Cindy Kent

Biography

Cindy Kent is a healthcare executive and corporate director widely recognized for her transformational leadership. With over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Kent is the Executive Vice President & President of Senior Living for Brookdale Senior Living—America’s largest senior living company. With an annual revenue of $4.5B, Kent is a member of the Executive Leadership Team and responsible for all operational aspects of growth, profitability, transformation and strategic planning for Brookdale’s senior living portfolio. Kent was an independent director with Best Buy Co.’s Board of Directors, 2018 to 2020 and served as a member of the Finance and Investment Policy as well as the Compensation and Human Resources committees. Kent is currently a Trustee of Vanderbilt University, where she serves as a member of the Audit as well as the Academic and Student Affairs committees.

Over her career, Kent has held leadership roles with increasing responsibility at Eli Lilly, Medtronic and 3M, where she led unprecedented revenue and margin growth. In her role as President and GM of the Infection Prevention Division at 3M, Kent led the division’s $1.7B global business operations in sixty countries and managed sales in 170 nations worldwide. With global profit-and-loss responsibility, Kent had direct management responsibility for research and development, clinical, commercial functions and supply chain operations for eighteen global manufacturing sites.

Kent has been recognized for her commitment to excellence in the workplace and her community. In its Spring 2020 edition, Savoy Magazine name Kent one of the “Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America.” In 2018, she was named Lead360’s “Executive of the Year,” in 2017 Black Enterprise Magazine named her one of the “Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Business” as well as one of the “Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America”. Kent was recognized as a “Top 35 Women Leaders in Healthcare” by the Women’s Health Leadership TRUST in 2014. She is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.

Kent received dual Masters degrees from Vanderbilt University—a Masters of Divinity in Pastoral Care & Leadership as well as her MBA in Marketing. She completed a BS in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from Northwestern University. Kent resides in Franklin, TN.

Education

MBA, Vanderbilt, 1999

Master of Divinity, Vanderbilt, 2001