Bo Boulenger: Looks to health care’s future as Baptist’s new president

The love for his career started at a very young age, when Bo Boulenger, now president and chief operating officer of Baptist Health South Florida, saw his father working tirelessly as CEO at a number of large hospitals around the US. His father was also a medic at World War II, something that still inspires Mr. Boulenger. 

“I lost him when I was still very young; he had a structural heart defect that could easily be treated today,” he said. This drives his passion for advancing Baptist’s institutes, in particular the heart and vascular area, but also to drive innovation and recruiting the best physicians for expansion of those institutes. 

“Despite all its challenges, I’ve never doubted a career in healthcare, I find it incredibly rewarding, gratifying, and the best part is the people,” Mr. Boulenger said. As head of one the region’s largest not-for-profit healthcare systems, he is responsible for a workforce around 23,000 and more than 4,000 affiliated physicians who each year serve more than 1.5 million patients. 

Mr. Boulenger’s career path includes strategic planning at South Miami Hospital researching new business ventures, being CEO of Homestead Hospital for 12 years, CEO of Baptist Hospital of Miami for 12 years, and most recently, COO of Baptist Health South Florida. He has also served as incident commander, overseeing all operations during crises such as hurricanes and most recently the covid pandemic response; and in the last three years he has been active in integrating Palm Beach County hospitals into the Baptist system. 

As head of Baptist, Mr. Boulenger was elected by the board to succeed Brian Keeley after five decades at the company. Mr. Boulenger currently is president and COO, but by the end of 2022 he is to end the transition process and become president and CEO. 

Although Mr. Boulenger has many responsibilities at his desk, he makes time to serve in community activities and on numerous boards and civic organizations. “I have a great wife and great family who are supportive of what I do, and I try to carve out a little bit of time at least five days a week to get on the peloton,” he said. 

Mr. Boulenger was interviewed by Miami Today reporter Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow.

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