Medical Center's Ken Jones Wins a Bay Area CFO Award

Ken Jones

UCSF Medical Center Chief Financial Officer Ken Jones was honored Wednesday for "breaking through traditional boundaries of finance in contributing to a significant transformation of his company" during the Bay Area CFO of the Year awards ceremony. Jones received the Transformation Agent Award, one of six awards presented at the event held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco on Wednesday night. "When Ken Jones joined UCSF Medical Center, the organization was contending with the demerger with Stanford Hospital and Clinics and an annualized loss of $60 million," said Mary Huss, publisher, San Francisco Business Times, which co-sponsored the event with Larkin Street Youth Services. In its most recent fiscal year, UCSF Medical Center earned more than $75 million and cash increased to $144 million at a time of record capital assets. "No one has worked harder, longer or smarter at UCSF Medical Center over the past several years than Ken Jones," said Medical Center CEO Mark Laret. "While Ken is the first to acknowledge that it takes an entire team to achieve success, it's also clear that Ken has been central to leading the improvements we've made at UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Children's Hospital. It's terrific that the San Francisco business community has recognized Ken in this way." An independent committee comprising some of the most influential members of the finance and academic communities selected the recipients in each of six categories. Jones was lauded for "providing the judgment and perspective needed to stabilize financial operations, and make improvements in both top-line revenue realization and operating cost controls to produce a healthy net income." "Doing a financial turnaround in a hospital requires leadership to envision that it can be done, talented operating managers who actually control the resources used to care for the patients, and good financial information to monitor progress," Jones said. "At UCSF, we have been fortunate to have all three - with the result that we have been able to reinvest in the hospital's facilities and programs for the benefit of future generations of patients, physicians and staff." Proceeds from the Bay Area CFO awards benefit Larkin Street Youth Services, which since 1984 has provided services to help thousands of vulnerable youths, aged 12 to 24, move beyond street life. The sold-out event raised $305,000 to benefit Larkin Street Youth Services. UCSF Medical Center, a 550-bed, academic medical center with more than $1 billion in revenues, serves as the clinical site for the UCSF schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry and pharmacy. Jones, who holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Stanford University, joined medical center administration in March 2001. Links: UCSF Medical Center Bay Area CFO of the Year 2006 Bay Area CFO of the Year Award Winners Announced; Event a Success -- $200,000 Raised to Benefit Larkin Street Youth Services