TRANSCRIPT 🔗
Speaker 1 00:00:05 This is the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, created by the team of Becker's Healthcare, a multimedia company devoted to the people who power us healthcare. Four new 15 minute episodes are released daily containing industry news analysis and thought leadership. From powerful healthcare decision makers Support our show by leaving it a five star rating and review on Apple Podcast or other platforms you use. It's a chance to tell us what you like about the show and act on your feedback. Thanks for listening. Now here's the episode.
Speaker 2 00:00:30 This is Scott Becker with a special episode of Combined episode of the Becker's Healthcare and the Becker Private Equity podcast. We're thrilled today to visit with one of the great CEOs in healthcare. We're visiting with Randy sra. Randy served as the long-term CEO of ProMedica in Ohio, and, and did an absolutely amazing job as a leader and as a person. Uh, a combination of both. Just a fantastic job in leading that system through a tumultuous and fantastic couple of decades. Just a brilliant leader. Randy left the CEO position after being there, what seems like for a very long time and has now started and, and is working on investing in healthcare across a variety of areas. And Warren asked Randy to take us through what he's doing today and talk about what he's doing and, and, and, and more. Randy, lemme ask you to introduce yourself and, and tell us about what you're doing today.
Speaker 3 00:01:24 Yeah. Um, thanks Scott. So, yeah, you know, 40 years in healthcare, uh, 25 years at ProMedica, 15 years or so as the CEO and, uh, um, in my late sixties, um, decided to do something else. My dad worked till he was 85, and he always said that retirement's not a biblical concept. So I got a ways to go yet in life. And then, uh, did two things. One is, um, took a little time off, of course, uh, what they tell you to do when you retire. And then joined the CEO Advisory Network, a great group of, um, professional, uh, leaders who, um, are helping consult to, uh, folks that, that need help. And then, uh, through a number of years in interest, started a, um, venture capital longevity fund called Blueprint N one. And the thesis behind that is statistically, uh, we are all an N of one, and you need a blueprint for your life.
Speaker 3 00:02:21 So, got very, very interested in aging a number of years ago that led to just getting fascinated about longevity, which today is about a probably, uh, a high point. And, um, it goes back to reading about the hallmarks of aging that we can talk about that, you know, was over a decade ago identified a visit to a fantastic research place called the Buck Institute. Marin County, California had a full longevity, physical Scott that kind of did all the type of things that we're talking about today. And then, uh, just been focused on, uh, building this venture capital, uh, company investing only in companies in the longevity space. So, um, that's kind of, you know, a quick synopsis of, uh, probably about 14 months of work and just real excited about this next phase of my life and career.
Speaker 2 00:03:14 Oh, well, fantastic. And I'm gonna ask you a couple questions to start with, and then we'll talk a little bit about people like Peter Tier, Tia, Michael Roy and, and so forth. They've done a lot of writing and thinking about aging and, and trying to keep your health as well as your life. Uh, but, but let's start with something just a little bit personal. Randy, you've done a great job of keeping yourself physically and mentally healthy for as long as I've known you. So talk a little bit about what are your, besides being obsessed with the topic, which is, is part and parcel of this, what, what are some of the thoughts that you have about maintaining physical and mental health and aging? Aging well,
Speaker 3 00:03:51 Yeah. You know, I think, uh, for my family and I, um, a lot of things have changed. You know, my wife and I grew up in Iowa and, uh, probably had meat every meal. And today we're, we're not vegetarians, but we're pretty close. You know, we, um, eat a lot of fish, chicken, and then, um, we eat the, uh, tongue of vegetables have always exercised, partly just because that's kind of what I've enjoyed. Uh, and, uh, always was a great stress reliever. And then, uh, since retiring, I've focused a lot more on getting better sleep. And, uh, uh, I never smoked. Uh, I had a father that had lip cancer from smoking, so I always promised my mom I would never smoke. And so really, yeah, just kind of kept myself physically fit as best I could. You know, some, some years are better than others.
Speaker 3 00:04:35 And, um, my wife and I are, uh, huge walkers. Our goal is to walk 16,500 steps a day that that takes several hours. And so, yeah, have, have really felt that's part of our life. And then of course, um, our faith's important to us as well. And I, and I think just as we think about the things that we see in longevity today, exercise, diet, sleep, don't smoke, you know, limit your alcohol, sun exposure and having that socialization in life, those are all the things that, you know, you kind of kind of work on as a person every, um, every day. And that's really been our goal in life for my family. And I,
Speaker 2 00:05:12 And, and before I ask you about goals of the fund, talk about some of the influences that are, that who are influences to you on these subjects. Who do you study on these subjects of aging well and so forth? I, I know a couple of people that I've followed and read and listen to, but, but who are some that you listen to or, or, or think about a lot that have had influence on how you think about longevity and aging?
Speaker 3 00:05:36 Yeah, you know, I had the, uh, benefit initially of a, a number of years ago visiting the Buck Institutes, which is probably the premier, uh, aging research center in the United States.
Load full transcript
Fascinating story. We don't have time today about how they got created. Eric Verdin, uh, Dr. Verdin is the CEO, um, think highly of him. If you don't follow this. Uh, if you're interested in the topic, follow the Buck Institute on social media. Uh, Peter t of course is, you know, he wrote that great book, um, outlive, which is a bit of a slut to get through, but I think some of his observations about medicine, um, of course, David Sinclair is very, very well known in the space. And then Michael Rozen from the Cleveland Clinic is one of our advisors. So, uh, Michael's a friend and have really, um, uh, followed a lot of his things as well.
Speaker 3 00:06:21 And then there's just a whole variety of, um, different sort of organizations that, um, regularly post about, um, social media. So someone's interested, I just start getting out there, follow the buck, and, uh, I think you'll go from there and you'll build this whole network of people you can follow. Uh, I think what's happened over the last few years is that network has really vastly expanded. Um, I was just at the Buck Institute, uh, for a longevity conference and the number of speakers, um, talking about their work and the things they're doing. There's just a ton of, uh, folks to follow and just encourage people to just, you know, start small and build, build their, uh, network.
Speaker 2 00:07:02 Fascinating. Take one moment on Michael Roy and Dr. Roys and, and sort of the brilliance of his concepts of real age and aging and so forth. Give us one moment on Dr. Rozen. We've had him on the podcast a couple times. I find him absolutely brilliant at FALs Worth for a long time. Give us 30 seconds on Dr. Royce.
Speaker 3 00:07:17 Yeah, incredibly smart guy. You know, probably was looking at longevity, um, before most folks were. I think what's interesting, you know, I think we're starting to see physicians now look over their shoulder. People watch the Blue Zones on Netflix, they're starting to get questions. You know, rising is a primary, uh, uh, a pioneer in the space. Um, he's done a, a tremendous, uh, uh, work. Uh, he's got a new app out that's really great if you're interested in tracking your own, uh, longevity, uh, journey. And then is written very, very well about kind of how do you sort through all the things that are out there. There's a lot of noise in the space, uh, as you know, Scott, and, and you know, somebody like that that's just kind of a voice of reason, a physician who, um, is, you know, very credible and really looks at research. So yeah, I think you're really looking for someone to, to take a really hard look at someone that's got a great, um, clinical reputation and base. He would be the guy to look at.
Speaker 2 00:08:12 Fascinating talk about investing in the space. What does that start to look like? What kind of companies talk, talk to us about that.
Speaker 3 00:08:20 Yeah, you know, we started a, uh, our idea of this blueprint n
one, which I talked about, uh, was kind of the formation. Um, so a couple partners and I started talking about it, and then it's really kind of been my focus since I've retired. So, um, uh, it's, it started with kind of a, a friend of a friend, um, uh, Greg Norman, who's very, very focused on his longevity, his son-in-Law, uh, Scott dbu, some, uh, folks from Chicago First Trust and some, some folks here from Ohio. And really what we wanted to do is, um, uh, start a fund that is purely longevity focused. So we're looking at, at any sort of company that, that may have a wearable that is longevity based. And one of our first investments was in a company called Apollo Neuro, great company based in Pennsylvania, outta UPMC. It's a neuro stimulus watch.
Speaker 3 00:09:12 I can't sleep without the thing. Um, it's helps you to calm down and, and a variety of things like that. Um, we've invested in epigenetics, the whole field of epigenetics. We're looking at companies that, you know, produce, um, NAD. We've talked to a variety of companies that are either in the wearable market or have some sort of nutraceutical base to them. And really what we're looking for is companies that, you know, have some revenue, they're established, um, they're, they're clinically based, and ones that we feel strongly about that we can help. And I think that's probably the, the mantra you hear a lot from venture capital folks, um, between the networks of our, our founders and then our advisors. We really wanna help companies grow and, you know, uh, gain some traction. And so, yeah, we've got about probably a dozen pipeline companies that we're looking at all, I would say in those kind of, um, major buckets. And, uh, yeah, those are, those are the things that we're, we're, um, looking at investing right now.
Speaker 2 00:10:16 Thank you. In terms of great fit, senior level golfers, who is better at this? Greg Norman or Gary player?
Speaker 3 00:10:27 You know, that's a really good question. Um, I don't know Gary, I'm gonna go with Craig Norman. Um, you know, I, I met him before the live golf, uh, venture started, and, uh, very, very focused on his health and wellbeing. Intends to live, you know, well above a hundred. Um, you know, he takes care of himself. Um, all the type of things, all the boxes that you would check from longevity. Uh, that's what, what, what what he is, um, really approaching for his own life. And then just my experience with him is you couldn't meet a nicer down to earth guy. Uh, from the first time I met him from blue jeans, cowboy boots, showed up with a yellow, uh, notepad, took notes, um, and then asked a few questions. Um, and yeah, just a, just a great guy. So I, I would put it very, very high on the list.
Speaker 3 00:11:12 I'm sure everything you read about Gary Player, he's right there as well. And I think that's the thing for all of us. You know, so much out there today, Scott, in the whole longevity world. And when you start looking at the list of biomarkers and all the supplements and things that are out there, and then at the hallmarks of aging, you know, it's really, I think, a time for healthcare to start looking over their shoulder at the whole longevity world. I mean, um, uh, today, I think McKinsey's daily read set, it was a $1.3 trillion business. I've read higher numbers and people are very, very focused on longevity. So I think the idea for healthcare is to begin to start to look at this because this is really what consumers want. But again, it's just out of the mainstream of healthcare. And I think as we know, healthcare's a bit slow on the uptake on a lot of these things.
Speaker 2 00:12:01 Randy, again, fantastic executive and leader and thinker. Randy Ra, long-term, CEO of ProMedica. Brilliant. Good person. Randy, where can people learn more about Blueprint and one and, and about what you're doing?
Speaker 3 00:12:15 Yeah, uh, for one thing, just send me a note at randy@blueprintnone.com and I'm happy to send you a variety of things. And, and we also have a website, so you can go to Blueprint N one and look us up there and love to share more information. Um, a lot of dialogue. Um, you know, of course we use LinkedIn a lot as well. So yeah, give us a shout. We'll share some things. I think if you're not familiar with the hallmarks of aging that came out in 2013, um, when the hallmarks of cancer came out, that really changed radically our approach to cancer and the hallmarks of aging are doing that as well as we think about, um, kind of a clinical approach to aging. So I, I would strongly suggest people take a hard look at that and then, uh, find a position that that really thinks, um, um, that longevity is something to look at. And then each one of us is different. So you gotta kind of create your own personal journey.
Speaker 2 00:13:03 Randy, what a pleasure to get a chance to visit with you. Randy Ra, gifted, gifted executive leader of the ProMedica system for a very long time, just did an incredible job. Uh, he's a, he's a role model to me in terms of a person who sort of takes care of themselves, takes care of business, is great to people, and extremely smart, just a great, great leader. Now he's on his next effort, which is to build this private equity font to invest in aging and longevity. Fascinating, fascinating to hear what you're doing. Randy, thank you for joining us again on the Becker's Healthcare and Becker Private Equity podcast. Always good to visit with you.
Speaker 3 00:13:39 Yep. Thanks, Scott.
Speaker 1 00:13:41 It's so important for leaders at the top of organizations to keep learning, stay sharp, grow their networks to help our audience better do this in a more simplified, personalized, and meaningful way. Becker's Healthcare has launched my bhc, it's your trusted Becker's healthcare experience and more with content, connections, events and learning opportunities. Join the community free of charge@www.my dot becker's hospital review.com, and we'll see you there.