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The Jackson Health System family is mourning the death of executive vice president and chief strategy officer Donn Szaro, who died March 31 in Sarasota, FL. Szaro, one of the nation’s leading experts on healthcare accounting and strategic management, was 61.Szaro came out of retirement in 2011 to join Jackson’s transformation team because he believed in the health system’s mission and recognized its potential for long-term success.
“Donn was more than a partner; he was friend,” said Carlos A. Migoya, president & CEO of Jackson Health System. “At a time when Jackson – and me personally – needed a champion, Donn put his retirement aside to join in our important work.”
Prior to joining Jackson in 2011, Szaro had a distinguished 35-year career with Ernst & Young LLP, founding its Global Health Science Industry Practice. He twice led practices into billion-dollar annual revenues, first with domestic health care and later with the global health science practice. He was service partner for some of the nation’s largest hospitals, a coordinating partner at major biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and captain of the team that audited the largest-ever American healthcare company.
Prior to that, he worked as an independent hospital consultant and was often recruited to speak as an expert on hospital business strategy throughout the United States and in Europe, China, India, Singapore and Australia.
Szaro’s storied career was dedicated to reinventing modern healthcare for a new era. In doing so, he worked with more than 500 hospitals across the country providing strategy, financial advice and operational assistance. He touched countless trendsetters in the industry and he made a lasting impact on the healthcare industry.
A third-generation Floridian, Donn is a former Florida State University Seminole football player who graduated with an undergraduate degree in accounting. He completed advanced executive studies at Yale, Northwestern, Duke and Harvard universities – and then went on to serve in leadership roles at some of the state’s most prestigious civic organizations: the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the United Way of Miami-Dade, the FSU College of Business and the FSU Seminole Boosters. He has also been an advisor to the healthcare board of governors at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“Jackson Health System sends our deepest condolences to the Szaro family and we recommit ourselves to honoring Donn’s legacy in the work we do each and every day,” Migoya said.
Memorial services are pending.
