If you've had a positive experience at a hospital lately, you might want to thank David Shade. Over the past nearly 40 years, Shade has worked with 50 percent of the U.S.'s largest healthcare systems. Shade's route to consulting was a little unconventional. First he studied to get his MBA, and upon the program's completion, received an unwelcome surprise: a draft notice. Shade spent three years in the military, from 1967 to 1970. "I was shocked when I got back. The whole world had changed. And I was way behind. I had a lot of catching up to do."
But Shade didn't just catch up—he got ahead. He joined Ernst & Young in its healthcare division, where he made partner in 10 years. After 20 years in the profession, he struck out on his own for a while. Then in 2000, he and a few other colleagues created Wellspring Partners. With Wellspring, Shade was able to have more control over the kind of projects he and his colleagues took on.
"We formed Wellspring," he says, "because we wanted to operate differently with our clients. We wanted to have a firm that was focused totally on serving hospitals, and we wanted to have a very significant impact on their affairs, and we wanted to focus on implementing results. And in our prior times in the consulting business, we always studied things. We did a lot of studies, [but] we never had the opportunity to implement."
Then a little less than two years ago, Huron Consulting Group's CEO Gary Holdren saw the value in Wellspring, and the firm subsequently joined the Huron ranks. Shade says he couldn't be happier with Huron's decision. "Huron has deeper pockets [and] access to capital [so] we can build resources faster, we can invest in more senior people, and we can do this with confidence," he says.
Shade says he spends about 80 percent of his time with clients, who he classifies in three groups. For those in the first group, which Shade defines as being in crisis mode, "we basically come in and help them turn their operation around. Those tend to be very challenging."
The other two groups are more proactive when they reach out to Shade's team. There are those looking to improve performance, Shade says, and then there are the large hospital systems and academic medical centers looking to stay on top. "We're focused on getting on the same page with the client, understanding what the issues are, putting together an implementation program and then working with them to see the results through to the end," he says, regardless of which group a client falls into.
Today, Shade says, Huron is focused on bringing in younger talent. "We have a lot of people who join us at Wellspring who are just like I was in 1970," he says. "We're making more and more opportunities here for younger people to join us, so that's a good thing."
However, life is not all work and no play for Shade, who is an avid boater and wine and coin collector. Boating provides him ample time to spend with his family, he says.
And though Shade has had a long and successful career, he says he has no plans to throw in the towel just yet. "This is not old hat after 30 years. It's never been better. We're excited, and we're enthusiastic."
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