TSHS Board of Directors
Dr. Lolly Lockhart
Chairwoman
Dr. Lolly Lockhart, PhD, RN grew up in Alpine Texas where her dad was a frontier physician for 50 years. She attended Sul Ross State University, then UTMB for her BSN and UT Austin for her MSN. She received her PhD in health care administration in 1984 from The University of Mississippi.
Dr. Lockhart has been an RN for over 60 years and loves nursing. She has been an active member of the American Nurses Association, Texas Nurses Association (or other state associations) since she graduated.
She has worked in or consulted with virtually all types of healthcare facilities and has taught in ADN, BSN, and MSN programs. She worked for the first Medicare Peer Review Organization to review hospital medical records to determine quality and appropriateness, and then she consulted with the Texas Medical Board to set up their clinical investigations program. Dr. Lockhart was on the professional staff of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP law firm for eight years. Since 1996 she has worked in the nurse consulting field. For the past 30 years, she has consulted on regulation compliance and health care system, nursing, and nursing education issues. She has advocated for nurses concerning practice issues and helped start six new ADN, BSN and/or MSN nursing programs. TSHS is her 7th!
In 2010, Dr. Lockhart was the expert witness for Anne Mitchell, the RN in Winkler County, Texas who had criminal charges brought against her for reporting an incompetent physician to the Texas Medical Board. Dr. Lockhart is a tireless advocate for providing nurses with the right to advocate for patient safety and the freedom to practice consistent with the Law and Code for Nursing.
Most recently, Dr. Lockhart taught Behavioral Health Nursing and Healthcare Systems/Leadership (BSN) at Concordia University in Austin, Texas, and Trends for Sul Ross Rio Grande Campus in Uvalde (RN to BSN online). She also teaches a Jurisprudence and Ethics course required for RNs and LVNs under Board Orders.
Since 2018, Dr. Lockhart has been a member of the Texas Board of Nursing Eligibility and Disciplinary Advisory Committee. She remains concerned about how nurses are treated in the academic, practice, and regulatory settings. Dr. Lockhart was a member of the Texas Nurses Association Council on Policy and headed the Regulatory Committee. The Texas Nurses Association designated her a Legion in Nursing in 2020 (awarded 2022).
Currently, Dr. Lockhart is engaged in nursing education, starting new programs, and working with the Texas Nurses Association and Texas Board of Nursing. She is also involved with initiatives to educate the public and health professionals on gender issues to reduce violence and promote mental health and wellbeing.
Dr. Susan Sportsman
Vice Chairwoman
Susan Sportsman, RN, PhD, ANEF, FAAN serves as the Interim Chief Academic Officer for Texas School of Health Sciences. Dr. Sportsman holds a BSN from Baylor University, a MS in Health Science Instruction from Texas Woman’s University, an MSN from University of Texas at Arlington, and a PhD, also from Texas Woman’s University. She has a wealth of experience in clinical, healthcare administration and health professions education.
Specific to her role as TSHS Chief Academic Officer, she has served as an Instructor in the Associate Degree Program at El Centro College, an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, an Associate Dean at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Nursing, and Dean and Professor of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at Midwestern State University (MSU) in Wichita Falls, Texas, now MSU Texas.
Early in her career, Dr. Sportsman realized her love for developing new projects and services when she was tasked with the job of developing a new psychiatric hospital for the seriously and persistently mentally ill for Tarrant County MHMR and was the founding administrator for that hospital. Later, she was also responsible for the revision of psychiatric programs for a large healthcare system, also in Fort Worth, Texas.
During her academic career, Dr. Sportsman has taught at the associate degree, baccalaureate and graduate levels in Nursing and Healthcare Administration. In her capacity as Associate Dean of Practice at Texas Tech University, in addition to her teaching role, she developed faculty practice contracts, providing opportunities for faculty to incorporate their nursing practice into their faculty role. As Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at Midwestern State University, she was responsible for undergraduate and graduate nursing, radiological science and kinesiology programs, undergraduate respiratory care, dental hygiene, and social work programs, and graduate programs in healthcare administration and public administration, expanding these programs throughout her tenure at the university.
Dr. Sportsman continued her commitment to entrepreneurial activities that expanded the influence of programs for which she was responsible, including guiding the expansion of programs and curriculum at MSU. She received numerous grants to provide funding for program expansion and outreach. For example, she authored a grant to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to fund a Regional Simulation Center that served nursing and respiratory
students at MSU, nursing students at Vernon College, and staff members at United Regional, the hospital serving Wichita Falls, and surrounding areas. At that time, this Regional Simulation Center was one of the first such collaborations in the country.
Dr. Sportsman has been active in several professional organizations, servicing as President of Texas Nurses Association and on the Board of Team Texas. She has been inducted as a fellow into the NLN Academy of Nurse Educators, and the Academy of Nursing.
Robin Bruce Brown, Jr
Secretary
Robin Brown served as the Chief Executive of Scripps Green Hospital, an acute care hospital with 173 licensed beds from 2000 to 2018.
Mr. Brown considers this role to be both the most challenging and rewarding position of his career. As the Chief Executive, Robin led his team at Scripps Green Hospital to achieve outstanding success in terms of clinical outcomes, patient service, employee satisfaction, and financial performance. Scripps Green Hospital was recognized as a 100 Top Hospital by Truven Health Analytics seven times under Robin’s leadership.
Mr. Brown’s core philosophy is based on the belief that success in any area is dependent on crafting a compelling vision for the future and utilizing a problem-solving approach that engages the entire staff.
Brown began his career at Scripps in 1986 as the Director of Affiliated Business Services and managed a portfolio of healthcare related businesses which included a home healthcare agency, nursing homes, and several medical office buildings. By 1992, Robin was appointed as the Chief Executive of Scripps Hospital, East County, a 162-bed community hospital. Later he served as the Corporate Vice President of Business Development before coming to Scripps Green.
Prior to joining Scripps, Mr. Brown served as an assistant administrator at two separate acute care hospitals in San Diego County.
Brown was on active duty in the Navy for seven years as a Medical Service Corps Officer. Upon leaving active service, Robin transitioned to the Naval Reserve and during the next 23 years he served as the commanding officer during four separate tours of duty.
Mr. Brown received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, San Diego and holds a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Duke University.
Mr. Brown is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. He has served as board chairman for San Diego Health Connect (HIE), the board chairman of the Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties (HASDIC), on the executive committee of the board of California Hospital Association (CHA), and the board of the American Hospital Association (AHA), Regional Policy Board 9.
Robin Brown has been married to his wife, Kathleen, for over 47 years. They have five adult daughters, four sons-in-laws, and nine grandchildren.
Chris Ahearn
Treasurer
Chris Ahearn has served as a Commercial Operating Partner at the Sterling Group since 2019. He served as CEO for Oakwood, a wholly owned subsidiary of Maple Tree Investments, where he grew the brand globally and introduced new technology platforms. Before Oakwood, Mr. Ahearn served as a Senior Advisor for TPG Capital where he helped build the commercial operating platform and worked on a variety of projects across multiple industry sectors focused on improving organic growth at portfolio companies.
Prior to joining TPG, Mr. Ahearn was Corporate SVP of Sales & Marketing for Oakwood where he completed a global, sales and marketing transformation. He has also served as Vice President of Commercial Marketing, Products and Strategy and as Vice President of Strategic Accounts and Managed Services for FedEx Office (Kinko’s); Vice President of Sales and Marketing for NowDocs; and Vice President and General Manager of the Western US for RR Donnelley where he started his career as a Field Sales Representative.
Mr. Ahearn graduated from California State University – Santa Barbara in 1990 and completed an Executive Management Program at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University.
Mr. Ahearn and his wife Jill have two children, Audrey and Charles. He enjoys skiing, exercising, advising local, small businesses, and supporting a variety of local nonprofit organizations.
Kyle Hunt
President, Texas School of Health Science
D. Kyle Hunt is the founding CEO of Texas School of Health Sciences (TSHS). TSHS is dedicated to partnering with healthcare systems to develop and operate hospital-based degree programs that support students and benefit consumers. Mr. Hunt began working on this critical initiative with the Texas Board of Nursing (BON), Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) and Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) in 2008. Despite challenges in finding the right partner for the school, Mr. Hunt never gave up on his vision to provide an innovative approach to nursing education that offered extensive real-world clinical experience in conjunction with a partnering healthcare institution.
Mr. Hunt graduated from The University of Texas at Austin, B.A., Sociology in 2002. During his studies at The University of Texas Mr. Hunt developed a fervor for education equality and as a student athlete experienced firsthand how scholarships and teamwork can influence the lives of young people and provide them with an opportunity to get ahead in life.
Mr. Hunt went on to receive his M.B.A. while working for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. At Wells Fargo he routinely encountered customers who had difficulty securing residential mortgages because they carried excessive consumer debt in the form of student loans. The same loans his customers had taken out for the purpose of funding their education and to get ahead in life were now preventing them from moving forward.
One of the projects Mr. Hunt was required to complete for his M.B.A., and that continues to influence his work today, involved researching a nationally ranked healthcare staffing company. Mr. Hunt learned the company’s revenues were generated primarily by providing skilled nurses to hospitals and healthcare systems on a temporary basis. He believed the company’s 5-year growth rate of 450% was a consequence of hospitals’ and healthcare systems’ continued failure to attract and retain qualified staff. This resulted in hospitals spending inordinate amounts of money to meet their basic staffing requirements. At present, these “premium dollar” (overtime and outside staffing) expenditures are systematically siphoned away from other patient care needs of hospitals and routinely amount to 30% of operating costs.
Mr. Hunt’s life experiences as the son of a practicing nurse, undergraduate student athlete, graduate student, and businessman are what inspired him to come up with a better way: a hospital-based nursing school with students selected from both the hospital staff and the general community. Tuition is underwritten by the sponsoring hospital, with special consideration given to unskilled applicants who do not hold a license in a health care profession. This model encourages hospitals and healthcare systems to ensure students experience enhanced clinical training, education, and preparation in the acute care setting. It also provides opportunities for unlicensed staff and community members to secure a professional degree and guaranteed job placement without having to take on the burden of student loan debt.
In his spare time Mr. Hunt enjoys relaxing on South Padre Island and practicing yoga.