FOUNDATION RAISING $300M FOR JUPITER MED CENTER
JUPITER — The Jupiter Medical Center Foundation, founded in 1989 a decade after Jupiter Medical Center opened, has financed a number of major projects such as the DeGeorge Pediatric Unit and the Margaret W. Niedland Breast Center.
Liv Vesely, the Foundation’s president since 2015, has led a team that has raised more than $135 million and launched a $300 million campaign to support the medical center’s longterm strategic plan.
Prior to joining the medical center foundation, Vesely, a marathon runner and a mom, held positions as deputy chief development officer at Mount Sinai Health System in New York and vice president of development at Western Connecticut Health Network.
In 2017, Vesely won the prestigious Women’s Chamber of Commerce Giraffe Award in Palm Beach County. The award is given to women who have “stuck their necks out” by taking risks and have made a difference for women in the workplace and community. Name: Liv Vesely
Age: 48
Hometown: Nesconset, N.Y., now lives in Jupiter
Education: bachelor’s degree, Syracuse University; master’s, international relations, University of Kent, Canterbury, England; master’s, New York University; master’s in health care management, Columbia University, New York.
Family: husband: Jerson Diaz; daughter: Adelayne, 7
About your company: Since 1989, the Jupiter Medical Center Foundation has provided critical financial support to Jupiter Medical Center. This allows the hospital to maintain its long-standing commitment to deliver health and wellness, and expand access to worldclass health care to meet demand across the region.
The foundation is in the midst of a $300 million campaign, Vision. Innovation. Impact. The goal of this campaign is to raise funds for a multitude of programs, including comprehensive cancer care, advanced cardiac care, pediatric services and comprehensive stroke care.
The Jupiter Medical Center Foundation has 17 employees.
First paying job and what you learned from it: My first paying job was in high school. I worked at retail shops in the mall. I learned the importance of customer service and listening to people.
First break in the business: I started my professional journey in public relations and, eventually, one of my clients asked me to come to work for them full time. It was through this organization that I was introduced to and worked closely with a nongovernmental organization in the Dominican Republic to focus on sustainable development initiatives. I ran the company’s foundation, which is dedicated to developing a 26-acre community complex in a rural area of the Dominican Republic. The goals were to provide clean drinking water, health and sanitation, primary and secondary school education, and much more.
How your business has changed: The role of philanthropy has become increasingly critical to the long-term vitality of medical centers and health care systems, so they can remain independent and provide world-class health care at the community level. With significant cuts in Medicare and Medicaid payments, already low margins, the cost of and the need for new technology and IT systems, and aging structures and equipment, the role philanthropy plays in a hospital’s income can make the difference between remaining a nonprofit, independent health care system, or being swallowed by a larger for-profit national health system.
Best business book you ever read: “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead” by Sheryl Sandberg. It speaks to women in business. I have often given this as a gift to fellow female business professionals.
Best piece of business advice you ever received: You can lose your job, money, etc., but the one thing you cannot lose is your integrity, unless you give it away.
What you tell young people about your business: When I speak to young people, I tell them that the health care nonprofit and development sector over the last 20 years has become a highly professionalized and data-driven business; attributes borrowed from the business world. In health care, many organizations depend on philanthropy for the survival, growth, and ability to be innovative, therefore it needs to be managed as a business.
However, at the same time, young people need to understand that philanthropy is based on relationships, and success depends on those relationships.
Finally, I say that the nonprofit sector is a growing field. Overall it has
grown from employing 5.4 million in 1994 to 14.4 million in 2013.
Many successful people learn from failure. Do you have a failure you can share and what you learned from it?
I haven’t learned from a failure per se, but in my career, I have had the misfortune of being exposed to others who wanted to see me fail. That experience has taught me that you must stay true to who you are, be strong and lead by example.
What do you see ahead for Palm Beach County? Right now, there is a changing health care landscape with large, academic medical centers all vying for patients and available funding. Every day another system seems to be expanding its footprint in South Florida. Jupiter Medical Center is positioned very well as a viable, world-class medical center that can and will remain a nonprofit, independent health care provider for the region, because our community is supporting the medical center more than ever.
Power lunch spot: The Cooper
Where we’d find you when you’re not at the office: When I am not working, I am usually with my daughter in one of her many activities or training for a triathlon.
Favorite smartphone app: NPR One
What is the most important trait you look for when hiring? I look for confidence — without the ego.