John Mitchell leads ambulatory, post-acute services in his new role
Step into John Mitchell’s office and you get the measure of the man.
His shelves are a veritable Texas Health museum with mementoes from the many collaborations he’s helped forge in his 26 years with the system. Awards for his service on various professional and community boards are interspersed with family photos and keepsakes. John’s innate fairness shines through with memorabilia from both of his sons’ alma maters — the University of Texas and Texas Christian University — even though John and his wife, Kay, are loyal University of Texas alumni.
The collections offer a glimpse into the professional expertise and people skills that have helped make John a top “deal maker” in his long tenure with Texas Health. His career broadened last year when he was named the Ambulatory & Post-Acute and Channel Support Services chief operating officer.
In a nutshell, this new position supports the delivery of consistent quality, consumer experience and affordability in the ambulatory and post-acute settings. John additionally oversees a multitude of support services, including Safety, Security and Emergency Management; Central Staffing Office and Patient Logistics; Construction Management; Business Growth; System Engineering; and Health Technology Management.
He continues to oversee the System Business Development function he’s long headed to build Texas Health’s extensive network of alliances, enabling the system to care for consumers across North Texas.
John, 58, primarily supports the core business side of Texas Health operations, but he’ll also have a role in helping the system compete on health and well-being, especially in helping get arrangements and agreements in place once collaborators have been identified.
Serving consumers through collaboration
“My new role continues my previous work in that I’m still doing business transactions,” John said. “But now I’m getting to learn about a whole lot of things I’ve never been involved with and work with a variety of leaders who have direct operational accountabilities to deliver services to our hospitals and consumers. There’s a difference between putting a deal together and working with a team that must operate something day-to-day.”
John’s long career at Texas Health has given him a broad perspective of Texas Health’s operations. He joined Harris Methodist Health System in 1993 as the director of tax after work with public accounting firms in Houston and Fort Worth and a real estate company in Fort Worth. John quickly became deeply immersed in projects such as the formation of Texas Health Resources in 1997.
Through the years he worked on teams that engineered such major transactions as the formation of Texas Health joint venture hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers (Surgical Care Affiliates and Spine Team Texas) and imaging centers (Envision), as well as the creation of Southwestern Health Resources with UT Southwestern Medical Center.
“John’s broad experience in building collaborations and managing those relationships has helped Texas Health better serve the consumers of North Texas,” said Barclay Berdan, FACHE, Texas Health CEO. “In his new role as a channel leader he is playing an even greater role in support of Texas Health’s evolution to a consumer-centric organization.”
Listening and understanding
John feels his “super power” in doing business transactions is the ability to listen. This leads to understanding what the other side needs and why they hold a certain point-of-view.
“If we were doing a deal and you told me what you had to have out of it, and I told you what Texas Health had to have out of it, and what you needed out of the deal didn’t conflict with what Texas Health had to have out of it, all the rest is pretty easy to settle in the middle,” John said.
Leaders of Texas Health’s affiliated organizations laud John’s insights and market knowledge but emphasize his character.
“I associate John with unparalleled character, integrity and humility. He leads through the values of Texas Health and has always welcomed us, not just as a valued affiliate but as a valued member of the Texas Health team,” said Chip Zahn, group president of operations, Surgical Care Affiliates.
Giving back at work and in the community
As the son of an Exxon engineer, John spent his childhood primarily in Baytown, Texas, with a year in the Netherlands. Junior and senior high school was spent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. An Eagle Scout, he had two ambitions — to follow his three older siblings to the University of Texas and to become a lawyer.
While at UT he changed his professional direction to finance. He focused on accounting and became a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA). His nonprofit tax accounting work led him to Texas Health in 1993.
He didn’t just gain a new direction while at UT. That’s where John met his wife, Kay. Married 36 years, they have two adult sons, Kevin and Seth, both professionals in the Metroplex. Family is top priority for John.
“I’m grateful that Texas Health always allowed me to be at the boys’ various activities when they were growing up,” John said.
John and Kay value community service. They sponsored the boys’ youth groups and are very active in the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, where they live. They serve on community boards, following John’s parents’ example in giving back to the community.
“John values relationships and incorporates a high dose of humility and empathy into his leadership character,” said Kirk King, Hospital Channel chief operating officer. “Over the past 20 years, I have watched John succeed in multiple roles and have no doubt he and those who work with him in his new role will help Texas Health rise to new heights.”
Getting to Know John Mitchell
Passions:
I like to walk, averaging 15,000 steps a day. Learning is a passion, especially listening to audio courses. And I enjoy traveling with my family and attending sporting events with my sons.
Weaknesses:
My stress-eating go-to is Chicken Express. I love chocolate but am not a fan of peanut butter.
Pet peeve:
People who treat others differently based on rank or title. My parents taught me that.
Biggest challenge:
My work now is much more unpredictable than when I was mainly working business transactions. I’m having to learn to be more adaptable as I work more with operations.
What people don’t know about me:
Kay and I met in the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity at the University of Texas. In addition to service projects, APO runs the Texas flag before football games. Kay and I were campus blood drive co-chairs, which is ironic since I faint at the sight of needles.
By Andy Wilson • Posted January 28, 2020
