Today’s guest is Gerald “Gerry” Vicenzi, the President of Synernet, Inc. Synernet is a for-profit provider of a broad portfolio of administrative and management services to healthcare organizations including workers compensation administration, clinical engineering, credentialing, coding, and transcription. Gerry has been the President of Synernet since 1999, and under his leadership, Synernet has grown from 25 to more than 270 employees. Gerry brought a wealth of experience with him when he moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Portland, Maine where Synernet is headquartered. Starting out his his career as an industrial engineer and it is fascinating to hear how his engineering background influenced his management approach. He shares his successes and struggles over his forty three year career. We discuss organizational leadership and mentorship, and close on the importance of networking through professional organizations such as ACHE.
I was particularly interested in interviewing Gerry because Synernet represents a very different kind of organization than we have had on the podcast so far. It was fascinating to listen to how he made strategic decisions to adjust the portfolio of services over the years in response to changes in the marketplace, changes in technology, and changes in the competitive environment for his clients.
Links to the Podcast:
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/healthleaderforge/gerald-gerry-vicenzi-president-of-synernet-inc
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/health-leader-forge/the-health-leader-forge/e/gerald-gerry-vicenzi-president-of-synernet-inc-43177697
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/healthleaderforge/id981989377
Transcript is available here.
Podcast Outline
Time Topic
0:02:13 training in industrial engineering
0:06:35 Rhode Island Hospital Administration
0:09:35 joining Health Information Management Society
0:10:04 consulting with Medicus Systems in Chicago
0:11:23 Medicus moves Gerry to Cleveland, begins relationship with Mt. Sinai
0:13:36 Saudi Arabia
0:15:21 transition to employment at Mt. Sinai
0:15:57 trying out recruiting
0:17:44 back to Mt. Sinai - rising to Vice President
0:19:36 resiliency - dealing with being layed off
0:22:11 creating a consulting practice
0:23:16 VP for Material Management Services, Greater Cleveland Hospital
Association
0:29:24 leadership roles with the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association
0:30:43 recruited to lead Synernet, coming to Maine
0:37:23 revitalizing Synernet - refocused vision and mission
0:44:27 acquisition by Maine Health
0:51:30 expanding the Synernet portfolio, adding credentialing
0:57:13 expanding the Synernet portfolio, adding coding
0:58:26 summary of changes of the Synernet portfolio
1:03:13 discussion of the current strategic direction of Synernet
1:08:23 the hard decisions as CEO - not strategy, people
1:10:59 role of the President/CEO
1:20:42 leadership philosophy
1:22:00 characteristics of a good leader
1:25:16 organizational culture
1:26:50 mentorship
1:34:53 the influence of ACHE
1:38:49 advice to early careerists
Links to Topics Discussed:
We are now using TinyLetter to send out announcements related to the podcast!
You can subscribe by entering your e-mail address below.
We will send out no more than one e-mail each week.
You can subscribe by entering your e-mail address below.
We will send out no more than one e-mail each week.