Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer
As senior vice president and chief human resources officer, Darlene Stone, MBA, CHHR, SHRM- SCP, is a transformative leader who brings deep experience in leading human resources in the healthcare sector. She is committed to fostering and developing a workforce that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive and focused on retaining top talent, in order to ensure an engaging workplace for all Bayhealth team members. And, over her 30+ year career, she has led teams in achieving low job turnover and vacancy rates, as well as high team member engagement.
At Bayhealth, Stone brings her drive to make a difference to all the areas she leads. She provides strategic leadership in the acquisition, development, engagement, reward and recognition, and retention of a highly competent, patient-focused workforce. She also leads all human resources operations including business partnerships, employee relations, DEI, health and wellness, and childcare services. In addition, Stone helps to manage health system initiatives including High Reliability, Lean Operations, and Operational Excellence.
What she enjoys most about her role at Bayhealth is being able to support the team that provides outstanding care to patients. “I also love being able to be creative in finding outside-the-box ways to solve problems. And I really enjoy getting to know our team members, physicians, and our patients.”
Before joining Bayhealth in September 2023, Stone was senior vice president & chief experience officer at Stormont Vail Health in Kansas, where she provided executive leadership for all of Human Resources, Marketing and Communication, and Patient Experience. Previous posts included leadership roles at Baptist Health Care and Central Florida Health Alliance.
Stone has been an active community supporter — serving as an executive coach and mentor for aspiring leaders and new executives, an instructor and board chair for Junior Achievement, and a committee member for a Florida program (helping to create housing, job support, and education solutions for those re-entering the community after county jail). She has also been a speaker on succession planning and leadership. In addition, Stone is a strong supporter of colon cancer awareness, having lost two close colleagues to the disease, and emphasizes, “Wellness, prevention, and early detection are key!”
She encourages healthcare workers to always remember their passion for why they started in their profession, adding, “We make a difference in the work and the connections we make every single day. Our patients may not always remember your name, but they will ALWAYS remember how you made them feel!”
A graduate of Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Stone earned her MBA from the University of Phoenix. She is a certified Just Culture Champion, is certified in Healthcare Human Resources by the American Hospital Association (AHA), and is a Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) senior certified professional.
In addition to her AHA and SHRM membership, she is a member of the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Association and the Vizient Human Resources Executive Committee.
When not at work, Stone enjoys spending time with her husband and three children. Together they enjoy travelling and seeing new places, snow skiing, and visiting the beach.
Reach out to Darlene Stone via LinkedIn.