Tamara Jolivette-Smith

Director of People and Culture

Tamara Jolivette-Smith, Ph.D., MBA joined Gulf Coast Blood as Director of People and Culture, bringing more than 20 years of strategic human capital leadership across healthcare, academic medicine, and transportation. She is widely regarded as a culture and change leader with deep expertise in workforce transformation, talent architecture, and building scalable people systems that enable organizational growth.

Most recently, Dr. Jolivette-Smith served as Human Resources Director for Houston Methodist Academic Medical Center, where she helped establish and mature the academic HR infrastructure required to support rapid institutional growth and clinical-academic excellence. Her leadership strengthened the foundation for faculty and workforce expansion by aligning talent strategy, governance, and systems with Houston Methodist’s academic mission. In this role, she led enterprise initiatives in workforce analytics, AI-enabled HR strategy, and digital transformation, including predictive workforce planning, AI-powered onboarding, and leadership development programs that improved retention, internal mobility, and succession readiness.

Dr. Jolivette-Smith holds a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies, an Executive MBA, and a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. She is passionate about leveraging data, technology, and human-centered design to create high-performing, inclusive cultures. At Gulf Coast Blood, she is focused on aligning people and culture strategies with operational priorities to support the organization’s life-saving mission and long-term sustainability.