Watch the full conversation with Catherine Jacobson below.
Leadership in healthcare rarely gets measured by financial growth alone. It’s the result of trust, outcomes, and the willingness of an executive to admit they don’t have every answer. For Catherine (Cathy) Jacobson, former CEO of Froedtert ThedaCare Health, that kind of humility is a big factor in a leader’s long-term success.
Cathy spoke with Bob Clarke, Chairman of Furst Group and NuBrick Partners, for a special edition of Conversations in Leadership featuring past recipients of the Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award. She reflected on her years leading Froedtert Health and the lessons she would pass on to the leaders coming up behind her. Her reflections center on humble leadership, the courage to say no, quality as the foundation of a health system, and her hope for a bold next generation of healthcare leaders.
In 2024, Cathy received the Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award from the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL). NCHL recognized her for driving healthcare innovation and community wellness, expanding access to care in the Midwest, and mentoring rising leaders.
Why Humble Leadership Comes First for Cathy
When Bob asked what one trait she most hopes to see in emerging leaders, her answer came without hesitation. “I really think it comes down to humility, and believe it or not, we don’t see that, I think, as much as we should, because you can’t do leadership by yourself,” she said.
“You need to acknowledge that you always need to get better every day, that you can learn more every day,” Cathy explained. “You don’t know everything. You don’t have all the right answers, and you need to put teams of people around you and really listen and really ask for their input, and then ultimately be able to bring them along.”
Cathy tied humility directly to lasting results. “I think really only the humble leaders that truly, truly believe they’re better with others around them are the best ones actually to be able to accomplish over the long term,” she said. “So I really look for humility and humble leadership as a big factor of success.”
Bob noted that her answer “echoes a lot of what we hear in the industry.” As he put it, “People are not just looking for technical skills anymore.”
Hear Catherine Jacobson explain why she looks for humility as a big factor of success..
The Courage to Say No, and to Say It Sooner
Asked for one piece of advice for today’s emerging leaders, Cathy looked back on her own career and what she wishes she had done better. “I wish I had followed this a couple of times,” she said. “Saying no to something, I think, is actually harder than saying yes, in a lot of ways.”
She was candid about how her own organization handled those decisions. “I think that we mostly got it right when we said no, but I would tell you that we probably spent too much time sometimes getting to that decision.”
Her guidance is direct. When a partnership, collaboration, or business plan “just doesn’t seem right” and the team can’t make it fit, “you gotta cut bait.” A prolonged decision carries its own cost. “If you keep the conversation going for too long, you’re gonna disrupt maybe your team, maybe your organization if it’s a big enough deal,” Cathy said.
“Learn when to say no and come to that decision much quicker,” she advised. “If you think you’re gonna get there in three months anyway, just say no… and move away. It’s a good thing to know how to do.”
Bob agreed. “Getting to a decision quickly saves everyone a lot of time and energy,” he said.
How Cathy Built a Health System on Quality
Asked what stands out as her greatest accomplishment as a leader, Cathy answered, “That’s easy for me.” She continued, “It’s really building Froedtert Health, now Froedtert ThedaCare Health, really kind of the culmination of a career, into today a $7 billion regional healthcare system.”
“We started at a little over a billion over a decade ago,” she said. “But it’s not the size and the scale. It’s really, I think, the way we did it which makes me most proud.”
That approach began with “a culture of patient first, a culture of quality,” Cathy said, “and really said that quality was going to be the rock upon which we would build the health system.” Her team set a bold target, aiming for the top decile of quality measurement for hospitals and clinics. That standard applied across the entire system. “Not just at the flagship academic medical center, but every patient should have the best experience and have the best quality,” she said. “And we largely did it.”
“Today Froedtert Hospital is recognized consistently as one of the top academic medical centers in the country,” Cathy said. “Our community hospitals have been recognized. Our physicians have been recognized in the state of Wisconsin, which is actually a pretty high bar.” That focus, she noted, “led to a partnership with another great quality organization, ThedaCare Health.”
“I am just exceptionally proud of what we were able to do there over the time of my leadership,” she said.
Hear Catherine Jacobson describe how quality became the rock upon which Froedtert Health was built
The Work Ahead on Access, Quality, and Cost in American Healthcare
Asked about her biggest hope for the future of healthcare, Cathy began with the perspective of a long career. “I’ve been at this for 40 years. I’m still at it,” she said, noting that she still works with healthcare companies, “just not health systems as much anymore.”
That experience leaves her candid about the system she has served for four decades. “Any of us who have spent that amount of time know that the American healthcare system has some fantastic, great moments. We provide wonderful care, but it is flawed, and we have trouble with access, and we still have trouble with quality, and we certainly have trouble with cost.”
She was quick to credit the people working to change that. “All of the colleagues I ever had the advantage of working with, and my peers, and people I talk to were always trying to make things better,” she said. “And we didn’t succeed, obviously. There’s so much more work to do, and there are things that we can do. Even within the constraints of government and regulations and all those kind of things, there are many things that we as leaders ourselves can do.”
Hear Catherine Jacobson reflect on the strengths of American healthcare and the work that remains.
Cathy’s Hope for the Next Generation of Healthcare Leaders
Cathy looks to the leaders who follow. “My hope for the future is the next generation of leaders doesn’t stop trying and really is very bold, comes up with innovative, new things, adopts innovation, looks for partnerships, look for a collaboration because we need to keep striving to make it a better, big system in the United States than what we have today,” she said.
Hear Catherine Jacobson share her hope for the next generation of healthcare leaders.
Bob connected that hope to a point made by Dr. Denis Cortese, former President and CEO of Mayo Clinic. “I remember hearing Dr. Denny Cortese from Mayo mention that the main problem with our healthcare system is that it really is not a system at all,” Bob said. “It has so many disparate pieces and parts. It’s a massive challenge, but it also creates a lot of opportunity for the bold leaders you mentioned.”
A Career Built on Purpose
Cathy closed her conversation with Bob by reflecting on 40 years in healthcare and the opportunity to lead a health system. “This is an amazing career that we’re blessed to be able to do,” she said.
“To be able to take your education, your technical skills, whatever you bring to the table, whatever you’ve learned about leadership, and be able to apply that to make people’s lives better,” she said. “I just really think in retrospect that’s a special gift…”
She also expressed a hope for every leader who has had that opportunity. “Hopefully all of us had the opportunity to leave our organizations better than when we found them,” Cathy said. “And hopefully the people coming up after me will do the same.”
Hear Catherine Jacobson reflect on the special gift of using leadership to make people’s lives better.
What Healthcare Leaders Can Take From Cathy’s Approach
For healthcare leaders at every stage, her reflections offer a clear framework. Stay humble enough to learn from your team. Be decisive enough to say no when something isn’t right. And hold onto a standard of quality that doesn’t bend as the organization grows.
For boards and executive teams weighing leadership decisions, her emphasis on humility reflects what Bob hears across the industry, that organizations are looking for more than technical skills. And for the leaders coming up behind her, her message is direct. There is “so much more work to do,” and her hope is that the next generation “doesn’t stop trying.”
Access the Full Conversation
Bob Clarke, Chairman of Furst Group and NuBrick Partners, in conversation with Catherine Jacobson,
former CEO of Froedtert ThedaCare Health.
About
Catherine Jacobson:
Catherine (Cathy) Jacobson is the former CEO of Froedtert ThedaCare Health, Inc., in Milwaukee. She joined Froedtert Health in 2010, became President in 2011, and became President and CEO in 2012. She led the organization through its January 2024 combination with ThedaCare before retiring as CEO of Froedtert ThedaCare Health in June 2024. Before Froedtert, she spent 22 years at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where her roles included Chief Financial Officer. She serves on the boards of Teladoc Health and Vizient, where she is a past board chair, and received the Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award in 2024.
The Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award:
Presented by the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL), the award honors Gail L. Warden, NCHL’s founding chair and President Emeritus of Henry Ford Health. It celebrates individuals who have driven meaningful, enduring improvements in health and healthcare through visionary leadership and a strong commitment to the wellbeing of their communities.
Conversations in Leadership:
Conversations in Leadership is our series featuring candid perspectives from healthcare leaders, hosted by Bob Clarke, Chairman of Furst Group and NuBrick Partners. In a special edition of the series, Bob, who serves on the NCHL Board of Directors, connects with past recipients of the Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award to reflect on the decisions, challenges, and lessons that define great leadership.
