Tavonna Harris Askew, Executive Vice President & General Counsel for Suburban Health Organization

Tavonna Harris Askew built a 20-year career in healthcare law by taking calculated risks, starting with a pivot from criminal prosecution to hospital operations. As Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Suburban Health Organization, she now serves as the organization's first-ever in-house counsel, building its legal function from the ground up while advising member hospitals across Indiana and Ohio.Harris Askew traces her path from growing up in Indianapolis's Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood to clerking in the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, practicing at Indiana Legal Services, and eventually entering health law at Health and Hospital Corporation of Indiana. She discusses the legal complexity behind hospital operations, including compliance, managed care contracting, anti-kickback statutes, and federally qualified health center certification.The conversation also covers how she approaches mentorship and sponsorship across lines of race, gender, and seniority; what it means to show up authentically in a small organization after decades in large institutions; and what Indiana's healthcare system must do to close equity gaps, build provider pipelines, and treat the whole patient. Harris Askew holds two degrees from Indiana University, including a J.D. from the IU Maurer School of Law.