Leaving a legacy: Havens reflects on tenure at GCMH, prepares to move on

In 2008, Jennifer Havens made a personal decision to put the bright lights of Memphis, Tennessee, in her rearview mirror and return to her home state. Ten years later, the departing Grundy County Memorial Hospital CEO is accepting a promotion within the Unitypoint network to take the same position in Grinnell, but it won’t be easy for her. She gets emotional just thinking about it.
           
“This has been a hard week. You can tell I have an awesome team,” she said. “They are second to none in terms of their capability. They’re all incredibly talented people, but they’re also very passionate, engaged people who care about each other, who care about this organization and who care about this community.” 
           
GCMH has made a name for itself as one of the most progressive and technologically advanced rural hospitals in the nation, and a host of trophies in the first floor hallway point to the fact that others have taken notice. Havens, who originally came on as the director of nursing before she was promoted to Chief Clinical Officer and later CEO in 2015, has always tried to adapt to challenges as quickly as possible, and for the last year, she’s also served as the vice president of operations for the newly acquired Unitypoint Health—Marshalltown hospital and surrounding clinics.
           
Surgery Manager Jessica Eilers chalks Havens’s success up to the “aura” of positivity surrounding her and her natural magnetism as a leader.
           
“No matter where you are with Jennifer, people are just drawn to her,” Eilers said. “People want to be in her presence. I’ve never met anybody like that… You can be in a different state, and people just swarm to her. She just has a light about her.”
           
Another of Havens’s defining traits is her ability to “know no strangers” and remember personal details about the lives of the individuals she encounters at work and in public. Director of Operations Ryan Bingman joked that she’s such an ace communicator, she even made her resignation announcement sound positive despite the overwhelming sadness in the room.
           
“She always knew my kids’ names and what sports they were in, and half of the time, I didn’t know where they were supposed to be on which night,” current director of nursing Jody Schipper said. “When you’re talking with (Havens), you always feel like you’re the most important person in the room. You have her full undivided attention.” 
 
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