Lilicia Bailey, PhD, MBA
Sr. EVP, Chief People Officer CommonSpirit Health
Dr. Lilicia Bailey is a global people strategist and Chief Human Resource Officer with experience in multiple industries, including Fortune 50, e-commerce, media/automotive, multi-site complex operations, and learning healthcare systems. She possesses a rare ability to merge strategic thinking with functional expertise, decisiveness, and pragmatism. Her passion and ability to develop others at every level contribute to performance, retention, and the ability to attract talent. In addition, Lilicia’s ability to understand how context impacts performance informs her use of organizational design to reduce bureaucracy and increase accountability. Her experience includes the full spectrum of a high-functioning HR team, including change management; culture assessment; succession and talent planning; strategic staffing; compensation and benefits design; leadership development; diversity and inclusion; community partnerships; communications; employee relations; M&A; and divestitures. She has served on non-profit boards throughout her career, has extensive corporate board governance experience and is currently an independent board member for Purchasing Power and the board chair for OpusVi.
Dr. Bailey joined CommonSpirit Health, a $36 billion integrated health system of 175,000 team members, as the Senior Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer to lead the People, Talent and Change Management strategies for the third largest healthcare system in the U.S. in 2023. In close consultation with the CEO, the Board of Trustees, and the Board HR and Compensation Committee, Dr. Bailey is the chief architect of organizational culture transformation and is responsible for ensuring alignment of the people strategy with CommonSpirit’s long-term strategic plan. Previously, she worked at Emory Healthcare, a $6 billion academic health system of 25,000 between 2020 through 2023 as the executive Chief People and Culture Officer.
Before joining Emory, she held various senior executive level and global positions at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Belk, Cox Enterprises/Manheim and The Home Depot where she has been an advisor, confidant and transformational leader reporting to the CEO with accountability to the Board of Directors. Throughout her career, Dr. Bailey has designed, influenced and led organizational transformations that delivered value through HR strategies tied to performance improvement metrics, and advancement of leadership attributes that enhanced the corporate culture leading to engaged employees. As a global executive leader, in addition to leading HR, Dr. Bailey has had responsibility for a portfolio of responsibilities including Corporate Communications, Community Affairs, Government Affairs, Legal, Facilities, Global Business Services, and Executive Education faculty.
Recognized nationally and locally for her leadership, Black Enterprise included her among the 50 Most Powerful Women in Corporate America and Savoy to the Top 100 Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America (2019, 2024). Dr. Bailey’s interests include education, social-economic empowerment, organizational culture, leader and organizational effectiveness. Her Executive MBA is from Pepperdine University. She also holds an MA in Human Resource Management and a BA from Spelman College. Her Ph.D. is in Global Leadership and Change from Pepperdine University with concentrated expertise in executive effectiveness strategies and organizational practices that contribute to successful business outcomes.
