By
Erin Coulehan
Phohtography by
Katherine Kocian
When Nicholas “Nico” Tejeda addresses a room full of new employees at The Hospitals of Providence, he likes to pose a simple but profound question: “Raise your hand if you think someone in Rochester, Minnesota, is better than you.” No hands go up. “How about Baltimore, Maryland?” Again, silence.
For Tejeda, the message is clear: there is no secret sauce at the Mayo Clinic (in Rochester) or Johns Hopkins (in Baltimore). What they do have is an unwavering commitment to excellence: a culture where everyone wakes up expecting to set the standard.
That’s exactly the mindset Tejeda believes El Paso should adopt in every corner of its community.
“We have to raise the bar for ourselves,” he says. “We need to wake up every day expecting to be the best. Not just in healthcare, but as a city, as a region.”
It’s a belief Tejeda has embodied since he first set foot in El Paso a decade ago. While his resume boasts accomplishments with national impact, his heart – and most of his focus – has been firmly rooted in the Borderland.
Tejeda still laughs when he recalls the day he moved to El Paso in July 2015 after being convinced over dinner with Renard Johnson, who sat on the board of the hospital Tejada was being recruited to. “It was storming so badly on the mountain that I remember thinking we might need an ark,” he jokes. As fate would have it, his family’s first home was moments from flooding before they even unpacked.
But what he remembers most isn’t the storm; it’s the stranger – his new neighbor – who showed up with a wet vac and mops, ready to help.
“That’s when I knew this was going to be a special place,” he says. “That moment told me everything I needed to know about El Paso.”
Since then, Tejeda has become one of the city’s most influential leaders, overseeing not just the largest healthcare network in El Paso but also one of its largest private employers. As Western Group President for Tenet Healthcare, he is responsible for markets spanning from West Texas to California, yet it’s the Borderland that holds a special place in his professional and personal story.
Since taking the helm, Tejeda has guided The Hospitals of Providence through extraordinary growth. What started as a network of hospitals and clinics has blossomed into a vast web of medical campuses, ambulatory centers, freestanding emergency departments, and more than 60 physician clinics, many located right in patients’ neighborhoods.
In fact, the system’s economic impact in 2024 alone was $2.3 billion. But for Tejeda, it’s never just been about the numbers.
“What I didn’t fully appreciate at first,” he admits, “is how deeply intertwined the growth of our hospitals is with the growth of El Paso. Every time we build, the community builds around us.”
From the expansive Transmountain Campus to the ambitious new Mission Ridge Campus on Eastlake Boulevard, The Hospitals of Providence continues to reshape the city’s healthcare landscape – sometimes quite literally.
Tejeda shares a story of how a back-of-the-napkin sketch, offered over coffee by the late “Mr. El Paso” Jimmy Rogers, led to the site selection for East Campus.
“That’s how things happen here,” Tejeda says with a smile. “Relationships, trust, and people who care.”
For Tejeda, investing in El Paso doesn’t stop at bricks and mortar. One of his proudest achievements is the hospital system’s commitment to cultivating local talent. Last year, 83 percent of leadership promotions were awarded to internal candidates, most of them El Paso natives.
“It’s about building leaders who already have a connection to this place,” he says. “They understand this community because they are this community.”
And Tejeda walks the walk. Over the past decade, he has helped recruit more than 200 physicians to El Paso; each new doctor is capable of impacting thousands of lives while also creating ripple effects in job growth and economic development.
But it’s also about inclusion. Under Tejeda’s leadership, The Hospitals of Providence implemented Project Search at every campus, offering high school students with disabilities the chance to gain real-world work experience and, ultimately, employment within the hospitals.
Tejeda is quick to acknowledge that El Paso, like many communities, faces healthcare challenges. Yet, he remains optimistic about how the region is confronting them head-on, particularly in expanding specialized services. The Hospitals of Providence now boasts the region’s largest robotic surgery fleet, a pioneering Structural Heart Program, a Level IV NICU and Maternal Care Center, and the largest orthopedic and cardiology groups in the area.
“We’ve been intentional about bringing advanced care closer to home,” Tejeda says. “It’s about making sure no family has to travel hours away to get the care they need.”
Yet behind the new technology and facilities is a deep commitment to caring for everyone, regardless of financial circumstance. Last year alone, the hospital system provided nearly $26 million in uncompensated care.
“We’re here for our community, always,” Tejeda says.
When asked what’s next, Tejeda’s excitement is palpable. The upcoming medical office building on the far east side and the vision for a new hospital campus on Eastlake Boulevard represent not just expansion but a long-term bet on the future of El Paso.
“We work closely with civic leaders and the private sector to anticipate where this community is growing,” he says. “We want to be part of that growth, to be there when people need us.”
But Tejeda is also thinking bigger – about El Paso’s reputation and self-image.
“One of the challenges we face is how we talk about ourselves as a city,” he explains. “We need to strengthen the brand of El Paso, to make sure people outside – and inside – this community know how amazing it is here.”
Despite overseeing a massive healthcare network across two states, Tejeda remains grounded in people.
“I get the most joy out of watching others grow,” he says. “To see someone who worked for me become a CEO, or to see a local leader rise through the ranks – that’s the real force multiplier.”
It’s that multiplier effect, he believes, that will continue to elevate El Paso, not just in healthcare, but across all industries.
Because in the end, as Tejeda reminds his team, success isn’t about where you are; it’s about how high you set your sights.
“We can be the best. We just have to expect it of ourselves.”
