Doug Hawthorne (left) presents the inaugural Kerney Laday, Sr. award to Mr. Laday’s family in 2013.

The DFW Hospital Council (DFWHC) created the Kerney Laday, Sr. Trustee of the Year Award in 2013 to be presented annually at its Annual Awards Luncheon. The award was the idea of Doug Hawthorne, then president/CEO of Texas Health Resources. It was named in memory of Kerney Laday, Sr., who served on the Texas Health Resources Board of Trustees for 10 years. He was chair when he passed away in 2012.

Kerney Laday, Sr.

The first in his family to earn a college degree, Laday had a 26-year career with Xerox Corp., serving as vice president and regional general manager when he retired in 1997. Since 1986, Laday held many leadership positions in North Texas including being the first African-American to serve on the board of directors for Texas Utilities, Inc. Laday also served as a board member for Parkland Memorial Hospital.

The quote on the award, “Look forward and consider what is best for the future of healthcare,” was attributed to Mr. Laday during a board meeting.

The inaugural award was presented in 2013 to Mr. Laday’s family by Hawthorne himself. Past recipients have included:

2015 – David Biegler, Children’s Health System of Texas
2014 – Carole Young, HCA’s Medical City Dallas Hospital

On October 18 at DFWHC’s 68th Annual Awards Luncheon at Arlington Convention Center, Levi Davis of Methodist Health System will carry on the tradition when he is honored as the 4th recipient of the award.

Tickets and tables to the event are available here.

For information, please contact Chris Wilson at chrisw@dfwhc.org or 972-719-4900.

Levi Davis

Carole Young (right) being presented her award at the 2014 luncheon by Dr. John Warner of UT Southwestern.

David Biegler accepting his award at the 2015 luncheon.