ERIC EVANS, 38

CEO, Texas Region, Tenet Healthcare Corp.

“He’s extremely strategic in his thinking.” —Britt Reynolds, president of hospital operations

Growing up in a farming community in rural Indiana, Eric Evans said he didn’t realize the career opportunities available to him.

“Coming out of college, I think my understanding of the possibilities of what I could do was roughly limited,” said the Rossville, Ind., native about graduating from Purdue University.

Evans’ first exposure to a healthcare career came in 2004 while he was pursuing graduate studies at Harvard Business School. An alumnus who worked at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston provided him with a firsthand look at the day-to-day duties of a hospital administrator.

Soon afterward, Evans came in contact with a recruiter from Tenet Healthcare Corp., which began a career at the national chain spanning a decade that has been defined by his willingness to take on various leadership roles, including CEO stints at four hospitals.

In April, Evans was named CEO of Tenet’s newly formed Texas Region, where he oversees 23 hospitals and more than 80 outpatient facilities.

Britt Reynolds, Tenet’s president of hospital operations, said Evans’ ability to adapt quickly and gain the trust and respect of his colleagues and staff has been a key to his success. “He’s extremely strategic in his thinking,” Reynolds said. “He has high energy and is extremely creative in looking for alternatives to any kind of strategic opportunity that might exist.”