Leadership Spotlight

Cindy Rios
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Cindy Rios leads all aspects of the system’s finance function and the implementation of strategic initiatives to meet the system’s growth, sustainability, and financial goals.

Cindy has more than 15 years of experience in financial leadership roles across a spectrum of hospital and ambulatory care services within integrated health systems. Prior to her current role, she served as BILH’s Senior Vice President and Operations Chief Financial Officer where she oversaw strategic financial planning across the system.

Before joining BILH, Cindy was Market Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Medical and Radiation Oncology for Beaumont Health, a $4.5 billion academic health system comprised of eight hospitals and more than 100 ambulatory sites in Michigan. Prior to Beaumont, she held hospital- and market-level CFO positions with some of the country’s largest systems including LifePoint Health, Community Health Systems, and Health Management Associates.

Cindy earned her undergraduate degree in business management and accounting at Whitworth University in Washington and obtained a Master of Business Administration at Washington State University.

What inspired you to pursue a career in finance?

I realized early on in life that I had an affinity for numbers that ultimately made finance a natural path for me. While pursuing a bachelor of arts degree in accounting and business administration in college, I did an internship at a nonprofit hospital and quickly became enamored with the intersection of finance and health care, so much so that I ultimately pursued that as a career.  

What do BILH employees need to know about our short- and long-term financial challenges and opportunities?

The impact of the COVID pandemic resulted in an overwhelming number of financial challenges for health care organizations across the country due to market volatility, inflationary pressures, continued supply chain disruptions, and skyrocketing labor costs stemming from staffing shortages. While challenging, this also represents an exciting opportunity for BILH to leverage talented leaders from across the organization to identify meaningful opportunities that will allow us to strengthen our financial position as we remain steadfast in our commitment to create healthier communities.

From your perspective, what are BILH’s strengths and opportunities for improvement as a health system in our increasingly competitive market?

Despite the current market environment, BILH has proven itself to be an essential, high-value health system in eastern Massachusetts, with market share growth of more than double its largest competitor. BILH successfully navigated its post-pandemic recovery through FY23 by focusing on initiatives that allowed us to continue to achieve our Blueprint 2030 goals. The value generated from key operational improvement initiatives (such as the inpatient throughput work done to increase capacity and clinical documentation improvement initiative) have resulted in, and will continue to yield, significant revenue growth and improved operating margin over the coming years. BILH has also taken significant steps to implement its long-term strategic plan as evidenced by the opening of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s new Klarman Building for inpatient care, Exeter Hospital joining the BILH system, and the recently announced Dana-Farber Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Collaboration.

Is there someone who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? How has this person impacted your life and career? 

I feel fortunate to have had the support of many people as I have progressed in my career, but there is one person who stands above the rest because she helped me find my voice and significantly influenced who I am as a leader today. When I joined her team, rather than have me continue to function as a traditional CFO, she trusted me and encouraged me to step into the front end of decision making, working alongside clinical and operational leaders throughout the organization. By intersecting finance with a greater depth of understanding and appreciation for the clinical and operational aspects of health care, I have been able to successfully partner with leaders across many disciplines to drive meaningful change in the organizations I have had the privilege to be a part of.

You’re not from New England originally. What brought you here and what do you like best about the area?

The opportunity to work for Beth Israel Lahey Health drew me to New England. It is a beautiful part of the country with easy access to recreational activities, events (art, sports, etc.), and top-notch schools. With that said, I could do without the traffic.

What do you like to do in your free time?

Outside of being the EVP and CFO for BILH, I am also a wife and mother. I have three beautiful and energetic children with whom I spend all my time outside of work. On the weekends you will usually find me cheering my children on at their respective sporting events or recitals.