Erin Hodson (TEP ’24) began her leadership journey at Inova Health System 14 years ago. With a proven track record of achieving results, she quickly rose through the ranks, holding numerous leadership positions at Inova. Last June, after graduating from Darden Executive Education & Lifelong Learning’s The Executive Program (TEP), Hodson became Vice President of Revenue Cycle, an area of business that was new to her. Hodson recently spoke with us about her Darden experience and how it gave her the confidence to apply for, and step into, her new leadership role where she now manages a team of 1,500 people.
Tell us more about your career journey and how you got to where you are now.
I started my career as a business consultant at Arthur Andersen out of college. Then quickly, several things transpired and they went out of business. After a couple of consulting jobs, I pivoted and attended nursing school. While in nursing school, I worked as a tech at Shepherd Center, a spinal cord and traumatic brain injury hospital in Atlanta.
I pivoted again to become a nurse educator and received an offer to return to Northern Virginia as an admissions liaison. In that role, I traveled around the country and communicated with insurance companies to get patients approved to come. I learned about care management in hospitals and the merger between business and care on the floor, discharge planning and such. I loved my job, but there was a lot of travel and I had an infant, so I found a job at a local hospital in care management before coming to Inova Health, where I’ve been for the last 14 years.
I consider Inova the start of my leadership journey. I started in a leadership role at a small community hospital. After seeing positive outcomes, I became a director at another hospital to recreate what I was doing, and that led to becoming the Senior Director of Care Management with a team of about 150 people at Fairfax Hospital. Not even two years later, I was appointed Vice President of the Children’s Hospital at Fairfax and then transitioned to a larger hospital on the Fairfax Medical Campus. My role then expanded beyond Fairfax after Inova went system, and I oversaw the entire system for emergency departments, medicine departments, critical care, and other programmatic areas. Finally, last year a position opened under the CFO. I wanted to try Revenue Cycle, and I now have 1,500 people under my leadership.
How did you end up coming to Darden and TEP?
I was asked, alongside two other leaders at the vice president level, to attend TEP in the summer of 2023. I didn’t know the program existed, but I had just finished closing a joint venture for Inova. It was very successful, but also difficult to close. They were happy with how I understood business and strategy from a large-scale perspective and saw potential in me. They wanted me to learn more, and offered me the opportunity to go to Darden.
What were you hoping to gain from your TEP experience?
I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to gain, to be honest. I imagined it would be like a mini-MBA program, which it was. I certainly wanted to learn more about finance, and hence why I’m in my financially-driven role now on the non-operational side of healthcare. Reflecting on my TEP experience, I don’t think I would be as confident in my role today if it wasn’t for my Darden experience because it helped me understand financial modeling and finance in general on another level. Strategy and how to think like a CEO were also big things I took away from my time in TEP.
[TEP] gave me the confidence to apply for a role completely outside the scope of what I was doing before. I was in operations previously, but Darden gave me the right foundation to be successful in this role and in my career.
Are there any standout moments from TEP, inside or outside of the classroom, that you’d like to share?
I loved the photography exercise we did. It was photography and leadership by Sam Abell. I found it to be exciting because I don’t get to exercise my creative side as much. Also, the networking was incredible – meeting people from not only my region, but all over the world – they brought different perspectives, and it was valuable to meet others outside the healthcare industry.
I also appreciated our time with Jodi Harris, the Wellness Program Coordinator, to focus on nutrition, sleep and managing stress levels. They really thought through everything with the program. I found it to be comprehensive – it wasn’t only strategy and finance but looked at where things are going in business and touched on topics like AI and virtual reality. It exposed me to things that I wouldn’t have necessarily been exposed to.
What have you taken back from TEP into your daily life?
I use AI daily now to be more efficient with my time and role. The financial concepts I apply in my work daily. It also gave me the confidence to apply for a role completely outside the scope of what I was doing before. I was in operations previously, but Darden gave me the right foundation to be successful in this role and in my career.
Beyond work, I’ve become better at finding a work-life balance. Darden taught me that if you’re going to be an executive, you need to show up well all the time and that means taking care of yourself, too.
What things have you continued to build on from TEP to make an impact at Inova?
My role now is very IT and tech heavy. Through automation, AI and using our electronic medical record better, I understand those points more so and I’m expanding on that every day. I’m more apt to learn – I’ve always been curious, but I’m making a point to learn more and more every day and that certainly started at Darden.
Is there anything else you’d like to communicate about TEP or to someone considering the program?
For senior leaders, especially those who may be contemplating what their next step is going to be, TEP is a great opportunity to step outside your comfort zone. I stepped out of my insulated healthcare bubble, and it helped me understand how business, management and IT concepts played a role in any industry.
If you’re looking to pivot within your career or just expand your learning to get to the next level and don’t know quite how to get there, I definitely recommend investing in TEP. The overall environment was excellent from a learning perspective – the people and facilities were wonderful. It was invaluable to surround myself with people like me who were having the same questions about where they were going with their career. We’re all still connected today and communicate regularly about what’s happening in our jobs and celebrating each other’s successes.
The Executive Program: Advanced Management is Darden’s comprehensive senior leadership and succession planning program to transform top leaders by developing a strategic enterprise perspective and global vision to thrive in today’s complex and ever-changing world. New cohorts begin each October.
