Please tell us a little about your background and what inspired you to pursue a career in healthcare:
As an undergraduate, I studied industrial engineering at Texas A&M University. After my time in college, I had the opportunity to work for a start-up in the food industry and also with non-profits in both Australia and Honduras. Those were formative experiences and started me on a journey to find a career where I could use my background to make a difference. In 2005, I moved to Durham, North Carolina where I spent the next two years working on a Master’s of Business Administration from the Duke Fuqua School of Business. While at Duke, I had the opportunity to lead a team of engineers, medical students, and MBAs in a project to develop low-cost, sustainable medical devices for hospitals in developing countries. It was a moving experience to work on an initiative aimed at lifesaving care. Through that effort, I discovered a passion for healthcare and making an impact —one that I couldn’t ignore. After Duke, I spent 11 years with the Memorial Hermann Health System, most recently serving as Vice President of Operations at Memorial Hermann Cypress Hospital, where I had the honor of helping to plan, develop and open that facility.
Today, I am nearing the completion of my 7th year as the Chief Operating Officer at Houston Methodist West Hospital. At Houston Methodist West, we have an incredible team. We have ranked among Vizient’s Top 10 Quality hospitals nationally for the past seven years and were #2 in 2024. We are currently working on a $185 million campus expansion that will position the hospital with over 300 beds. I have been a Fellow in the ACHE for 10 years.
I am passionate about community development and am currently serving as the Vice President for the Katy ISD Education Foundation, on the Executive Committee for the Katy Area Economic Development Council, and on Board of Governors for ACHE Houston.
What activities do you like to do in your free time?
I love spending as much time as I can with my wife, Suzanne, and daughter Brielle. With any extra time, I enjoy sports and outdoor adventure activities of all kinds with my favorites being fly-fishing, surfing, basketball, golf and soccer. I am also a longtime volunteer at St. John Vianney Catholic Church.
What is your favorite ACHE memory or activity?
My first ACHE Congress in Chicago has to be at the top of the list. I remember being surprised by a few things: (1) the depth of the content, (2) how much I learned and took away, (3) how many people I already knew there, and (4) how fortunate we are to have such a large community of dedicated individuals working to improve healthcare. Of course, getting my results back from the FACHE exam and realizing I could finally put down the study materials was hard to beat as well!
How do you envision healthcare in the next 10 years?
I believe we are living and leading in the most exciting decade of healthcare yet. I think we will see big leaps in the next 10 years that are much more profound than the last 10. The tools we have at our disposal now are incredible and generating gains that are accelerating daily. I expect that will lead to more coordinated and efficient care with even more personalized and optimized results for our patients. Wellness, drug development, training, diagnosis, and best practice sharing (among others) will all be easier to achieve and will happen in a fraction of today’s required time. As an industrial engineer and healthcare leader, I am excited to help drive these innovations as quickly as possible. It is imperative that we continuously seek ways to increase value with the tools at our disposal.