Serving others as health-care organization's board chair.
by Michael Puente
Sister Jane Marie Klein's calling in life is assisting people one way or another, either through prayer or making sure they receive the best medical care possible.
Her career in health care started four decades ago shortly after becoming a nun. Today, Sister Jane Marie Klein, OSF (Order of St. Francis), the chairperson of Mishawaka-based Franciscan Alliance Board of Trustees, is among the most influential people in Northern Indiana's medical community.
“There was never a doubt in my mind that this is where I belong,” says Klein, who helps manage Indiana's second-largest health-care organization. “I knew health care was what I should be committing my life's work to.”
But like all success stories, this, too, has a beginning.
Sister Jane Marie, as she likes to be called, is a native of the far southern Indiana community of Jasper. Her family, including a twin brother, moved to Evansville after she completed the eighth grade.
Shortly after graduating from Reitz Memorial High School in Evansville, Klein became a part of Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration. “We're always praying for all the needs of the church and the community,” Klein says.
The main missions of the Order of St. Francis are education and health care. “I knew I was not called to be a teacher,” Klein says, laughing.
In Cleveland in 1959, Sister Klein began working at a hospital's business office doing payroll, admitting and other duties. “I really got a feel for the hospital even before I went to get my first degree in accounting. Then I worked in accounting for a number of years and got into all these computers,” Klein says. “But I got the feeling that I was not a computer person. I was a people person. After a lot of persuasion, I was finally allowed to go get my master's in social work; quite a shift from accounting.”
That would hardly be the last shift for Klein. In 1975 she had to make a tough decision. “I was asked by my superiors how I would feel about administration,” Klein says. “My response at the time was ‘not good.'”
At the time, Klein served in social work at a hospital in Louisville, Ky. Eventually, she decided a move to hospital administration may be a good move for her because she always liked business, even in high school.
She took on an assignment at St. Elizabeth Health in Lafayette, which is among the 13 hospitals in the Franciscan Alliance Inc., known until last year as Sisters of St. Francis Health Services. Five years later, she went on to become chief executive officer at Michigan City's St. Anthony Health.
Just three years later in 1983, she transferred to St. Margaret Mercy Health in Hammond, where she served as CEO for 10 years. In 1993, she moved to Franciscan Alliance's corporate offices in Mishawaka. “It's been 18 years already. Hard to believe,” Klein says.
To be successful, Klein says, you need others to call on. “No one can be an expert in everything. You have to surround yourself with experts and ask the right questions. I've been surrounded by lots of loyal and dedicated experts.”
Kevin Leahy, Franciscan Alliance president and CEO, is among those Klein relies on. But Leahy says it's Klein who should get the spotlight.
“This woman has taken very little credit for her role in guiding Franciscan Alliance's growth from an organization with $1 billion in assets to almost $4 billion today,” Leahy says. “Sister Jane Marie cares for each patient that entrusts their medical needs to one of our hospitals. She credits the Lord for any success that she has been associated with. She is a visionary leader who learns from the past and focuses on the future.”
Klein has seen a lot of changes to the health-care industry. Lately, those changes are causing strains on most hospitals systems' budgets. Still, Klein says serving in health care is a calling she wouldn't turn away from. “I do believe it's a privilege and the self-satisfaction in getting people the help they need remains,” Klein says. “If God calls you into it, he will see you through it.”
