Crowe Healthcare Summit supports women in business

The face of that support at Healthcare Summit was Colleen Hall, Crowe healthcare managing principal and the first female partner in Crowe healthcare consulting.

“When I made partner, it was a strange conflict of emotions,” Hall said in her remarks to attendees at the closing Healthcare Summit keynote. “On the one hand, I was so proud that I had accomplished my goal. But on the other hand, I had this overwhelming feeling of starting over . . . of having to prove myself again.”

Hall said she felt like she had a huge weight on her shoulders as the first female healthcare consulting partner, having to set the example for all the other women in healthcare consulting. But, she said, she had help carrying that responsibility.

“It was a bit overwhelming. But I had support,” she said. “I had other women I could talk with, rely on, get advice from. That was important. And defining for my career.”

Crowe launched Healthcare Women Connexxt

Not all women in healthcare consulting or business in general have the benefit of a support network like Hall did when she rose through the ranks. As a result, Hall and other women at Crowe decided to create Healthcare Women Connexxt, a new support program for women in business. Hall announced the program’s formation during her keynote presentation.

The intention of Healthcare Women Connexxt is to support women in business via a variety of tactics, including educational programming, networking events, and professional mentoring opportunities. Healthcare Women Connexxt held its first webinar, a panelist discussion among various prominent female healthcare leaders on leadership for today and beyond, on Oct. 25, 2022. Watch a rebroadcast.

Membership in Healthcare Women Connexxt is open to both men and women.

“I have found that often, men get a lot of insights and education from participating in these programs because chances are, each man in here works closely with a woman and can benefit from seeing the business world of healthcare through a different lens,” Hall said.

At Healthcare Summit, 153 attendees signed up to become initial members of the new group. Total membership is up to 230 as of November 2022.

Female financial leaders took center stage

A number of women in healthcare business and in healthcare leadership positions also took center stage at Healthcare Summit. The keynote and breakout session speakers and presenters included:

To learn what Dawn, Kim, Janie, and Elizabeth had to say about their job and career challenges, please read “6 Healthcare CFO Insights From the Crowe Healthcare Summit.”

Other support for women at Healthcare Summit

Healthcare Women Connexxt undoubtedly was the big news at Healthcare Summit, but other Summit activities demonstrated strong support for women in business.

For example, a Putt-skee challenge (think combination mini golf and Skee-Ball^® game) in the Healthcare Summit Innovation Lab Showcase raised $800 from player-attendees for the Women’s Bean Project, a Colorado not-for-profit organization that helps women change their lives and achieve self-sufficiency through social enterprise.

Also, as a featured portion of an evening Denver Zoo networking and social event at Healthcare Summit, attendees and staff assembled 175 hygiene packs and 175 school supply packs for local students in several underserved communities in Denver with the help of Spark the Change Colorado, a community service organization.

With multiple activities supporting women on display at Healthcare Summit, the event demonstrated that Crowe is living the “S” and “G” in “ESG.” ESG, of course, stands for environmental, social, and governance. In the case of Healthcare Summit, it translated into advancing social justice and health equity for women, and equal governance and management opportunities for women in healthcare.

We look forward to more and to seeing you at next year’s Crowe Healthcare Summit in Nashville, Sept. 18-21, 2023.

A partner is a certified public accountant (CPA) within a U.S. jurisdiction. A principal may hold another designation but is not a CPA. Colleen Hall is a principal at Crowe LLP. We refer to the title of partner in this article, because “partners” and “principals” rights and privileges as owners of the firm are the same other than as required by law or regulation. At Crowe, only CPAs may sign audit opinions for an audited organization.