Kyle Sanders began his health care finance career in 2005 after his previous employer left Walnut Ridge.
Sanders had worked for Skil-Bosch Power Tool Co. since 1994. But in 2005, Robert Bosch Corp. of Mount Prospect, Illinois, closed the location and moved the operation out of the country.
“That’s when I switched over into health care,” he said.
Sanders was born in Waco, Texas, and grew up in Newport. After high school, he joined the U.S. Navy, and served from 1983 to 1989. He then attended Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, where he received a degree in finance in 1992 and an MBA in 1995.
Sanders had always been attracted to the finance industry. “I’ve always had an aptitude for numbers. Finance satisfied my interest and aptitude,” he said.
In 2005, Sanders started as a financial analyst and then became the controller for NEA Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro, which later became NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital. He became the CFO of the 228-bed hospital in 2012 and in 2019 became CFO of NEA Baptist Health System, which includes the hospital and NEA Baptist Clinic. The system has about 2,000 employees.
He has seen the growth of the system since he joined. The nonprofit opened a $400 million campus in 2014 to keep pace with the health care needs of the community.
Sanders’ management philosophy is to hire good people, “let them know what’s needed and let them do the work,” he said. “Because we’re all working hard, and I don’t have time to micromanage anybody.”
He said he’s been successful because he surrounds himself with good people, and he “works for a great organization that’s enabled me to grow professionally.”