Andy Hedgpeth is a lifelong Southwest Missouri native. He holds a Master in Business Administration degree with a Healthcare Management emphasis from Missouri State University. He joined CoxHealth in June 2008 as Compliance Coordinator and accepted the role of System Director for Benefits and Employee Relations in spring 2009. This role administered all aspects of employee benefits for the enterprise including $1 billion in employee retirement plan assets and a 14,000-member health plan exceeding $90 million in annual expenditures. Other duties included rewards and recognition, progressive discipline, leave administration and reasonable accommodations for the health system.

In his current role as Vice President of Human Resources, Andy serves as an active member of the CoxHealth executive leadership team in providing strategy, planning and implementation of human capital management to meet the strategic business goals for CoxHealth’s 12,500 employees and 900 physicians. Andy maintains an HR budget for both traditional and international recruitment, retention, compensation, benefits, and employee relations functions in addition to a leadership development institute, three childcare centers, pastoral care, and more than 1,200 volunteers across six campuses.

Crowning achievements include the system's two-time recognition as the 417 Best Place to Work and recognition as Forbes Magazine’s Top Employer listing for the state of Missouri; the launch of an international nursing recruitment program; integration of CoxHealth’s wellness program with its employee health plan, cafeterias, and fitness centers; redesign of the health system’s performance management program for employees and leaders; and the launch of an integrated employee engagement strategy that encompasses a formal rewards and recognition program. Andy also played major roles in the integration of multiple acquired facilities and group practices.

Most recently, Andy has supported system Incident Command by assuring all employees remained actively employed and with pay through the pandemic. Other achievements included establishment of the CoxHealth Day School program for employees’ school-aged children impacted by virtual learning and active management of the CoxHealth labor pool including the hiring of hundreds of new employees to serve as front entrance screeners and PPE monitors for staff working COVID units.

Andy serves as an active member of the Ozark Board of Education and the Missouri State University President’s Diversity Council. He has served on the Harmony House Domestic Violence Shelter Board, City Utilities Community Credit Union Board, and Missouri State University Alumni Association Advisory Board. He helped charter the VHA Mid-America Benefits Advisory Board and serves on the Missouri Chamber of Commerce Industrial Relations Advisory Board. He spent two years as a Missouri Quality Award examiner, and participates in several internal committees for CoxHealth. He spends his free time with his wife, Amanda, and their three children – Ella, Reid, and Sophie. They reside in Ozark, MO.