BA Recipient Bio

Kevin E. Lofton, LFACHE
CEO Emeritus of CommonSpirit Health
Nominated by Georgia State University

M.H.A., Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University
B.Sc., Questrom School of Business, Boston University

Kevin E. Lofton, LFACHE, CEO Emeritus of CommonSpirit Health (CSH), is one of the most influential and longest-standing leaders in the healthcare industry. He retired on June 30, 2020 after serving for 21 years as CEO with Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), now CommonSpirit Health, a system of hospitals and other care centers in 21 states. Under Lofton’s leadership, CHI transformed from a hospital company to an innovative, diversified healthcare entity. In 2019, CHI merged with Dignity Health to form the $29 billion non-profit healthcare entity, CommonSpirit Health with Mr. Lofton as CEO. 

Throughout his career, Mr. Lofton had a broad impact across the sector by helping to increase the ranks of healthcare executives and physicians from underrepresented groups and reduce care disparities in underserved populations. 

He is a former president of NAHSE and was a founding board member of the Institute for Diversity, as well as a board member of the Morehouse School of Medicine and the Heersink School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In addition, Kevin was the founding chair of the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Equity of Care Initiative, which was later joined by the Catholic Health Association, the American Association of Medical Colleges, and America’s Essential Hospitals.

Mr. Lofton has received numerous accolades for his accomplishments. He has been included in Modern Healthcare Magazine’s list of the “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” 15 times. In addition, he received the Distinguished Alumni award from Georgia State University, the AHA’s Distinguished Service Award, an honorary doctorate in Humanities in Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine, the ACHE Gold Medal Award, the NAHSE Hall of Fame Award and the Pierre Toussaint Medallion from the Archdiocese of New York. Currently, Mr. Lofton serves as Lead Independent Director on the board of Gilead Sciences, Inc., on the Medtronic, plc board, and is the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Georgia State University Foundation.