Drawn to healthcare from an early age, Delvecchio S. Finley, FACHE, originally wanted to become a physician and work in the Atlanta neighborhood where he was raised. “I was passionate about addressing the perceived helplessness and suboptimal mental and physical health that was pervasive in my public housing community and others like it,” he says.
During his pre-med studies at Emory University, he realized he was destined, instead, for a role in healthcare administration. Finley’s passion for healthcare, particularly access to care for marginalized communities, stems from his upbringing and early work experiences.
In his formative years, Finley was blessed with a loving and devoted single mother who raised him and his siblings. Like many others, his mother unfortunately suffered from the pitfalls of drug addiction that was rampant in his community. Finley counts himself as fortunate that his mother was able to eventually overcome her addiction, and that he didn’t lose her permanently like some of his childhood friends.
“The value of service to others was instilled in me early on from my participation in student government, volunteerism and the example set by my aunt, whom I admired the most,” he says. Finley’s aunt was the elected tenant association president of the public housing development where he grew up.
He quickly established himself within the healthcare field, becoming a CEO in his mid-30s while working at LA County/Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., from 2011 to 2015.
In 2011, soon after becoming president and CEO of America’s Essential Hospitals, Bruce Siegel, MD, visited Finley at Harbor-UCLA after hearing about his successes. “I was struck by his warmth, generosity and healthcare business acumen,” Siegel says. “He had certainly lived up to his billing.”
In later years, Finley would go on to chair the board of Essential Hospitals Institute, AEH’s research and education foundation. In that role, Siegel says, Finley helped the institute grow its funding and programming, allowing it to support its member safety-net hospitals with new educational and improvement opportunities. He also helped the board examine its own work and function. That led to a clear set of expectations for every director, and served as a catalyst in the design and launch of Essential Women’s Leadership Academy, an EHI program to develop rising female executives. Issues of diversity, equity and inclusion would become a primary focus of Finley’s over the years.
After spending nearly 20 years of his professional life in California, in 2021, Finley returned to his home state of Georgia and joined Atrium Health Navicent as president. Macon-based Atrium Health employs over 6,000 people, has 1,116 licensed acute and specialty beds, and offers 53 specialties at more than 50 facilities throughout central and south Georgia. In December 2022, Atrium Health combined with Advocate Aurora Health to create Advocate Health, the fifth-largest nonprofit health system in the United States.
As a member of the health system’s executive leadership team, Finley is responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction for the meaningful, measurable goals that will position Atrium Health Navicent’s strategic growth and success. As with the strategic combination of Atrium Health and Navicent Health, his role in the newly formed Advocate Health executive leadership team will provide thoughtful and deliberate discovery through the integration process, and position the health system to embrace market dynamics and excel.
“Delvecchio is a remarkable leader who demonstrates a passion for improving lives in everything he does, whether inside our organization or with a national platform,” says Eugene A. Woods, FACHE, one of two CEOs of Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health. “And, coming from a very humble upbringing, he has never forgotten where he came from, which is especially evident in his care for our most vulnerable communities.”
Leadership: A Responsibility to Do More
During his 20 years in healthcare leadership, Finley’s passion for his profession has gained the respect and admiration of many of his peers.
He is the recipient of several awards and commendations, including ACHE’s 2014 Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year. He was included on Modern Healthcare’s “Top 25 Minorities in Healthcare Watch List” and recognized with its “Up and Comers Award,” and he was named to Becker’s Hospital Review’s “Top Healthcare Executives Under 40” list. In 2021, he was also named one of Modern Healthcare’s “Top 25 Diversity Leaders in Healthcare.” In 2022, Finley was also included on Georgia Trend magazine’s “GEORGIA 500 list of most influential leaders.”
“This is his life’s work, and he uses the platforms he has to make sure that the people in those rooms never forget that they too—by choosing to work in healthcare—are here to serve others,” says Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association. “For Delvecchio, leadership is a responsibility to do more, not a license to do less.”
Coyle calls Finley “instrumental” not only in her selection as president and CEO of CHA—he served on the CHA board’s Executive Committee that finalized her offer to lead the organization—but also in ensuring that her transition into the role went smoothly.
“That really exemplifies who Delvecchio is—a person who gives of himself without hesitation to help others,” she adds.
Having worked closely with him for four years when he served on CHA’s Board of Trustees, Coyle describes Finley as having a “collected, thoughtful and diplomatic” demeanor when challenges arise. She also says he is a man of “impeccable integrity” and “purpose.” “I have seen him, time and again, stand up to speak on behalf of the uninsured, for people experiencing homelessness, for those facing substance use disorders,” Coyle says. “He gives voice to those who may not have one, in rooms that they are not invited to.”
Born at Grady Memorial Hospital, a safety-net hospital in Atlanta, Finley has spent most of his career working in similar hospitals and health systems.
“When Delvecchio enters a room, people know he is there,” says Nicholas R. Tejeda, FACHE, group president, Western Group-Tenet Healthcare, Dallas, who met Finley when they were both beginning their careers in California. “When he is at a meeting, his comments shape the entire discussion. And when he sets his mind on a goal, it will be accomplished. These attributes cannot be taught. Rather, they are a reflection of his role as a natural leader, in work and in life,” Tejeda continues.
Although they worked for different organizations, Finley and Tejeda were brought together through their active participation with the California Association of Healthcare Leaders, a local ACHE chapter. “In many ways and at many events, we would collaborate on ACHE initiatives related to early careerists as well as diversity, inclusion and equity,” Tejeda says.
Giving Back to the Profession
Finley’s involvement with CAHL served as a steppingstone for his ascension as a leader within ACHE. In turn, he has been a steadfast proponent of other early careerists’ involvement with ACHE chapters, which Baljeet S. Sangha, FACHE, COO and deputy director, San Francisco Health Network/San Francisco Department of Public Health, knows firsthand.
Sangha first met Finley in 2009 soon after the early careerist had begun an internship at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center—part of the San Francisco Health Network.
Finley, who at the time was working concurrently as associate administrator at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center and as the interim COO at the Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center—also part of the San Francisco Health Network—approached Sangha and asked him to serve as a student volunteer with CAHL. Finley was serving as the ACHE Regent for California—Northern & Central at the time, and he had held multiple leadership roles for CAHL, including president.
“What ensued as a result of that time Delvecchio took to vouch for my nomination to the board has been a successful and fulfilling decade of service to the health profession,” says Sangha, who is the recipient of ACHE’s 2023 Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year.
Sangha eventually went on to serve as president of CAHL in 2016 and as the ACHE Regent for California—Northern & Central from 2019 to 2022 (following in Finley’s footsteps). Sangha shares that Finley was also instrumental to his professional growth, encouraging him to earn his FACHE® credential.
As someone who views volunteer leadership as “core to my being,” Finley is grateful to ACHE for providing him with the skills and opportunity to serve. “Having an organization like ACHE where you can give back to a field that gives so much to you … is so important,” he says.
Finley credits ACHE with contributing to his growth and success as a leader in many ways, including continuing education, networking and building a cadre of fellow leaders to rely on. His membership has also helped him to cultivate and develop new skills.
“Having that [support] really helps executives to be of increasing value to their teams, their organizations and their communities,” Finley says. “That is really the secret sauce of what ACHE does for healthcare executives.”
Confronting Today’s Challenges
Finley predicts that workforce shortages will continue to be one of the greater challenges facing healthcare executives. Although not a new challenge, per se, the scarcity of healthcare positions—mainly clinical, was exacerbated during and following the pandemic.
Rather than defaulting to status-quo solutions, such as getting more people to do the same roles, Finley suggests that leaders “look at the roles themselves and discern if there’s a different way to do the job that provides a level of scalability and sustainability.” He also suggests leaders reconsider how the field trains and develops individuals for these difficult-to-fill roles, and how to make the positions more attractive and fulfilling.
Helping to foster ACHE’s ability to provide leadership in advancing well-being and in helping healthcare workers connect to their purpose are two issues Finley plans to prioritize once he is installed as Chair of ACHE, Saturday, March 18, during ACHE’s Congress on Healthcare Leadership.
For Finley, other industries’ continued disruption of healthcare also necessitates thinking differently about how to innovate and produce value to make healthcare sustainable and affordable.
“For healthcare executives, irrespective of which sector of the field you work in—on the provider side, the insurer side, the device manufacturer side—all of us have to be thinking about how to make this thing that we care about more sustainable for everyone, including us, as leaders,” he says.
Instead of viewing challenges and solutions as separate entities, Finley sees an opportunity for them to coexist in the same space by cultivating healthcare leaders’ competence in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion.
As Chair, Finley’s other priorities include helping to foster ACHE’s ability to provide leadership in eliminating healthcare disparities and disparities in leadership opportunities.
By developing competence in the area of DEI, Finley believes executives can open up conversations for people from underserved populations to be conduits of and contributors to solutions rather than solely the beneficiaries of them. “Often, if we just ask [people from marginalized communities] to be part of the solution, we can get there faster and probably more sustainably because there’s more buy-in and ownership to it,” he says.
“I would love for this year to be viewed as more consequential than custodial,” Finley says of his term as ACHE Chair. His peers have no doubt that he is up to the task.
“I believe that Delvecchio will bring a distinct sense of energy and enthusiasm to his role as Chair,” Tejeda says. “Even more, his experience serving ACHE from coast to coast will be a great asset as he works with ACHE leadership to identify and pursue opportunities to improve our profession in all of the communities we serve,” he adds.
“He is very attuned to the many ways that our field needs to transform, and I am confident he will provide the Board of Governors with the needed leadership to navigate the road ahead in his new role as Chair of ACHE,” Woods says.
“Delvecchio will ask the right questions, and he will ‘assume’ little,” says Siegel, who describes Finley as someone who leads with “collaboration and humility,” as well as a “sharp eye for business.”
“Delvecchio seeks to move organizations to the next level. He did that for us, and he will do that for ACHE. We will all be better off as a result,” Siegel adds.
Lea E. Radick is publications editor with Healthcare Executive.
WORK HISTORY
2021–Present
Atrium Health Navicent, Macon, Ga.
President
2015–2020
Alameda Health System, Oakland, Calif.
CEO
2011–2015
LA County/Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, Calif.
CEO
2010–2011
California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco
Vice President, Operations-Support and Professional Services
2009
Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, San Francisco
Interim COO
2006–2009
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, San Francisco
Hospital Associate Administrator, Diagnostic and Support Services
2003–2006
University of California, San Francisco
Administrative Director, HIV/AIDs Division (2005–2006)
Division Administrator, Occupational and Environmental Medicine (2004–2005)
Division Administrator, Hematology/Oncology Division (2003–2005)
ACHE HISTORY
Chair, 2023–2024
Chair-Elect, 2022–2023
Governor, 2018–2021
ACHE Regent for California—Northern & Central, 2007–2010
Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year, 2014
EDUCATION
MS, Duke University, Durham, N.C.
BS, Emory University, Atlanta
CURRENT AFFILIATIONS
Board Member, Central Georgia Health Network
Board Member, Executive Committee, Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals
Board Member, Georgia Chamber of Commerce
Board Member, Georgia Hospital Association
Board Member, Georgia Research Alliance
Member, Council on Healthcare Spending and Value, Health Affairs
Board Member, Navicent Health Foundation
Board Member, NewTown Macon
Board Member, Secure Health
Board Member, Vizient Southern States