Nicole B. Thomas
Hospital President
Baptist Medical Center South

I am Nicole Thomas, and I serve as hospital president at one of the five hospitals that are part of the Baptist Health System. And I am on the board of directors at the Jacksonville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank [of Atlanta].

So Baptist Health is the largest private employer in Jacksonville. We have nearly 12,000 team members. We are a significant anchor organization that continues to add jobs through construction projects, through new programs. So we are excited to play our part in continuing to fuel the economy.

When we come to a board meeting, we're representing not only our health care industry, but also other contacts, our region, and beyond. So it is quite an enlightening process, as we get to hear the diverse perspectives of multiple industries at the table. And we all have feedback that gets plugged in to what the Fed uses to ultimately generate monetary policy. To know that the feedback we're giving about the work we're doing every day gets taken into account as the Fed is developing monetary policy is so important, and it is an honor to serve.