As academic medical centers feel more pressure to change and to serve students and communities in new ways, new types of leaders are needed. In this interview, Karen E. Otto, managing partner and practice leader, Academic Medicine & Health Sciences, considers the implications for AMCs and executive recruiting.
Question: What’s happening around the role of a typical clinical department chair or dean? Are the responsibilities of leadership expanding in…
Under pressure to close funding gaps through bigger and broader donor campaigns, colleges and universities often lean toward hiring advancement leaders with resumes that include proven fundraising success. In fact, a candidate’s fundraising experience can now matter most to many hiring committees.
Mercedes Chacon Vance, who leads Witt/Kieffer’s higher education advancement team, acknowledges the frustration this creates for many alumni relations and other professionals looking to advance their careers but who do not have significant fundraising backgrounds. In a recent…
By Sue A. LeGrand
The demand for physician leaders remains high as institutions continue to recognize the need for individuals to guide their organizations through today’s ever-changing healthcare landscape. Despite fierce competition for qualified candidates, a strong clinical background and impressive educational resume aren’t enough to secure a position. Even the most sought-after candidates…
When the Economist Intelligence Unit recently sought expertise for a white paper on challenges in healthcare executive recruiting, one of the experts it turned to was Witt/Kieffer president and CEO Andrew Chastain. As hospitals and health systems look for top talent, Chastain believes, they have to understand what will differentiate them from competing organizations. If executive candidates get the sense that an organization’s leadership team is not interested in innovating, for example, they’ll look elsewhere.
[caption…
Healthcare is looking for more CEOs who are physicians. A pertinent question, therefore, is whether physicians generally make good CEOs. And if so, what are the considerations around hiring a doctor to lead the entire organization? In the Q&A below, senior partner Kimberly Smith, FACHE, considers the issues.
There are more physician CEOs today than in years past. Are they generally successful or do results vary significantly from one to another? What factors are at play?
Smith:…
For David J. Cook, MD, MHA, FAHA, life is about learning. Learning, he says, comes from seizing upon opportunities for new experiences that force him outside of his comfort zone. Dr. Cook holds a B.A. in Biology and Philosophy from Lehigh University, an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Tennessee, and an M.D. from Jefferson Medical College, with residency and fellowship training at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He was an anesthesiologist and faculty member at Mayo who…
Witt/Kieffer senior partner Dennis Barden recently chatted – via the Google Hangouts video service – with Higher Ed Live’s Rob Zinkan about the recruiting of college presidents in this time of great challenges within higher education. Having participated in dozens of presidential searches in recent years, Barden had plenty of insight to share over the course of the 45-minute interview.
Today’s college presidency is such a tough job, Barden notes, that it’s almost “irrational” that individuals would pursue it. Those…
By Nick Giannas
In an information age, the critical importance of information security is just becoming fully realized. The most vigilant organizations in the private and public sector are vulnerable to cyber-threats, as we have seen, and it is well known that healthcare data and information will be a target for hackers and other criminals in the future.
Not surprisingly, the position of healthcare Chief Information Security Officer has mushroomed in significance. It’s a true executive-level position, I recently told Rajiv…
By Zachary A. Smith, Ph.D.
Sometimes described as a “dog-and-pony show” or likened to speed dating, the interview process for senior-level executives in academia is demanding and often imperfect. After many years in higher education, first as a campus administrator and now as a recruiter, I’m no stranger to either side of the search process.
Recently I had the opportunity to share thoughts on The Best Higher Education Search Committees in an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education. It…
The growing number of clinicians making their way to the C-Suite — to Chief Medical Officer, Chief Clinical Officer, and other roles — has been noted many times here on the Witt & Wisdom blog. (See, for example, “Health System Leadership: Seeking Physician Executives with Business Acumen.”) This trend is not slowing down and was the focus of the cover story of Health Leaders Magazine’s May issue. Kudos to that publication for a lengthy, well-researched,…