Daniel Gandarilla
Chief Administrative & People Officer
Dr. Daniel Gandarilla serves as the Chief Administrative & People Officer at Gulf Coast Blood. Since joining the organization in January 2025, he has been instrumental in shaping HR strategy, workforce development, and organizational culture, ensuring alignment with Gulf Coast Blood’s mission and growth objectives.
Dr. Gandarilla is known for his ability to navigate complex organizational challenges, including merger and integration work, crisis management (Ebola & COVID-19), ERP implementation, corporate restructuring, and virtual/remote teaming. His strategic collaboration with business leaders has consistently delivered outstanding results, fostering high-performing teams and operational efficiency. His pragmatic, human-centered approach to HR has contributed to national recognition for organizations under his leadership, including being named among Forbes’ “Best Places to Work” and Newsweek’s “Most Loved Workplaces” within large healthcare systems.
In his role, Dr. Gandarilla oversees total rewards, talent acquisition, employee relations, and talent management, ensuring that Gulf Coast Blood continues to attract, develop, and retain top talent. Additionally, he plays a key role in the organization’s strategic vision.
Beyond his professional responsibilities, Dr. Gandarilla is deeply committed to service. He currently serves on the national board of the National Association of Latino Healthcare Executives and is a faculty member at Wake Forest University, where he teaches Human Resources and Organization Development in the Master of Healthcare Administration program. He has also contributed his time to various non-profit boards, including Arts+, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Carolinas, the American Heart Association of Western NC and South Carolina, the Tarrant Area Food Bank, and the Colleyville Soccer Association.
Dr. Gandarilla holds a doctorate in educational leadership and an MBA in management from Texas Christian University, as well as a master’s degree in education and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and political science from Stanford University. Through his leadership, Dr. Gandarilla continues to drive organizational excellence, foster employee engagement, and support the mission of saving lives through blood donation and research.
Published Articles:
Workforce Compendium 2.0, August 2025
Redefining Total Rewards for Nurse Leaders - Aligning incentives, support and development to improve nurse leader retention and impact. Daniel Gandarilla, Eric Feinstein and Trevor Walker participated as recruited human resource executive colleagues on the Total Rewards subcommittee.
Talent Insights: Daniel Gandarilla emphasizes influence without authority, January 2024
Chief Talent Officer: Advocate Health SVP and CHRO – Executive Services, Daniel Gandarilla, shares his personal career story and lessons learned.
Executive offers advice to Wingate grads about work, May 2024
Union County Weekly: Executive, Daniel Gandarilla, offers advice to Wingate University grads about work environment.
Workforce Compendium 3, February 2023
Daniel Gandarilla Conducting a Market Analysis. Nursing Leadership Workforce Compendium Three: Academic Practice Partnerships, Culture of Inquiry, Total Rewards: AONL (2023).
How to Make Your Matrix Organization Really Work, November 2022
MIT Sloan Management Review: How to Make Your Matrix Organization Really Work - Vishal Bhalla, Daniel Gandarilla, and Michael Watkins. Shifting the reporting structure to a matrix model has its challenges, but leaders can find success by focusing on four key elements.
Daniel Gandarilla Aids Atrium Health’s Expansion and Evolution, May 2022
Hispanic Executive Magazine: Atrium Health has grown steadily over the last eight decades, and Daniel Gandarilla unites systems, structures, and people to help the health system bring quality care to new regions.
Safety and Reliability in Healthcare, November 2021
Association for Talent Development: Safety and Ratability in Healthcare - Q&A with Daniel Gandarilla and Candy Baptist.
Status Quo? Not this CLO, January 2019
Chief Learning Officer Magazine: Status Quo? Not this CLO - Texas Health Resources’ CLO, Daniel Gandarilla, is transforming the learning culture, tearing down silos and saving millions of dollars in the process.
A Unifying Vision, April 2018
Hispanic Executive Magazine: A Unifying Vision - Through Texas Health’s Learning Function, Daniel Gandarilla is helping create One Texas Health at Texas Health Resources.