Costco has cultivated an enviable 7% annual employee turnover rate by paying more, investing in benefits and treating long-tenured hourly workers as an institutional asset.
With registered nurse turnover hitting 17.6% nationally in 2025 and the cost of losing a single full-time nurse running $60,090, the question of what healthcare might learn from Costco’s approach is hard to set aside. But Costco’s approach raises a related question: For health system executives who built careers in other industries before entering healthcare, what strategies did they bring with them, and how are those strategies helping them address industry challenges in 2026?
Becker’s connected with health system leaders who have backgrounds spanning the airline and railroad industries, the Walt Disney Co., retail banking and financial services. Their insights spanned workplace safety, organizational resilience, patient experience and workforce strategy.
Joe Gage described his pre-healthcare career as “planes, trains and jeans,” with stops that included Delta Air Lines, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and Levi Strauss. With a background in finance and law, he entered healthcare in 2003 as senior director of human resources at Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare and joined Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health in 2011, where he previously served as chief human resources officer before stepping into his current role as chief administrative officer.
Mr. Gage worked in the railroad industry during a major merger, in the airline industry in the aftermath of 9/11, and at a major health system during a period of transformation and growth. He said those experiences taught him that periods of uncertainty require leaders to think beyond immediate challenges and focus on building the scale, capabilities and partnerships needed to succeed over the long term.
“That mindset is especially relevant in healthcare today,” Mr. Gage said. “Whether we’re talking about workforce shortages, financial pressures, rapid technological change or an evolving policy environment, the challenges facing healthcare organizations are often bigger than any one organization can solve on its own.”
The lesson he has carried throughout his career is that when people unite around a common purpose, they are better equipped to adapt, innovate and thrive through change.
“In Catholic healthcare, that lesson is especially powerful because our shared mission provides a strong foundation,” Mr. Gage said. “Healthcare is ultimately a team sport. Strategy and scale matter, but mission is what brings people together and helps organizations remain resilient in the face of uncertainty.”
Eric Sean Clay came to healthcare security by way of federal law enforcement and the entertainment industry. He served in the U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service and held security leadership roles at Springfield, Mo.-based CoxHealth and the Walt Disney Co., before serving as vice president of security services at Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System. In October, Baton Rouge, La.-based FMOL Health named him chief security officer in its first system-level role dedicated to workplace safety.
Mr. Clay said the mindset he carried from his time at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort was a shift away from the traditional enforcement model toward a service-driven approach, in which security is a seamless, proactive part of the guest experience rather than an intimidating presence. He said that model applies directly to two of healthcare’s major challenges: mitigating workplace violence and easing caregiver strain.
“Healthcare is high stress, and anxiety can quickly turn into aggression toward caregivers,” Mr. Clay said. “When our security teams lead with empathy and treat patients and visitors as guests facing difficult moments, de-escalation becomes a service standard. Security then becomes an extension of the care team, helping defuse issues earlier.”
Mr. Clay said his teams apply the same hospitality mindset to caregivers, treating nurses, physicians and other staff as internal customers. He said feeling unsafe at work contributes to burnout, so his teams round with purpose and ask staff what support they need. That approach, he said, builds trust and supports retention.
Steve Basilotto’s 27 years in direct-to-consumer retail banking stretched across USAA Bank, Aetna, Aliya Financial Technologies and senior leadership positions at HSBC, GE Capital and Fidelity Investments. He joined Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based Froedtert ThedaCare Health as chief experience officer in 2018.
Mr. Basilotto said his banking career showed him that how a product or service is delivered often matters more to customers than the product itself, and that he has applied that lens to how Froedtert ThedaCare Health thinks about care access and delivery.
“My 27 years in direct-to-consumer retail banking solidified the necessity of understanding and valuing customer’s desires, particularly in terms of their experiences with our products or services and how the delivery of the product or service is often far more valuable than the items themselves,” Mr. Basilotto said. “I observed how customer experience became a key measure of success in retail banking: Customers didn’t want a mortgage; they wanted an easy process to acquire a home they could afford.”
He said the system has applied a voice-of-the-customer mindset with particular attention to healthcare access and care delivery. Over the past year, Froedtert ThedaCare Health expanded patient self-scheduling, added virtual care sites, introduced scheduling waitlists and optimization tools, and linked care teams across the organization.
“We recognize that how we provide care is as critical as the care itself, and we work to adjust our consumer experience expectations,” he said. “Our patients want their healthcare partner to provide high-quality, safe care; value their time and money; and deliver consistent, compassionate, supportive connections with every interaction.”
Tony Hernandez brings nearly 30 years of HR leadership to his role as chief human resources officer at Birmingham, Ala.-based Encompass Health. Before joining the company, he served as executive vice president of human resources at Regions Financial Corp., with earlier roles at Citigroup and PharMerica.
Mr. Hernandez said the contrast between banking and healthcare sharpened how he thinks about people strategy. In banking, organizations have more flexibility to drive growth through products and pricing. Healthcare operates under tighter regulatory constraints, which means the levers available to drive results are different and HR strategy has to be built accordingly.
“What has changed my thinking is realizing that effective leadership — and effective HR leadership in particular — isn’t about applying the same playbook everywhere,” Mr. Hernandez said. “It’s about understanding how the business operates and aligning people, culture and talent strategies to support its goals. The better you understand what drives success in your organization, the better partner you can be in helping it achieve results.”
That lesson has shaped how Encompass Health approaches recruiting and engagement. The system centralized portions of its recruitment strategy to create greater consistency and efficiency, helping hospitals fill critical roles more effectively while strengthening the candidate experience.
“Engaged employees are more likely to stay with the organization, work effectively with their teams and provide a better experience for patients,” he said. “That’s why we’ve invested significant effort in listening to employees, acting on their feedback and equipping leaders with the tools to create positive work environments. While employee engagement is often viewed as an HR metric, in healthcare it has a direct connection to patient care. When our nurses, therapists and support teams feel supported and engaged, they’re able to focus more fully on delivering exceptional outcomes for our patients.”
Carol Campbell spent more than 20 years at the Walt Disney Co. and Delta Air Lines before joining St. Louis-based Ascension as senior vice president and chief experience officer in 2022.
Ms. Campbell said one of the most valuable lessons she carried from her time outside healthcare is that exceptional experiences do not happen by accident — they are intentionally designed around the needs of the people being served.
“I have learned that regardless of the industry, you have to be relentlessly focused on listening,” Ms. Campbell said. “That is the only way to ensure the best possible experience while also removing friction and building trust through every interaction. While healthcare is far more complex, the underlying human expectations are remarkably similar. People seek out transparency and clear communication as they grow to trust that someone is looking out for them. I believe we have to ask how we can make healthcare more seamless for the people receiving care, and the friends and family who journey alongside them, and more sustainable for those delivering it.”
She said that philosophy has shaped how Ascension approaches consumer experience, extending the system’s focus beyond the exam room to every moment surrounding care.
“We also take an expanded view of who we are serving — while always patient-centered, the friends and family who support them are key consumers of the experience and essential to helping achieve the quality outcomes we desire for our patients,” Ms. Campbell said.
Hernando Ruiz-Jimenez spent 11 years in marketing at PepsiCo before moving into healthcare. He now serves as chief marketing and communications officer at Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger.
Mr. Ruiz-Jimenez said the lesson he carries from his time in consumer packaged goods is to always put the customer at the center of decision-making.
“Any decision needed to be as good for the customer as it was for us,” he said.
He said that mindset recently shaped a reorganization of Geisinger’s marketing department.
“We just reorganized our marketing department to reflect how consumers ‘shop’ for healthcare, which does not map exactly with the way we are organized internally in order to maximize operational efficiencies,” he said. “It is our role to make sure we translate and facilitate the customer journey, not the other way around.”
At the Becker's 11th Annual IT + Revenue Cycle Conference: The Future of AI & Digital Health, taking place September 14–17 in Chicago, healthcare executives and digital leaders from across the country will come together to explore how AI, interoperability, cybersecurity, and revenue cycle innovation are transforming care delivery, strengthening financial performance, and driving the next era of digital health. Apply for complimentary registration now.
