Leola Rodgers

Leola Rodgers joined the Foundation’s Board of Trustees in 2010, and was elected as chair in 2018.

Rodgers is the former president and chief executive officer of Syracuse Community Health Center, and was previously the associate administrator at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital of SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. While at Upstate, her major focus was on building the chidren’s hospital which was completed in 2009. Prior to living in Syracuse, Rodgers held leadership posts at Boston University Medical Center and Shands Hospital in Jacksonville, FL.

Rodgers is a member of the Excellus Lifetime Board and the Excellus Regional Health Care Quality Assurance Committee.  She was a chair of the board of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central New York and a former member of the Board of the United Way of Central New York.

Rodgers is a mentor for On Point for College, a health leadership Fellow and mentor for the Ladders to Leaders program at the Community Health Foundation and a lifetime member of the National Black MBA Association.

In 2017, she was honored with the Humanitarian Service Award by the Catholic Charities of WNY; the Jerrideth Wilson Volunteer Recognition Award from Enable in 2011; President’s Award for Diversity and Affirmative Action from SUNY Upstate Medical University in 2005 and the 25 Women in Leadership Award from WTVH-TV Channel 5 in Syracuse in 2003.

Rodgers holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Detroit and a Master of Public Health and Health Administration degree from the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

She resides in Cicero, NY, and has one son, Brandon, daughter-in-law Jennifer and two grandchildren residing in Clinton Township, Michigan.