Fred Hobby

Fred Hobby joined the Institute for Diversity in Health Management (Institute) as president and CEO in 2005 with more than 25 years of hospital administration experience in three states and six hospital systems. Fred will lead the Institute into its second decade of service, developing tools and resources to enhance diversity in the nation’s hospitals, and helping health care organizations with their diversity activities.

Fred began his hospital administration career with Humana, Inc. in Louisville, KY after serving 4 years as the Executive of the City’s Affirmative Action Department and 3 years on the faculty of the University of Louisville.

Before joining the Institute, Fred spent 10 years with the Greenville (SC) Hospital System (GHS), 1,086-bed acute care teaching hospital system. As an administrator and chief diversity officer at GHS, he developed and implemented a system-wide diversity initiative that is nationally recognized for its comprehensiveness and success. Its components include diversity training and education for the system’s 7,200 employees as well as an extensive language interpretation center to better serve patients who speak languages other than English. The GHS Language Center was the first recipient of a recognition letter from the HHS Office of Civil Rights recognizing the system’s compliance with the Federal LEP Guidelines. Prior to joining GHS, Fred served as the Chief Operating Officer with the Portsmouth (VA) General Hospital and is a former CEO of the Newport News General Hospital.

Fred received a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Kentucky State University in Frankfort, KY, and a master’s degree in sociology from Washington University in St. Louis.

He is a frequent guest speaker on diversity and featured at a number of prestigious national conferences. In 1999, he was named “Senior Executive of the Year” by the National Association for Health Services Executives. Fred was named to Modern Healthcare magazine’s “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare” in August, 2006 and 2007. He was the cover story in the 2006 Winter issue of HR Pulse, the official publication of the American Society for Healthcare Human Administration.

Fred currently serves on the National Board of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI). He was selected to represent the interest of hospitals and has served since its inception. Fred is also and a member of the CCHI Executive Committee.

In 2010, Fred was selected as a content expert to serve on the National Project Advisory Committee (NPAC) of the CLAS Standards Enhancement Initiative. The NPAC was created by the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health to modify current standards or create new ones to advance equity in the health care delivery system.