Robert Burgess
President/CEO, St. Elizabeth Hospital

Robert Burgess is President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Elizabeth Hospital, which is part of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System.  He assumed this position after his tenure as President and COO at EATEL, a $110M telecom provider, until January 2011. He held the same position at Gulf Coast Wireless, a Sprint Affiliate from 1999 until it sold to Sprint in 2005.

A native of Lafayette, LA, Burgess earned a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Louisiana, Lafayette, and a Masters of Business Administration from NOVA Southeast University. He has served in active duty as a Naval Officer. For nearly 40 years, Burgess worked in the telecommunications industry beginning with South Central Bell in 1972.

Burgess is a member of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber for which he served as Chair in 2010. He also served as Chair of the River Parishes Community College Foundation in 2009/2010, and as Vice Chair of the St. Elizabeth Hospital Board of Directors in 2011 and 2012. In addition, he has served on the board of trustees for Blueprint Louisiana, Education’s Next Horizon, and as an advisory board member of the Council for a Better Louisiana.