Experienced health care leader is UL Lafayette's new chief strategy officer

Dr. Kristi L. Anderson, an experienced health care leader, researcher and educator, is the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s chief strategy officer.
 
Anderson is the first person to hold the newly created position. As chief strategy officer, she will engage senior management to ensure organizational alignment and support the ongoing strategic planning process. She also will implement approaches for program expansion through external partnerships, said Dr. Joseph Savoie, UL Lafayette president.
 
“Dr. Anderson is a forward-thinking, innovative leader. Her extensive experience in health care education, deep connections to Louisiana’s medical community, and proven ability to foster collaborations with internal and external partners will enable the University to build upon the energy and strategic growth of the past several years,” Savoie said.
 
“I am grateful to serve as UL Lafayette’s inaugural chief strategy officer,” Anderson said. “I am delighted for the opportunity to join a progressive and innovative institution, which ranks and competes in its national and global reach within academics and research. I am honored to work with Dr. Savoie and my University family as we look to shape its future as a distinct institution of optimal practices and service to our community.”  
 
Anderson held several positions at LSU Health Sciences Center/University Hospital and Clinics in Lafayette, where she was a faculty member. These include campus ombudsman; director of Graduate Medical Education; and research coordinator. She was also director of Graduate Medical Education at Lafayette General Medical Center. 
 
She has taught at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Tulane University Medical School, San Francisco State University and Southeastern Louisiana University. At LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans, she was an assistant professor of research. 
 
Anderson also has extensive experience in implementing initiatives related to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. She has consulted Opelousas General Hospital System on its DEIB programming and served as diversity and inclusion officer for the LSU Health Sciences Center/University Hospital and Clinics medical education programs. She’s also presented public and academic lectures on the topic. 
 
She serves on the Louisiana Health Works Commission and was appointed by Gov. John Bel Edwards to the state’s COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force. 
 
Anderson holds a Ph.D. in systemic studies from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She earned both a master’s degree in clinical exercise physiology and a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology at LSU. 
 
She assumed her new role at UL Lafayette on Dec. 1. Anderson’s appointment is pending approval from the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors. 
 
Photo caption: Dr. Kristi L. Anderson is UL Lafayette’s new chief strategy officer. She is the first person to hold the newly created position. (Photo credit: Doug Dugas / University of Louisiana at Lafayette)