I’ve known Ross for over 20 years from my role as a board member at Southern Regional Medical Center (Riverdale, GA). Ross is the kind of leader who, wherever he goes, he always has skin in the game: he’s not one of those transient leaders who’s always planning to move on. He doesn’t sit in his office. He’s always walking the halls, connecting with people at every level, and he can do that because he builds a strong operating team around him. It’s never all about Ross. I was particularly impressed by his ability to work well with physicians, to help them grow their practices in ways that made the pie bigger for everyone. He’s a devout family man who builds trust for his institution in the community. Any organization considering him as a leader would be making a mistake not to hire him!”

I worked with Ross when I was on the board of our hospital in 2012 and 2013 and have stayed connected with him ever since.As CEO, Ross always had a very clear grasp of the importance of serving the mutual interests of the hospital and the physicians in the community. He knew that was the best way to serve the interests of our patients. He brought very strong leadership skills to the job and he built a great team. He had a knack for being able to relate to anyone he met in the hospital and the community. He also knows how to size up new opportunities. One example is how he navigated numerous community, political and competitive interests to attract a much-needed ambulance service to the community. If you’re looking for a leader, someone who really listens and then makes a decision that he will stick to, Ross is who you’re looking for. But if you want someone to just keep the seat warm, don’t hire him because he won’t sit still!”

I’ve known Ross for 25 years dating back to working together at Emory. I respect him as a self-made man; he’s curious, a life-long learner with common sense, business savvy and emotional intelligence. He loves to build and fix things by surrounding himself with smart people he trusts.The breadth of his career experience means there are very few things in healthcare he hasn’t dealt with before. I'd recommend him without hesitation.

“Ross worked for me when he was administrator of Shoals Hospital, Muscle Shoals, Alabama from 2010-2013, and we’ve stayed connected ever since. What I saw in Ross was a leader who is dedicated, loyal and tenacious, someone who rolls his sleeves up and takes hold of his business. He’s a big picture thinker as well as a fine operator. He knows his market, his physicians, and he relates equally well to community leaders and front-line staffers. When you boil it down, Ross Berry takes full ownership of whatever business he leads and brings solutions instead of waiting for direction.”

“I’ve known Ross since he first worked for me in the Emory University Healthcare System over 20 years ago.  Over my career, I’ve learned that some executives are good operators but do not have a strategic mindset. Some others are great with strategy, but not effective operators.  Ross is a powerful mix of both: he can look at a business, envision what it could be, articulate that vision to others, build a plan, form a team and lead the work to make that plan come alive.  I’ve never met anyone quite like him in that regard.  I’ve seen him do this “full spectrum” work in three different areas of the healthcare industry over the years: hospitals, physician groups and in risk-based population health.  If I were looking for someone who could quickly understand the big picture, develop a step-by-step plan to get us where we wanted to go, and then successfully lead the implementation work, he’d be my top choice.”

“I first met Ross in Atlanta when I was running Regional Care, he so impressed me that I offered him a job as the CEO of a hospital we purchased in Muscle Shoals, AL in 2007.  The facility was financially troubled, and Ross brought the high energy and innovative thinking needed to turn it around.  The key to his success was his gift for engaging with physicians and the community.  The hospital grew a lot under his leadership, and at one point had the highest patient satisfaction scores in the company.  If an organization is looking for a charismatic, high energy leader, who can navigate the challenges of transformation and growth, that’s what Ross does best.”