In 2019, Advisory Board President Eric Larsen sat down with 16 health care CEOs, going beyond the familiar names and nationally known organizations to learn about these leaders' personal journeys to the C-suite, get their perspectives on the industry's most pressing issues, and go behind the scenes on what makes them tick.

Meet Peter Banko, Centura Health's CEO. (You may also know him as a cattle rancher and blogger.) (Jan. 11)
Peter Banko, president and CEO of Centura Health, talks about the intersection of faith and business, the relationship between his cattle ranch and his work, leadership lessons from the nuns who treated Billy the Kid, and why his blog is such an important communication tool for him.

20+ years and 450+ hospitals and facilities later: How Ramsay's CEO helped turn a small Australian system into an $8.7B global health organization (Feb. 19)
Craig McNally, CEO and Managing Director of Sydney, Australia-based Ramsay Health Care, talks about Ramsay's first-of-its-kind partnership to create a global health care buying group with Ascension, the key distinctions between a multinational organization and a global one, and the lessons learned from his first stint as a hospital CEO—at age 25.

'A little bit of a pirate': How Kelby Krabbenhoft built a $6B system—and where he's taking Sanford next (Feb. 25)
Kelby Krabbenhoft, president and CEO of Sanford Health, talks about the unprecedented CEO-philanthropist partnership behind Sanford's rapid growth, why a successful leader needs to be "a little bit of a pirate," and the merger that will make Sanford a nearly $6 billion health system.

Don't call THR a 'hospital system': Inside CEO Barclay Berdan's vision for health care's future (March 25)
Barclay Berdan, CEO of Texas Health Resources (THR), talks about the "unprecedented challenge" he faced just a few months into the job, why he won't call THR a "hospital system," and how he helped establish the world's largest Blue Zones community—in Fort Worth.

From 'what if' to 'let's go': How Lloyd Dean and Kevin Lofton built a $29B system—and where they're going next (May 2)
CommonSpirit Health CEOs Lloyd Dean and Kevin Lofton talk about how they moved the Dignity Health-CHI merger from "what if" to "let's go," why they don't consider themselves "co-CEOs," and how they plan to "set the trend" for health care in America.

Why Sentara's CEO is 'psyched' about its soon-to-launch 'digital front door'—and where he's taking the $6.3B system next (May 10)
Howard Kern, president and CEO of Sentara Healthcare, describes Sentara's award-winning approach to spreading best practices throughout its system, previews its new "digital front door" that will transform how patients interact with the health system, and reveals how Sentara has turned Medicaid managed care into a successful business.

ProMedica CEO Randy Oostra reinvented himself at 30. Now he wants to reinvent health care. (May 22)
Randy Oostra, president and CEO of ProMedica, talks about the "life-changing" question that drove him to start over at age 30, ProMedica's burgeoning market in China, and what the HCR ManorCare acquisition means for the now-$7 billion system.

Brian Gragnolati plans to make Atlantic Health System 'indispensable.' Here's how. (Aug. 20)
Brian Gragnolati, president and CEO of Atlantic Health System, talks about his priorities as chair of the American Hospital Association, getting his first role as a hospital president while he was still in his twenties, and how he plans to make Atlantic an "indispensable" system.

Sutter CEO Sarah Krevans wants health care to be 'dramatically different in 10 years.' Here's how. (Aug. 27)
Sarah Krevans, president and CEO of Sutter Health, talks about what's not in her professional biography, discusses how California's Lake County fires helped define Sutter as a health system, and shares the "very luckiest thing" about herself.

From Ascension to Intermountain and now 'home' at SSM Health: How Laura Kaiser is 'systematizing' mission-based care (Sept. 4)
Laura Kaiser, president and CEO of SSM Health, talks about the call to nonprofit health care, SSM Health's legacy of caring for "Our Dear Lords," and why she's completed at least one triathlon almost every year—for the last 36 years.

Patrick Conway led the industry in health care transformation at CMS. At Blue Cross NC, he's not stopping. (Sept. 12)
Patrick Conway, then-president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina, talks about the "biggest change in the Blues system in more than 20 years," the family "mission statement" behind his career choices, and how he's challenging the industry on health care transformation—with an unprecedented model of two-sided risk.
Editor's note: Shortly after this interview was conducted and published, Conway resigned from his position with BCBS North Carolina.

Why Jim Hinton, CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health, says 'there isn't a hospital system of the future' (Sept. 25)
Jim Hinton, CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health (BSW), talks about joining Texas' largest nonprofit health system as an "outsider," the "freedom of capitation," how he's redefined the role of provider-sponsored plans, and some reflections on the BSW-Memorial Hermann merger that didn't come to pass.

'An ethical responsibility': How Cleveland Clinic CEO Tom Mihaljevic plans to reach 4M patients by 2024 (Oct. 9)
Tom Mihaljevic, president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic, talks about the extraordinary circumstances that took him from Croatia to the Clinic's C-suite, his view on growth as an "ethical responsibility," and why you should call your mother every day.

Why Quest Diagnostics' CEO isn't content to run the 'world's largest lab'—and where he's taking the $8B company next (Oct. 29)
Steve Rusckowski, chair, president, and CEO of Quest Diagnostics, talks about how diagnostic information services can inflect the country's $3.6 trillion in health care costs, the unexpected upside of the Theranos misadventure, and how Quest is thinking about the drawbacks—and benefits—of the landscape-changing regulatory shift known as PAMA.

'We prefer to be at the table': How Advocate Aurora's sole CEO is making the $12B organization an industry leader (Dec. 6)
Advocate Aurora Health President and CEO Jim Skogsbergh talks about why parting ways with former co-CEO Nick Turkal wasn't as "salacious" as people speculated, the "irreverence" that makes the organization's current partnerships so successful, and how the $12 billion organization is making sure it's "at the table"—not "on the table"—in a changing industry.