Welcome, Larry Tracy!
An experienced health care executive and former U.S. Army officer is now leading Memorial Hospital as president. Larry Tracy, who began working at Memorial in June, was President of Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital and Progress West Hospital in Missouri from 2013-2016 and Chief Operating Officer at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital from 2008-2013.
During his tenure, he was instrumental in developing strong teams, growing clinical programs, aligning and standardizing clinical operations, and gaining efficiencies to reduce costs and deliver more value for patients and customers.
A United States Army officer from 1991-1999, Larry’s career turned to health care when he served as a business analyst for The Ohio State University Health System, an administrative fellow for Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and vice president for Evanston Northwestern Healthcare. He earned his master’s degree in health administration from The Ohio State University.
Larry was generous enough to share his thoughts about his decision to come to Beacon, his leadership style and his personal interests.
What about Memorial Hospital and Beacon led you to pursue this leadership opportunity?
“I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to join the team at Memorial Hospital and Beacon Health System. There are many reasons I want to be here. From a professional standpoint, Memorial Hospital has a long history of excellence in many categories, to include clinical quality, patient safety, employee engagement, community engagement and innovation.
My first encounter with someone from Memorial was in the late 1990s when (Beacon CEO) Phil Newbold visited my graduate school program at Ohio State. His presentation about Memorial captured my attention because it was very different than what I had heard from many other alumni presenters. Then, approximately five years ago, I visited Memorial with several other leaders from BJC HealthCare to learn about how they employ Lean principles to drive and sustain improvements. We adopted and adapted several ideas and incorporated them into the things we were doing in our own hospitals in St. Louis.
During my interview process for this role, I was impressed by the Memorial and Beacon team. It all started with Mr. Richard Harris (with our valet team) when I arrived at Memorial. It was a cold Monday morning (after the Super Bowl) and his warm welcome set the tone for my entire visit. With each meeting/interview, my interest continued to grow and I wanted to learn more. From a personal standpoint, South Bend is an ideal location. My wife and I are originally from Ohio and most of our family members continue to live there. Our son, Christopher (20), attends Ohio State and we like to watch the Buckeyes play football in the fall. It also gives us an excuse to check in on Christopher and family. The trip from South Bend is only four hours, compared with nearly eight hours from St. Louis.”
How would you describe your leadership style, and how do you plan to lead Memorial in this ever-changing world of health care?
“I would describe my leadership style as engaging and participative. I am always curious to learn what our team members do, how they do it and how our leadership team can enable them to reach new heights. Memorial and Beacon are loaded with talented team members, physicians and leaders.
My initial plan at this point is to meet people, get to know them and our organization and seek their perspectives on the opportunities and challenges we face. I have a lot to learn about the ‘state of health care’ in this region, not only through the lens of our organization, but also throughout the communities we serve (or have not reached yet). It is a big challenge to balance all of this and get my family transitioned into the area, but I am looking forward to it.”
What are some hobbies/interests?
“First and foremost, my extracurricular activities center on my wife (Debbie) and children (we have two daughters, Madison (13) and Isabel (12) who live at home). Personally, I like many things that require physical activity: cycling (road and hybrid/leisure), walking, basketball and a variety of other sports. Non-fiction reading (military history, leadership and sports) is also high on the list. Another activity I enjoy is taking care of my yard. As strange as that may seem, I find it relaxing and a way to disconnect from the world on a local level.”
