Leadership Alignment in Action: Highlights from Becker’s CEO + CFO Roundtable
This week was my first time attending the Becker's Healthcare CEO + CFO Roundtable, and honestly, I didn’t quite know what to expect. Most of my career has been spent inside the digital health and IT orbit, listening to digital, IT, and product leaders talk about transformation through a technology lens. But hearing directly from CEOs and CFOs about how they define transformation...what drives it, what slows it down, and what alignment really looks like when you’re responsible for thousands of employees and millions of patients, brought a totally different dimension. It was equal parts inspiring (as always, because #healthcare!) and grounding.
One of my favorite sessions featured Eduardo Conrado, President of Ascension, who spoke with incredible transparency about their operational reset: portfolio optimization, rigorous cost management, and a renewed focus on resilience. He talked about how those efforts led to a 20% increase in ambulatory growth (acquisition of AmSurg certainly played a role!) and a turnaround in acute care performance, from losing 3% in margin to gaining 2%. But what struck me most wasn’t the numbers; it was how open he was about their cyberattack... and the fact that he even testified before Congress. He framed it as part of leading with transparency and trust, and that theme kept surfacing throughout the conference: honesty as a form of leadership currency.
In another session, Jennifer Wandersleben, CEO of AdventHealth, described her CFO as her strategy partner. Jennifer and her husband are friends with the CFO and his wife... and as a relationship person at my core, I just LOVE this. She shared as a duo, they try to be right about 80% of the time, and that balance of confidence and humility really resonated. It’s not about rigid planning; it’s about collaboration, trust, and the ability to course-correct together. She also talked about workforce realities: paying fairly and retaining people isn’t just a financial decision but a strategic one. Creating pathways for internal growth, even across verticals, was a reminder that culture and retention are operational strategies. During that session, Nick Barcellona echoed that when he talked about the importance of recruiting talent you already have, because the cost of turnover isn't just everything involved with onboarding a new hire, but it's LOSING the institutional knowledge.
Doug Watson, CEO of Allina Health, was asked about unions in Minnesota and he reframed the relationship between labor and management, saying that the nurses taking care of patients every day just happen to belong to a union...and that shared purpose should always come first. He used the phrase “block and tackle” to describe leadership: roll up your sleeves, use the data, take the statements, and do something with them. Sounds simple. But so effective!
Everywhere I turned, there were convos about alignment: not just between CEO and CFO, but across mission and margin, between long-term strategy and near-term stability. Growth, resilience, and innovation all require that kind of cohesion.
The session on AI in the C-Suite built on that beautifully. Dr Abha Agrawal MD said, “Show me dark green dollars, not light green dollars,” which got a knowing laugh but made an important point: it’s not enough to innovate...we have to show measurable, sustainable value. And the reminder during that session of empathy can’t be automated — “until AI’s father dies or brother loses his job…” — was both poignant and grounding, and underscores the "human in the loop" approach with all things AI.
Lisa Fino from Temple Health – Temple University Health System shared an example that hit close to home my friends in the #SwaayHealth community (Erica Olenski, BCPA, FACHDM🎗️✨ and Grace Vinton!)...patient and caregiver advisory councils are critical! And she explained how patients need to feel that AI is a part of the care team. By doing this, they dropped patient abandonment rates from 35% to 2% (!!!) — proof that patient-centered design isn’t a tagline; it’s measurable, operational, and deeply human (even without "Suzy at the front desk").
And then came the Hippocratic AI panel: standing room only, and for good reason! I’ve gotten to know the team and the technology recently, and hearing from leaders like Dr. Waite from OhioHealth, David Sylvan from UH, Oliver Rhine from Cincinnati Children's, and Andrew Walker, CPA from WellSpan made it clear why so many people were there (and not just because of their funding announcement the day before!). Each shared real (and POWERFUL!) outcomes, not hypotheticals: expanded access in rural communities, increased outreach volume, reduced abandonment, and even new revenue streams that fund better care.
One of my favorite lines came from Dr. Waite, who was sharing how OhioHealth is pioneering AI technology. He said, “People talk about the risk of using AI...but no one talks about the risk of not using it.” That balance of courage and caution (and progress without recklessness!) was a great reminder of the balance of everything in an AI healthcare journey. The mindset of responsibility through action felt like the connective thread between clinical leaders, financial executives, and innovators alike.
By the end of the conference, I walked away with a notebook full of insights (as always!!) and a bigger appreciation for what true alignment looks like. Whether you sit in the CEO, CFO, or CIO chair, leading transformation in healthcare takes shared language, shared ownership, and an unwavering focus on the patients served.
I love conferences for many reasons. And this first Becker's event for me was no different. The learnings and the people keep me coming back, and I truly enjoy learning, listening, and connecting the dots across this ecosystem.