As a 12-year veteran in the legal department of Baylor Scott & White Health, Amy Yeager generally never picked up the phone when a headhunter came calling.
For one thing, she wasn’t looking to leave Baylor Scott & White, where she was happily serving as the general counsel and senior vice present of the hospital’s North Texas division. For another, most headhunters called from out of town, and she has happily lived in Dallas her whole life.
But when Children’s Health recently called Yeager directly, she gave the Dallas-based hospital a chance.
“I was at a point in my career, after being at Baylor for 12 years, that I felt I should consider the opportunity,” Yeager told The Texas Lawbook. “After numerous meetings and interviews, I knew Children’s was the right organization and job at the right time and place in my life.”
Yeager started last week as Children’s new general counsel and senior vice president. As GC, Yeager will manage and guide the strategy and direction of all legal services for Children’s, the eighth largest pediatric care provider in the U.S., and all of the hospital’s affiliates.
Yeager said Children’s mission is what primarily attracted her to join.
“They’re making life better for children,” she said. “I have two children of my own and I’ve been in Dallas my entire life. Children’s has always been a part of our community. What better way to give back than work for the organization that serves the children in our community.”
Yeager played an integral role in the 2013 merger of Baylor Health Care System and Scott & White Healthcare, a transaction that upon closing created a system with roughly $8.3 billion in combined assets, $6 billion in annual revenue, 43 hospitals, more than 6,000 physicians and 34,000 employees.
More specifically, Yeager said she handled the intellectual property aspect of the deal, and as a result, she worked extensively on rebranding the hospital system as Baylor Scott & White after the merger.
While at Baylor Scott & White, she also handled a variety of high-profile real estate matters, including the development of the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center and the Baylor Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research at The Star in Frisco. The latter, which opened last year, is a sports performance complex located where the Dallas Cowboys are headquartered. The deal that created the complex was a first-of-its-kind collaboration between an NFL team, a health care system and a school district.
Before going in-house, Yeager spent almost 14 years at the firm formerly known as Gardere Wynne Sewell, where she advised clients on healthcare transactions. While at Gardere, she served as an outside GC for a healthcare company.
In joining Children’s, Yeager said she most looks forward to “getting to know the people who work here and participating in the initiatives to address the developing needs of the community and changing trends in healthcare.”
“It’s a dynamic and growing organization,” she said. “Children’s has a very high-performing legal team, and I look forward to working with the lawyers and leading the team as we support the organization’s efforts to further its mission.”
Yeager is married to Steve Yeager, who is the assistant dean of student affairs at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law.