St. Joseph's Operations Director Honored By Business Journal

LUTZ, FL — Sara Dodds, a Lutz resident and operations director at St. Joseph’s Hospital-North, has been named to the Tampa Bay Business Journal's "40 Under 40” list honoring young professionals.

Each year, the Journal selects outstanding young professionals under the age of 40 from Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota counties.

According to the Journal, more than 500 nominations were received this year and 40 made the final list. Nominees are evaluated on business success, community involvement, leadership ability and influence on the region, public policy or quality of life.

“Each year, 40 Under 40 gets tougher as the local population and business community grow and engagement within the community strengthens,” the Tampa Bay Business Journal wrote in announcing the honorees.

As operations director at St. Joseph’s Hospital-North, an executive position she has held since 2016, Sara has oversight in areas that include quality of patient care and finance. She works closely with all departments in the 216-bed hospital. Sara had a leading role in the hospital’s $76-million expansion that was completed in 2020 and doubled the hospital’s bed capacity and increased services.

“That expansion project turned into becoming the director of operations for our hospital, a role that I truly love,” Sara said in her Tampa Bay Business Journal profile. “I get to work with every department in the hospital. My nursing background has been an asset in this role because I know what it is like to be on the front lines. I think every day it helps me make better decisions on behalf of our health care workers.”

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to her operations director role, she has supported team members by working in many different areas in the hospital.

Sara has been with BayCare since 2004 when she started at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa as a patient care technician while attending nursing school. She became an RN at St. Joseph’s in Tampa in 2005. Sara is an original team member at St. Joseph’s Hospital-North since it opened in 2010. At St. Joseph’s Hospital-North, she’s been a charge nurse (a nurse supervising a unit) and a nurse manager before her current operations director position.

Sara is a 2021 graduate of the Leadership Tampa program of the Tampa Bay Chamber, member of the Philanthropic Women of St. Joseph’s Hospitals and board member of FiCARE Credit Union.