Kelby Krabbenhoft Kelby Krabbenhoft’s passion for health care began at an early age. He was born in Ames, Iowa, to Kenneth and Elaine Krabbenhoft, the oldest of three siblings. During childhood, his youngest brother, Paul, fell from a tree and suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down. After the accident, Kelby played a pronounced role in helping the family care for his brother. Later, his aging father suffered retinitis pigmentosa and became blind as a result of this genetic condition. On a personal level, both events touched Kelby very deeply and, with an infectious sense of urgency, sparked a professional interest in improving the human condition through research and innovation. Kelby’s parents were both educators: his mother a schoolteacher and his father a professor of microbiology. Kenneth’s research endeavors and various career opportunities prompted the family to move frequently when Kelby was a child. His father eventually was offered a position at Mankato State University in Minnesota where he taught until retirement. Kelby’s first job in health care involved working part-time as an orderly in a hospital while attending Mankato West Senior High School. After graduating, he contemplated a degree in medicine, but after selfassessing organic chemistry, he settled on pursing a degree in health care administration from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. He later obtained a master’s degree in business administration from Mankato State, where he met his wife Heidi, with whom he has three children: Joe, Sarah and Lou. Kelby started his health care career as president of Guttenburg Hospital in Guttenburg, Iowa. This early
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South Dakota Hall of Fame
Medical Advancement Sioux Falls, SD experience shaped Kelby’s perspective as he oversaw all aspects of the business – including working directly with front-line nurses, members of the medical staff and managing relationships with community members and patients from the small farming town. As the lead executive at a small hospital, it was not uncommon for him to start his day tending to the boiler and clearing snow and ice from the sidewalks before beginning his administrative rounds. His career progressed through top executive positions at hospitals and health systems of increasing size and scope, including Sisters of Mary of the Presentation Health Corporation in Fargo, North Dakota; St. Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley, Illinois, and Freeman Health System in Joplin, Missouri. In late 1996, Kelby took over leadership of what was then known as Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Over the next 20 years, he built a highly integrated care delivery model – rapidly growing the system’s geographic research, the breadth and depth of specialty in its physician clinic and
Investing in Health & Healing through Research, Wellness, and the Next Generation of Healthcare Professionals
