About TMC > Executive Biographies > Charlie Shields
Charlie Shields
Chief Operating Officer, Truman Medical Center Lakewood
Charlie has spent more than 17 years with Heartland Health in St.
Joseph, Missouri and is currently the President Pro Tem of the Missouri
State Senate. For more than 13 years of his time with Heartland Health,
he has been the Special Projects Coordinator and in 2006 was promoted to
Chief Communications/Marketing Officer, which includes public and
government affairs duties as well. During his leadership tenure with
Heartland Health, the hospital has grown from a small local medical
center into a patient-centered, fully integrated regional health
delivery system that includes an acute care hospital with emergency and
trauma care and specialty heart, cancer and women’s health care centers.
Heartland Health is also the largest employer in St. Joseph with more
than 3,000 employees.
Charlie is a proven leader who has worked to improve and expand the
public education system in the State of Missouri. He led the charge to
rewrite the foundation formula for public education that created a
system that provides students with a high-class education, no matter
where they live. After passing that historic legislation, Charlie turned
his attention to what he knows best, healthcare. His Medicaid Reform
Commission Recommendation Report laid the framework to begin the process
of dramatically changing healthcare to focus on keeping people healthy
instead of only treating them when they are sick, and making sure all
Missourians have available, affordable healthcare.
His combined experience in healthcare and government is a great
combination to help TMC address and overcome some of the challenges we
face in the competitive healthcare market in Eastern Jackson County. His
leadership abilities, community involvement and dedication to improving
the lives of Missourians will be a valuable asset as we move forward and
expand the scope of state-of-the-art, top quality healthcare services we
provide at TMC Lakewood.
In addition to his role with Heartland Health and his duties with the
Missouri Senate, Charlie has dedicated his time to serving the community
through his work as a member of the Missouri Rural Health Association,
Buchanan R-V Board of Education and as an assistant scoutmaster with the
Pony Express Council Boy Scout Troop 216. He is a member and past
president of the East Side Lions Club in St. Joseph, a member of the
Moila Shrine Temple and he has served as co-chair of the Arts Fund Drive
for the Allied Arts Council.
He attended public schools in Kansas City and Independence and went
on to earn a Bachelors Degree in Marketing and a Masters Degree in
Business Administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
He and his wife Brenda live in rural Buchanan County where she is the
president and CEO of the United Way of Greater St. Joseph. They have two
sons. Brandt is a junior at Missouri State University in Springfield and
Bryce is a senior at St. Joseph Central High School.