College of Business Advisory Board Member Ron Kloewer, CEO, Montgomery County (Iowa) Memorial Hospital
For College of Business Advisory Board Member Ron Kloewer, healthcare is about people – patients and providers. He sees this every day as CEO of Montgomery County Memorial Hospital in Red Oak, Iowa. It’s why as a leader, he makes organizational culture his top priority.
“The culture needs to be one of caring, empathy and compassion for each other as co-workers,” said Kloewer, who has been with the hospital for 34 years, the last three as CEO. “If you don’t have that, you’ll have a hard time caring for and healing patients.”
Kloewer also has learned the Advisory Board is all about people. He’s been on the board for two years and appreciates its culture of collaboration among members and their focus on students.
“That’s where the real joy is, hearing all these different perspectives from all these various industry leaders. It leads to cross-pollination and learning from each other about how we can help the college and how we can produce the graduates we need out in the workforce,” he said, adding, “Businesses are there to achieve a mission, but the mission is carried out by people.”
Kloewer earned two degrees from the university, including his Master of Health Administration (MHA). His MHA experience has had a profound, tangible impact on his career. His capstone project focused on change management and how to organize patient care in a seamless manner.
“The program allowed me to use real-life examples of what was going on in my world here at the hospital,” he said. “My capstone had real impact.”