The Backstory Jarrard Inc.

Join host Anne Hancock Toomey as she sits down with Pete November, CEO of Ochsner Health, on the inaugural episode of The Backstory podcast. Starting from his early days flipping burgers at Wendy’s, November went through undergrad and law school at the University of Kentucky – where one of his most formative leadership lessons occurred – and began his career as a healthcare attorney specializing in M&A. Moving from private practice to in-house roles, November rose through the ranks to eventually become CEO of Ochsner Health. In this candid conversation, he shares the pivotal moments, influential mentors and personal challenges that shaped his path.
November highlights the importance of authenticity, listening, team building and pursuing the ever-elusive work-life balance. He also dives into the leadership qualities that have guided him, the impact of his career on his family – and his family on his career – and…Saturday lunch.
Tune in for an inspiring episode and don’t forget to follow us on social @jarrardinc!
Episode highlights:
02:02 Intro and Overview
04:20 Origin Story
06:51 First Job
07:41 Education and Early Career
10:01 Transition to Legal Career
14:16 Going from Private Practice to In-House
24:01 Career at Ochsner Health
28:36 Work and Career in the Larger Context of Life
30:51 Effective Leadership and Flaws
33:44 Role of Faith
34:36 Lightning Round
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Welcome to The Backstory, with Anne Hancock Toomey, president and founding partner of Jarrard Inc. For nearly two decades, Jarrard – one of the nation’s top communications consulting firms for healthcare – has partnered with thousands of leaders across the country who are striving to make healthcare better every day.
But this isn't a podcast about healthcare, or politics or even communications. It's about authentic leadership.
The Backstory is about demystifying respected leaders who've had a lot of success along the way because of the kind of leaders they've chosen to be.
Each person Anne interviews is visionary, of course. They’re smart as hell, and they’re fierce about their business and their mission. They're also humble, kind and create the kind of environments in which people can thrive. They're not perfect. But they are real. And it’s the combination of those two things that makes each one of them great.
In every episode, Anne’s guest digs into who they are, where they come from and what's influenced them to be the person and the leader that they are today.
Which raises the question: Just who are these guests? We won't spill everything, but her first conversations include Pete November, CEO of Ochsner Health; Chris Roth, CEO of St. Luke’s Health System in Idaho and Sheri Shapiro, chief strategy officer of CommonSpirit Health.
Pull up a virtual chair and join us in these intimate, compelling conversations starting later this month. We’ll be dropping episodes on a biweekly basis, so be sure to subscribe in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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Karin Jeffers, CEO of Clinical & Support Options (CSO), discusses the founding of CSO in 1955 and the organization's mission to provide mental health services to families across Western Massachusetts. She highlights the evolution of behavioral health care and the progress made in reducing stigma, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jeffers also discusses the unique challenges and opportunities in Western Massachusetts, including the need for collaboration and recruitment of staff. She emphasizes the importance of integrating behavioral health care and the transition to value-based care. Jeffers shares insights on implementing change, the role of Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers, and the need for closing the gap in salaries and funding between mental health and medical care.
Key Takeaways

Clinical & Support Options (CSO) was founded in 1955 to address the mental health needs of families in Franklin County.

The COVID-19 pandemic has helped reduce stigma around mental health and increased willingness to seek help.

Collaboration and recruitment of staff are ongoing challenges in providing behavioral health care in Western Massachusetts.

Integration of behavioral health care and the transition to value-based care are important for improving outcomes.

Closing the gap in salaries and funding is crucial to recognizing the value of behavioral health care.


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Dan Beuerlein is a managing director at Brentwood Capital, where he advises health services companies on M&A and capital raises. While his expertise extends across sectors, he has a particular focus on autism services, women's health and fertility, and outpatient surgery. Here, Beuerlein and Jarrard Vice President Ellis Metz talk about the state of the capital markets today, the work PE and other investors need to do to better tell the story of their work and value in healthcare, and their perspective on Jarrard's recent national consumer survey on private equity and post-acute care.
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This Sunday, we’re unveiling our new survey (the first of its kind at Jarrard), which sought the opinion of more than 1,000 adults across the country about their perception of post-acute models of care and private equity’s role in healthcare. Over the past decade, industry segments such as urgent care clinics and post-acute rehabilitation have evolved from emergent trends to mainstream components of care delivery. And in parallel, the involvement of private investors in healthcare has grown. With this survey, we aimed to understand consumers’ baseline views of these care delivery and business models, particularly in an era of eroding trust in healthcare institutions.
In this week’s High Stakes podcast, we speak with Jarrard Vice President, Health Services Dan Schlacter about some of the survey’s headline takeaways. As one of the co-developers of the questionnaire, Schlacter sheds light on the implications of these insights.
Key points:

Broadly speaking, consumers’ perspectives on PE and “alternative” sites of care are not limited to leaders within those sectors. This survey is also relevant to hospital/acute care decision makers, particularly to understand which models or care people trust (and don’t trust) in the context of potential partnerships.

That said, one significant takeaway is everybody has room to improve. In Schlacter’s words, “there’s not a whole lot of trust out there to begin with.” Remaining up to speed with the various levels of trust across the industry provides a valuable innovation and partnership playbook for leaders of every stripe. It can also help them retain, or gain, the coveted trust of key stakeholders when it counts the most.

Speaking of “levels of trust”… government lawmakers and regulators are at the bottom of the barrel. At the same time, they have the power and jurisdiction to manifest change. Rather than doing so with an iron-fisted regulatory mindset, the public’s low view of these groups is an opportunity to adopt a partnership mindset between the government and private sector. Regulators can recognize that healthcare innovators, including investors, are driving positive change in the industry, and they can foster a supportive relationship to help accelerate new care models, ideas and partnerships that improve healthcare for everyone. 


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McDermott Will & Emery's annual two-day event convenes leaders and investors from across the industry to discuss emergent trends and topics impacting the healthcare investment world. This year, its timing couldn’t have been more appropriate. On Tuesday, just one day before the conference kicked off, the FTC, HHS and DOJ announced their shared investigation into private equity’s role in healthcare. This development, among others shaping the market – including the continued repercussions of large-scale cyber security incidents – made for lively conversation this year. Miami was buzzing.
In the mix from our firm were Sheila Biggs, VP Health Services and Ellis Metz, VP Strategic Partnerships. We caught up with them as they were leaving town - Sheila recording from the hotel lobby, to get a few of their observations.
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