in economic development. I saw the tie between the two."

Jones said he is proud of being the first health care administrator inducted into the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame because he knows the economic impact of health.

"I think people historically didn't look upon health care as a business," he said. "I'm incredibly proud that I was able to show people health care is a business.

"We take care of a lot of people, we run very large institutions that get involved in our communities, involved in the state and contribute not only money but time and talent."

Since 2007, Jones has been on the Board of Directors, Executive Committee of Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation, which was started by then-U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller to promote economic growth. It continues to recruit foreign companies to locate in West Virginia.

"One of the highlights of my life was accompanying Sen. Rockefeller and Gov. (Joe) Manchin on a trade mission to Japan and meeting the CEOs of large corporations, including Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda (founder of Toyota Motor Corp.).

"It was a thrill getting to meet and talk with him and hear how proud he was of having some plants in West Virginia."

He is optimistic about the opportunities coming to the state, including a proposed cracker plant and Procter & Gamble's $500 million manufacturing facility.

"The future is bright in West Virginia," Jones said. "I've been a resident of this state my entire life. People here are absolutely wonderful and willing to work on problems from a business perspective and from an educational perspective and from a political perspective.

"West Virginia has its challenges but we can be successful when we want to be."

When Jones retired in January 2014, he didn't stop working.

Most recently, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin appointed him to the WVU Board of Governors to fill the unexpired term of the late Dr. Charles Vest. He has served on the board of Arch Coal Inc. since 2010 and since 2013 on the board of City Holding Co. Inc., which is over 80 banks in four states. Last year he joined the WVU Board of Trustees. He also serves on the boards of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and Imagine WV.

Jones's extensive involvement in West Virginia business and economic development organizations has included serving as chairman of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, chairman of the West Virginia Roundtable, chairman of the Huntington Chamber of Commerce and Huntington Area Development Corp., vice chairman of the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce, vice chairman of Advantage Valley and as a board member of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

His activism may have taken root during the years he was in Boy Scouts in Bridgeport, because he advises those who will follow him to "always leave something better than you found it."

He also lives by words of wisdom imparted to him by his mentor, Mike Perry, a Huntington banker and civic leader who died in February.

"Mike Perry was an incredible friend and mentor to me," Jones said. "I worked on so many things with him and I learned so much from him.

"He always said, 'never forget who brought you to the dance,' and 'it's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit.'"

Jones is now in a supporting role; he is a consultant to his predecessor at Colenda's request.

"Tom is an individual with high personal integrity and directness," Colenda said. "He is a man of few words and of the words that he does speak, those who listen to him find great wisdom in their meaning.

"At a personal level, he is extremely loyal and supportive to his friends and his family and has been committed in all he does to improve the lives and wellbeing of everyone in West Virginia. He truly is a great Mountaineer and has provided a great legacy to follow."