Trevecca Nazarene University Gives Servant-Leader Award to Cone Health CEO Mary Jo Cagle

At a recent recognition ceremony, Trevecca Nazarene University presented its 2022 Nina Griggs Gunter Servant-Leader Award to Dr. Mary Jo Cagle, chief executive officer of Cone Health. The school also named student Carolyn Johnson the recipient of a $2,500 servant-leader scholarship.

The Gunter Servant-Leader Award was established by family and friends of Dr. Nina Griggs Gunter, a 1958 Trevecca alumna who became the first female general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene. The award honors her significant impact as a leader in the Church and highlights her life as a role model of servant leadership. Honoring a predecessor’s faithful example in this way reflects the value of passing on that example to later generations (Hebrews 13:7).

Cagle has led Cone Health, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, since joining the organization in 2011, and the source says she has guided it to national recognition. She also serves on the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 Testing Surge Workgroup, the Health Equity Board for the North Carolina Hospital Association Center and the Reading Connections Board. She previously served on the board of Music for a Great Space and on the Board of Trustees at Trevecca.

The source reports several other honors. Cagle was recently named one of Modern Healthcare’s 10 Women Leaders to Watch for 2021. She also received the National Association of Professional Women’s 2013-2014 Woman of the Year Award and the North Carolina Hospital Association’s 2017 Clinical Leadership Award, and she was named to the Outstanding Women in Business List by the Triad Business Journal in 2014.

Cagle attended Trevecca before receiving her bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Alabama. The source states that she is a lifelong member of the Church of the Nazarene and has served the Church as a choir member, Sunday School teacher, board member and District Advisory Board member.

The school also announced the winner and finalists of the Nina Griggs Gunter Leadership Scholarship during the presentation. The $2,500 scholarship is awarded to a current female student who embodies leadership and service at Trevecca and in the community. This year’s winner, Johnson, is a senior majoring in worship arts from Atlanta. She has served in residential life at Trevecca for three years, is the associate student body chaplain in the Student Government Association, works as an academic tutor and participates in off-campus service projects.

Anna Cawthorne, Regan Selvidge and Sarah Waddell were recognized as finalists for the student honor, and each will receive a $1,000 scholarship.

Trevecca describes itself as a Christian university in the heart of Nashville, focused on preparing students for lives of leadership and service. Founded in 1901, the university says it is committed to holistic education that encourages students to grow intellectually, socially, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Besides its historic main campus near downtown Nashville, Trevecca has two other locations across Tennessee and offers online classes worldwide. The school has students from 47 states and 39 countries and offers 20 associate degrees, 81 undergraduate majors, 25 master’s programs and three doctoral programs, along with specialist and certificate programs.

Source: Read the original report