Rob Toonkel joined Baystate Health as the System Manager of Operator, Volunteer, & Concierge Services in October 2024. He has been involved in healthcare for more than two decades, including four years at a new for-profit hospital in suburban Virginia, a year-and-a-half in a Catholic hospital in urban Ohio, nine years at a non-profit community hospital in upstate New York, and six years as a healthcare volunteer at a major academic hospital in downtown Washington, D.C.

In addition to leading volunteers, Rob has been tasked with more than 60 additional job responsibilities during his 23-year healthcare career. These include overseeing the phone operators, gift shops, patient experience training, facility tours, community relations, chaplains, employee engagement, recognition and appreciation, parking, employee transportation, leadership development, and DEI. He led the entirety of new employee orientation for his last organization, including as the primary speaker for six topics and backup for 13 more, delivering nearly 500 presentations and creating what an incredible orientation experience.

During the pandemic and the years beyond, Rob served as Chief Morale Officer, lifting staff in some of the darkest times with creative ideas such as whimsical elffars, Lego hospitals, holiday contests, chalk displays, Hot Chocolate Tuesdays, Water Bar Wednesdays, Cider Thursdays, and Ice Cream Fridays.  With his penchant for celebration and recognition, Arnot Health was named as a top 500 midsize employer by Forbes Magazine in both 2022 and 2023.

Prior to entering a healthcare career, Rob worked for a member of Congress, at the National Zoo, and as Director of Communications for a non-profit organization. In addition to his work professionally managing volunteers, he has been a volunteer himself for more than 30 years. Among Rob’s 10,000 hours of volunteering, he has experience as an English as a Second Language teacher, in a college athletic department, on a suicide prevention hotline, and at more than 100 festivals, fairs, and road races. He is currently a Certified Sexual Assault Crisis Service Advocate for the State of Connecticut.

Rob, who has attained four national certifications in volunteer management, has shared his expertise through engaging and interactive presentations at more than 50 conferences in 15 states since 2015. Additionally, he has served on multiple state and national volunteer leadership boards. In 2024, he was named one of three nationwide recipients of the Impact Award in exemplary volunteer leadership by the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE). That same year, he became a Certified Group Facilitator and currently serves as a co-instructor of the class for the Arkansas Public Administration Consortium at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.

Raised in Chappaqua, N.Y., Rob obtained a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from the University of Michigan, where he worked with the football, women’s basketball, men’s basketball, and ice hockey teams and collaborated on more than 30 team media guides.