Face to Face - October 2009

Michael J. Uboldi

President & CEO

Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center & Health System

Reno, NV

Number of Employees: 4,000

Years in Nevada: 2

Years with Company: 2

What is your best business advice?

If you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it.

How do you retain your best and brightest employees?

By letting them know they are valued through actively listening, communicating the truth and demonstrating your appreciation for a job well done.

Who inspired you to get into the business?

My father-in-law, a retired ophthalmologist

What is the most important thing you learned from your parents?

You can achieve anything you wish if you are willing to focus and work hard enough at it.

What is a little known fact about you?

I met my wife in junior high school.

What do you like most and least about your industry?

I most like the opportunity to work with a diverse cross-section of intelligent and creative individuals.  I least like unfunded mandates by state and federal legislatures.

If you had the chance to be in a different line of work, what would that be?

I would be a lawyer.

What three values do you hope to pass on to your employees?

Collaboration, Excellence and Stewardship

Presently in my line of work …

… the possibility of healthcare reform has the nation debating how that may affect access and quality to healthcare through intended and unintended consequences of federal legislation.

What is your favorite book and why?

Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hess:  Narcissus was a cerebral disciplined thinker and Goldmund was a man dedicated to experience few boundaries (an artist).  The contrast between the two compels one to explore how you might achieve a blend to obtain a richer life.