January 2022 marks 10 years that Carl S. Armato, CPA, has led Novant Health, Winston-Salem, N.C., as CEO of a three-state, $7 billion integrated network of physician clinics, outpatient centers and hospitals.
The health system consists of more than 2,300 physicians and 37,000 employees at nearly 800 locations, including 15 medical centers and hundreds of outpatient facilities and physician clinics.
Healthcare, however, wasn’t Armato’s first field as a professional. The Louisiana native is a CPA by trade and worked at the Baton Rouge office of Ernst & Young as a senior tax and audit consultant.
But for nearly all his life, Armato had a great deal of experience in the healthcare environment—he is a Type 1 diabetic. Armato was diagnosed at just 18 months old, and like many others faced with this life-altering condition, Armato initially struggled coming to terms with it.
Overcoming a Fear
His breakthrough leadership moment didn’t happen at one specific time or place but over a lifetime, especially when he entered the healthcare profession and realized he could use his diabetes to connect with patient care.
“I hid it. It took me a long time to let others know about my diabetes,” says Armato. “I was a starting point guard in high school, and no one on the team knew I was diabetic. Even when I graduated college and entered the workforce, I didn’t tell anyone. I was worried I wouldn’t get promoted.”
Having diabetes also frightened Armato. He recounted a time when he was 14 years old visiting the eye doctor for a retina check. The doctor examined Armato and made small talk about his future and what he wanted to study in college. Because he was good with numbers, Armato said he was interested in accounting and would like to work as an accountant one day. The doctor said, “Oh, I don’t know if I would do that. After 20 years, most of the diabetics I see are blind. You would be unable to do the job.”
Armato remembers feeling shaken and upset.
“I was depressed. I couldn’t talk. On the drive home with my dad, he knew something was wrong. I told him what the eye doctor said, and that I was scared. He told me to pray and to ask the good Lord for wisdom to manage the disease. My dad also asked the Lord to allow me to use my diabetes to help others, telling me, ‘Your experiences will be helpful to many people someday.’” Armato believes he’s in healthcare today because of that conversation.
Experiencing as Patients Do
Those wise words spoken many years ago would eventually prove true for Armato. The healthcare executive has written two books about his experiences, ones he believes are useful in understanding patients in his own health system.
“As the CEO, I look to create delightful experiences with others, and we invest in remarkable doctors and nurses who help create that culture.”
In his 2018 book, A Future With Hope, Armato recounts one of those many experiences. After giving a speech at a JDRF event, a young man who had been recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes approached Armato.
The teenager questioned the point of all the “self-care stuff” he believed Armato was promoting. Armato had one word for the high schooler, a word that even today is what the CEO lives by: “Refuse.” Armato told the boy he refused to believe he was going to die in his teens; refused to accept he would go blind in his 20s; refused the notion he couldn’t be a champion at sports; refused to believe he couldn’t fall in love, get married and have children; and refused the thinking that he could never be a successful professional.
For several years, Armato experienced the inner operations of Novant Health firsthand as a patient himself. Armato said he views T1D as a “blessing” for his healthcare career because he knows every single day what it feels like to be a patient.
“It’s 24/7 for me. I take it wherever I go. When I’m able to meet with patients, I sit there with my chronic disease and listen to them through the eyes of a patient.”
Moving Toward Balance
Armato admitted that hiding his T1D was a mistake. When he needed to boost his blood glucose levels, he did it discreetly if others were around so no one would notice. He would eventually share with others that he was diabetic, building up the courage to tell the entire Novant Health team in January 2014.
“The feedback was amazing, and everyone was very supportive. I believe that sharing my story helped our team understand how personal our focus on remarkable care is to me. And today, during a speech or at a meeting, I can tell my chief of staff or someone else that I need a juice when I’m going low, and they‘re happy to get it for me.”
He is now free to be the best CEO he can be while also not being afraid of letting others know that he isn’t defined by his chronic condition.
“That balance is great!”
Biography
Carl S. Armato is president and CEO of Novant Health in Winston-Salem, N.C. Since joining Novant Health in 1998 as the vice president of finance and operations for the physician divisions in both Charlotte and Winston-Salem, Armato has also served as senior vice president of materials management and logistics. In 2003, Presbyterian Healthcare appointed Armato as COO and then promoted him to president and CEO in January 2004. In 2008, the health system promoted him to president of Novant Health markets and to COO in 2011. The board of trustees appointed him to his current position in January 2012.
Prior to joining Novant Health, Armato was vice president, operations, for First Care Physicians and director of finance for General Health System in Baton Rouge, La. He was also a senior tax and audit consultant for Ernst & Young in the Baton Rouge office. Armato holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from the University of Southwestern Louisiana and a Master of Business Administration degree from Norwich University of Vermont.
A certified public accountant licensed in Louisiana and North Carolina, he is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the North Carolina Society of Certified Public Accountants, the State Board of CPAs of Louisiana and the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
Armato serves on the Vizient Inc. board of directors and finance committee, the American Heart Association Southeast Board of Directors, the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council and the JDRF North Carolina Executive Council, where he is a founding member.