CCA President and CEO to Complete Companywide Tour in 2010
Damon Hininger brings facility stops full circle in New Year
When Damon Hininger was named CCA president and chief operating officer in July 2008, the corrections veteran set a lofty goal – to visit each of the company’s more than 60 correctional facilities over the next two years. Now the CCA chief executive officer – an appointment to which he was named in August 2009 – is on the cusp of completing that mission.
“Company leaders can make many good decisions, receive constructive feedback, and get valuable advice and information from executive management,” Hininger says. “But it’s just as important to go out and see our operations, our facilities, our employees and our CCA communities firsthand.”
Hininger, who began his career with CCA in 1992 as a correctional officer at Leavenworth Detention Center in Leavenworth, Kan., had made many company-related stops during his then-16 years with the company. He later served as a training manager at CCA’s Central Arizona Detention Facility in Florence, Ariz., before joining the company’s Facility Support Center headquarters in Nashville in 1995, where he’s served as vice president, Business Analysis, as well as vice president and senior vice president, Federal Customer Relations.
In those roles, Hininger’s expertise in business management, employee relations and facility operations touched many facets of the company – and at all levels. Hininger’s background on the front lines of corrections also enhanced his previous leadership in CCA’s Business Development department.
Hininger is now very visible on the national corrections landscape. As such, he felt strongly that seeing and experiencing each CCA prison, detention center and jail up close and personal would strengthen his understanding of the company in all aspects, while enabling him to connect more personally to CCA employees.
“It’s very important to have a good frame of reference when it’s time to make decisions,” Hininger explains.
That perspective – and the peace of mind that a personal connection can cultivate – is even more important during challenging economic times.
“It’s even more important to be visible within our facilities because of the current economic environment,” Hininger says. “It’s important that our employees know firsthand that we’re doing well as a company, have had strong performance and face a bright future.”
Hininger’s facility visits have enabled CCA employees to broaden their point of view and see themselves not only as facility workers, but as professionals contributing to a nationwide corrections system.
“Our employees have a better understanding of the challenges our government partners in corrections are facing in the aftermath of the recession and a tough fiscal environment,” Hininger explains. “I sit and speak with the government contract monitors in our facilities, too.”
In 2010, as Hininger wraps up his two-year tour of CCA’s 65 facilities, he believes that this is a stepping stone to the type of accessibility that today’s leaders must embrace and enact.
“I think leaders have to be more visible and vocal today,” he says. “Our employees, our communities and our government partners increasingly want more of a direct line to ethical, passionate and relatable leaders. And that’s what I hope to continue to do effectively.”