Working—After Retirement
After a lifetime becoming an expert in your industry, you likely want to stay involved post-retirement. For retired healthcare executives, there are a multitude of options that range from consulting to volunteering with a nonprofit organization.
“The comment I hear most often from retired professionals and executives is how busy they remain in retirement,” says Robert Tucker, MD, vice president of wealth manage- ment at Plancorp LLC in St. Louis. “If they were successful in their career, their expertise and involvement will be solicited, and the key issue will be how to best utilize time for a balance of recreation, family and service.”
A prime example is Joseph Gagliardi, the former president and CEO of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, who retired in 2012. “After playing about 55 rounds of golf following retirement, I thought: ‘ There really has to be something other than this for me to do,’” he recalls.
So, Gagliardi joined the Service Corps of Retired Executives, a program that matches retired executives with businesses in need of assistance.
“Our mentors come from a variety of backgrounds, including management, marketing, manufacturing, retail, accounting, law and engineering,” says Gagliardi, who currently chairs the Tulsa, Okla., chapter of SCORE. “We’re all from different backgrounds, but we can cross-over industries. And we often co-mentor clients.”
Gagliardi says helping clients with customer service, growth strategies and motivating employees are the top three skills he leverages from his days as a hospital executive. “Our success when I was a hospital CEO was based on treating our patients well,” he says.
In addition to his volunteer work, Gagliardi dabbles in consulting work. In particular, he works with the Chicagobased Hospital Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP), inspecting and surveying hospitals.
“My wife, Martha, laughs when I tell her I have to go to work,” he says. “But whether it’s SCORE or HFAP, I can tell you that it really is work—and I enjoy it.”