Voices in Action: Heather Murray
Heather Murray has been with Baptist since 2013. She began here as a human resources (HR) intern during her final year of her undergraduate program at the University of West Florida (UWF). She was hired shortly after the internship as a part-time HR assistant. Since then, she’s had several promotions and life changes.
“After my part-time role, I moved to a full time position, then HR generalist, HR operations manager, talent acquisition manager and most recently, director of talent acquisition and team member health,” Heather said “I’m beyond grateful for the opportunities that Baptist has provided to me over the years. I was able to use our Life Long Learning program to obtain my master’s degree in health care administration in 2017 and my senior certified professional certification through the Society of Human Resource Management.”
Some folks remember Heather with the last name Suggs before she married. Since working at Baptist, Heather married Tim Murray. They have two amazing kids, Amelia (3) and Brooks (1). Both children were born at Baptist under the great care of Dr. Regina McCutcheon, an OBGYN physician that Heather helped recruit here.
Heather is from Milton but has also lived in Apopka, Florida, near Orlando, before coming back to the region to attend college at UWF. Her family loves spending time on their boat at the beach or on the river. They normally love to travel and look forward to traveling again someday. Heather feels a special connection to the community here and to the Baptist family.
“I love the people here, and the culture at Baptist is unmatched,” Heather said. “I truly consider the people I work with family. I have seen so much love, strength and resilience from our team members, especially over the past year. I could not be prouder to be a part of this team. I always tell our candidates to come walk our hallways to see and feel the difference, and they are never disappointed. Our Baptist culture sets us apart, and we have our team members to thank for that!”
Heather says the people here are what motivate her every day to work hard and live the Values of Ownership, Integrity, Compassion, Excellence and Service. She says one of the most rewarding projects she has managed has been the labor pool since COVID-19 began in 2020.
“We had team members with positions that were pulled back for a period,” Heather said. “My team and I assisted them with getting their hours – even if their role looked different. I remember sitting at my kitchen table for hours every night trying to reconcile spreadsheets – seeing who wanted hours, what areas needed help, who was scheduled where, contact information, payroll info, etc. We went from a manual spreadsheet for scheduling to an electronic system. We validated credentials, education, training and orientation for those helping pick up shifts in other areas. We created screening stations at every location entrance in less than 24 hours. We hired a lot of people. We studied CDC guidelines and built training. We met with finance to determine how we would track these expenses. We created incentives and contracts. It took a village. There are so many people who were there making these things happen. I worked with people I usually didn’t work with – like house supervisors at 2 a.m. It was an honor to serve in this capacity during our COVID response in 2020, and it’s an honor to continue serving in my role today.”
Heather channels Maya Angelou when it comes to work: “Nothing will work unless you do.” Thank you, Heather, and all the wonderful team members in HR and in our labor pool for making a difference and helping us be an even better Baptist.