At the end of December 2023, Logansport Memorial Hospital’s Vicki Byrd, Vice-President of Planning and Development, will retire from her very successful career after 17 years of service. Vicki’s career in non-profit and community planning work started long before she came to LMH, and her retirement will culminate the decades of dedication she has given to Cass County and the north-central Indiana region.
Vicki came to Logansport Memorial Hospital in November of 2006 to join the Executive Leadership team and serve as Vice President of Planning and Development. Before coming to the hospital, she had previously served as President of Workforce Development Strategies, which was a regional not-for-profit organization serving Cass, Fulton, Miami, Howard, Tipton, and Wabash counties. Vicki’s work in workforce development was often focused on building community connections and responding to identified community needs. She brought a renewed and intentional focus on strategic planning and community building to the hospital that has shaped and impacted the health and quality of life in Logansport Memorial’s regional service area.
During her tenure with LMH, Vicki has led the development and implementation of numerous significant planning efforts to Build Better Health. These efforts have included three revisions to the Mission, Vision and Values statements, three Community Health Needs Assessment surveys and reports, two hospital-wide rebranding efforts, a five-year Master Plan completed just after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and many years of annual strategic plans that have directed the hospital’s continued growth and progress.
In addition to her planning efforts, she has built and positioned the Logansport Memorial Hospital Foundation to be the philanthropic arm of Logansport Memorial Hospital. Without Vicki’s visionary leadership and community building efforts supported by a committed Board of Directors, the LMH Foundation would not have been able to successfully raise funds that helped to build the Cancer Care Center and modernize the Family Birth Center. Additional significant philanthropic projects from the LMH Foundation have included a 3D mammography machine in the Breast Center, and support for the surgical suites in the LMH Surgery Department.
When asked about what she has loved and enjoyed most in her job and during her career, Vicki shared about the people and teams with whom she has worked. “I am definitely going to miss the people from across the hospital and across the community who have worked and collaborated with me on so many projects,” she says. “Our Planning and Development team is tight-knit and close. Members of our team have come and gone through the years, but anyone who has been a part of it has always contributed to building something special among all of us.”
She went on to say, “Project planning and implementation, especially in the rapidly changing healthcare environment, cannot be accomplished without a strong sense of teamwork. I have always been able to count on other leaders and executives to step up and step in to help me see projects through to implementation or completion. I value that collaboration and will miss working in that way with the many talented people we have here at LMH, and within our community.”
Logansport Memorial Hospital President and CEO Tara McVay commented, “With a career spanning almost two decades at Logansport Memorial, Vicki’s leadership has contributed significantly to the success of our hospital. Her expertise, input, and passion for strategic planning and community building has been an invaluable asset to me, and to my predecessors in this role. I want to thank Vicki for her servant leadership, loyalty and commitment to Logansport Memorial Hospital. She will be greatly missed, and I wish her a long and happy retirement.”
