“I hired Adam to lead Essentia Health’s Central Region and have followed his progress since my retirement in 2015. Given his leadership experience and proven performance I heartily recommend him to any values-based organization that appreciates his curiosity, strategic vision and supports his entrepreneurial spirit.” Peter E. Person, M.D. CEO of Essentia Health.
“Bringing Adam to Essentia’s Central Region was the single most important and beneficial decision we made. Adam came at a time when we were struggling with finances, staffing, and community image. He quickly addressed these issues and built an excellent leadership team with just the right skills to pivot our organization in each of these areas.” Kathy Gaalswyk, Essentia Central Region Board member for 9 years.
“Adam has a broad depth of knowledge of the healthcare industry.” Charles D Albrecht, President/CEO of Mid Minnesota Federal Credit Union and past Essentia Health Board Chair.
“He championed quality care, the values of the organization, and community health, among many.” David Boran, M.D. Essentia Health Central Market.
“His engagement in the Visual Performance Management System is a direct example of how his rural health system performance exceeded the performance of the rest of the system.” Greg Glasner, MD, Chief Medical Officer BCBSND, West Region President Essentia Health.
“Adam is a man of unwavering integrity who is passionate about his responsibilities, listens with the ear of his heart, and is collaborative and reflective. He also is principled, visionary, wise and courageous. His spiritual values are fed by his faith. For Adam the foundational value is respect for all creation, which flows from his belief that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. The other values of hospitality, justice and stewardship, are built upon this foundation. During his tenure as CEO he whole-heartedly embraced our value of community and was a life-giving presence in the Brainerd Lakes Area. He also became a great example throughout the Essentia Health system for the Benedictine way. Authenticity is who Adam is.” Sister Lois Eckes, Prioress of Saint Scholastica Monastery, 2005-2015.
“Adam has a proven history of meeting or exceeding budget targets. He has the ability to surround himself with leadership team members that are willing to challenge the status quo, respectfully disagree or push back when appropriate, create consensus and once decisions are made, speak to the organization as a single unified voice.” Peter J. Henry M.D. Chief Medical Officer, Essentia Health.
“Adam’s ability to build relationships at micro and macro level is one of, if not, his greatest quality. He connects with people by listening, being respectful of differences and inspiring those around him.” Kara Griffin, MSW, LICSW, Crow Wing County Public Health Manager and co-chair of Crow Wing Energized (CWE).
“Adam’s values drive his actions. He treats colleagues and staff with respect. He is passionate about rural healthcare and has broad and deep experience leading rural healthcare organizations.” Teresa O’Toole J.D. Essentia Health Chief Legal & Administrative Officer.
“He facilitated performance improvement systems which aligned staff with organizational direction to drive continuous improvement.” Tim Sayler, COO Essentia Health West Region.
“Adam is a very thorough person. He digs into problems and gets the facts. He is not afraid to think outside conventional corridors when seeking to solve problems.” Dennis Pope, Vice President, Operations, Mayo Clinic Health System, Eau Claire, WI.
“He embraced our strategy map using the balanced score card methodology and adopted and improved upon our management system. His team cascaded strategy and tactics to the central market front line in a manner that drove success unmatched by other parts of the system.” Peter E. Person, M.D. CEO of Essentia Health.
“Under his leadership at the Central Region, the financial performance, quality metrics and employee engagement all improved dramatically. This was contributed by his management style, selection of team members and his ability to work well with employees, Board, and the community. During his tenure the reputation and the perception of Essentia improved significantly in the community. Adam’s servant leadership style of management promotes engagement and strong teams.” Charles D Albrecht, President/CEO of Mid Minnesota Federal Credit Union and past Essentia Health Board Chair.
“Adam presented the concept of Crow Wing Energized (CWE) to my predecessor and the partnership between Essentia and Crow Wing County (CWC) was developed. This partnership was the first of its kind in the State of Minnesota- public & private entity coming together under the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) Grant to improve the health and wellness of the community. Over the 6 years, CWE has made tremendous progress in a number of preventative health areas. Overall, Crow Wing County’s health rankings has improved over the past 5 years from 61 to most recently 40. He has a number of tools in his toolbox, for example Adam introduced the CWE team to ADKAR for change management and results-based accountability for outcomes-based performance.” Kara Griffin, MSW, LICSW, Crow Wing County Public Health Manager and co-chair of Crow Wing Energized (CWE).