Mark A. Wallace is not your typical CEO. Along with leading the serious and important work in the C-suite and executive board room, the longstanding president and chief executive officer of Texas Children’s Hospital more often than not is connecting with front-line staff and employees, as well as patients and families, to see how Texas Children’s can better serve those in need of exceptional pediatric care.
On any given day, Wallace can be seen walking the halls of Texas Children’s Hospital in the Medical Center wearing a suit, one of his signature ties and his megawatt smile. His booming made-for-radio voice can be heard from quite a distance greeting passersby with a robust “Good Morning!” or “What a great day to be at Texas Children’s!”
Wallace welcomes with energy and fervor all new Texas Children’s employees at several pep rallies throughout the year. He humbly thanks those who have served the organization for 15 years or more at an annual employee recognition ceremony. And, in 2015, he set out to reach every employee across the organization – first with seven hospital-based events, dubbed the One Mission, One Culture, One Amazing Team Event, and then on a whirlwind, 73-stop One Amazing Team bus tour.
In addition to all of this, Wallace has what many CEOs lack today – staying power. Celebrating his 30th year at the helm of Texas Children’s Hospital on October 4, he is the longest serving CEO in the Texas Medical Center. According to a recent study by Equilar, an executive data solutions company, his service to Texas Children’s is pretty extraordinary, considering the average tenure of a CEO at a large U.S. company is a mere five years.
Texas Children’s Board of Trustees Chairman Michael Linn said Wallace’s tenure is exceptional, but not surprising for two main reasons – Mark Wallace is an extremely successful businessman, and he cares deeply about the mission of Texas Children’s.
“Mark sees everyone at Texas Children’s as one big family taking care of other families,” Linn said. “In his heart, he really believes he’s doing what God wants him to do.”
“Mark also cares about our debt rating and our bottom line,” Linn said. “He understands that if we don’t have the financial wherewithal we cannot treat our patients.”
Bigger and better
When Wallace began his journey with Texas Children’s Hospital on October 4, 1989, as a bright and ambitious 36-year-old, Texas Children’s was still in its infancy. The one-building hospital was just 35 years old, a baby compared to other leading children’s hospitals in the nation, some of which have been around for more than a century.
Having just separated from St. Luke’s Medical Center, Texas Children’s Hospital, and its then 1,400 employees, were in desperate need of a leader who could help shape the growth of the organization and distinguish it from its counterparts.
Wallace, who came to Texas Children’s from Houston Methodist Hospital where he had been senior vice president, took this charge to heart and has never looked back.
“When Mark came to tell me he was leaving and that he’d been recruited to Texas Children’s, I actually tried to talk him out of it,” said Larry Mathis, former president and chief executive officer of Methodist Hospital. “I thought Mark had the talent to do something bigger and better. But, as it turned out, he went to Texas Children’s and made it bigger and better.”
During the first 10 years of his career at Texas Children’s, Wallace strengthened the organization’s position as a leader in children’s health care, taking on milestone cases, opening the first Texas Children’s Pediatrics practice and the first Texas Children’s Specialty Care Clinic. He also established Texas Children’s Health Plan, the nation’s first and now largest, pediatric health maintenance organization.
Renovations of the hospital’s original building, the Abercrombie Building, were completed during this time, and construction of what is now the Mark A. Wallace Tower and West Tower began. These two additions made Texas Children’s the largest freestanding pediatric hospital in the United States, a title Texas Children’s still holds today.
Best in nation
During his second and third decades at the helm of Texas Children’s, Wallace’s momentum, passion and dedication to the organization has continued to grow, and has spread to those around him. His vision and energy motivate people to invest in what has become one of the best pediatric health care organizations in the nation.
One of Wallace’s biggest fans is Executive Vice President Michelle Riley-Brown, who joined Texas Children’s in 1999 as an administrative fellow and steadily rose through the ranks to her current position. Over the years, Riley-Brown has seen Wallace’s leadership style grow into what it is today – strong, effective and visionary.
“Mr. Wallace is the quintessential leader,” Riley-Brown said. “He knows what’s best for Texas Children’s, and he knows how to get everyone on board to get it done.”
Riley-Brown has worked closely with Wallace to expand the reach of Texas Children’s into the greater-Houston area and beyond. She helped open the system’s two community hospitals – Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands – and grow the system’s network of Specialty Care Centers, Texas Children’s Pediatrics practices and Urgent Care Centers. Riley-Brown currently is leading Texas Children’s expansion into Austin, where the organization has opened a Specialty Care Center, an Urgent Care Center and a handful of primary care practices.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to work under Mark’s leadership,” Riley-Brown said. “It has been a joy and privilege to implement his vision of expanding care into the community, and I look forward to all that is to come.”
Other major milestones under Wallace’s leadership include the expansion of the Feigin Center and the construction of Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute. Two Centers for Women and Children have opened their doors, and a network of Urgent Care practices have been established. Most recently, Texas Children’s built and opened the Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower, Texas Children’s new home for heart, intensive care and surgery.
All of this and more has earned Texas Children’s a top spot in the U.S. News & World Report Best Children’s Hospital ranking for more than a decade. This year, Texas Children’s was ranked No. 3 in the nation among all children’s hospitals, a ranking no other pediatric hospital in the state has ever achieved. In addition, Texas Children’s ranked in the top 10 in each of the U.S. News & World Report-recognized pediatric sub-specialties.
“I’m sure Mark is very pleased with how a tiny children’s hospital in 1989 has turned into one of the best children’s hospital in the world,” said Susan Stock, Wallace’s long-trusted executive assistant. “He sees that his determination and dedication has paid off in a big way.”
And, that determination and dedication isn’t waning, said Stock, who started working in the president and chief executive officer’s office a few months before Wallace arrived at Texas Children’s.
“I believe that even after being such an excellent leader for so many years, he’s still finding ways to make Texas Children’s even better,” Stock said.
More to come
The pace Wallace has kept all these years isn’t slowing. The tenured Texas Children’s leader has paved the way for continued growth with the purchase of the Baylor and O’Quinn Towers and expansion into the Austin, Beaumont and Tyler markets.
In the capital city, Texas Children’s is continuing to grow its outpatient strategy at a steady pace, and the Texas Children’s Health Plan has a growing membership in Beaumont and Tyler as the result of being chosen in 2016 as one of three managed care organizations to offer the STAR Kids plan, which covers children with complex medical needs.
Texas Children’s Emergency Center at the Texas Medical Center Campus is being renovated and expanded, and the list goes on. With Wallace in the driver’s seat, growth and change is inevitable. It’s part of what makes him a great leader. The one thing that doesn’t change with him though is his ability to connect with the people he serves.
Even though the number of employees at Texas Children’s has grown to 15,000, and the number of patient encounters reached 4.3 million last year, Wallace still finds time to walk the halls of the system’s ever-growing facilities, show up at pep rallies and other celebrations, and share his ongoing vision for the organization. In short, he still cares passionately about Texas Children’s and its mission to care for sick children and women.
“As the need for affordable, quality health care grows for our country, I believe Mark’s motivation grows to meet those needs,” said Shannon Wallace, Mark Wallace’s wife of 16 years. “He is incredibly gifted at finding solutions for problems, especially when those problems affect our most vulnerable citizens.
“I am overwhelmed but not surprised by Mark’s accomplishments,” Shannon added. “I have never known a more authentic, compassionate, capable person in my life.”
