My unexpected journey from intern to CEO

I believe there are fateful moments that have the ability to define and shape your career and who you will become. For me, the first was in the spring of 1982.

My Personal Fork-in-the-Road

A little more than 3 decades ago, I was working my way through college doing construction work in Texas. As my last summer of college neared, I began to accept my fate of laboring in the Texas heat. The one chance to escape was a summer internship at Adventist Health System (now AdventHealth), which I was sure would go to the #1 student in the class.

Then, several days later, I got an unexpected call. The frontrunner for the internship was unavailable, and I was next on the list of candidates. That person’s choice to decline the internship was a life-altering opportunity for me. 

Journey from Intern to CEO

From my first role as a finance intern to my current role as CEO, I’ve seen every facet of the business through understanding the hospital operations level and working with clinicians, administrators and leadership teams. I’ve learned what it takes to care for a patient and effectively run a hospital from the business side.

I spent years working in hospital operations wearing scrubs and not a suit. I worked with scheduling patients and transporting them so that we could find ways to help doctors and nurses make improvements. It was team-oriented, and to this day, I like nothing more than working with a team of people to find solutions.

When I became the CFO of our health system, the valuable experience and perspective I gained working at our hospitals allowed me to make better decisions that affect all areas of the organization.

My formative years working in our hospitals helped to shape my view of the business and how I approach “creative destruction,” or constantly evaluating and refining our processes. If something is broken, I want to fix it. That’s how I tackled the financial road map and constructed a model for our system to grow and improve. 

The Road Ahead

From our system’s roots in the Seventh-day Adventist Church to our consumer-centric transformation journey, our core mission remains: Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ. 

In the coming weeks I’ll be sharing more about a turning point I had 6 months before becoming CEO, one I call my professional epiphany, that inspired me to re-think how our operations impact our mission and ultimately influenced our decision to transform our organization to become a consumer-centric, clinically excellent faith-based health care brand.

Moving ahead, I want to provide a behind-the-scenes look into the heart and soul of what we do. I’d like to use this space to share my experiences—both personal and professional— as well as some of the experiences I hear daily from leaders at AdventHealth and our team members working directly with patients. By connecting directly with you, I hope to spark an honest conversation about our journey and our industry; where we’ve stumbled, where we are headed, and inspirations we have picked up along the way.