Leadership Through Faith

by sue schaffstall As President and CEO of Catholic Health, how does Mark Sullivan’86, the man at the helm of a major hospital system, deal with leading his team in the midst of a Global Pandemic? Leadership through faith seems like a good way to sum up how Sullivan does his job and lives his life. Being President and CEO of any major organization is challenging on its own, throw in a world heath crisis with no end in sight and the stress level can sky rocket, or not. Sullivan says that he loves what he does. “I get to live my values at work and carryover what I learned at St. Francis.” How did he, during the peak of Covid, stay grounded in his faith while working 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week?

Catholic Health was asked to discuss its COVID approach on international news.

“In a time of uncertainty, what I had to do in my life and in my job was create certainty,” said Sullivan explaining that uncertainty instills fear and quells any hope that people have. “Being so grounded in my faith, no matter how difficult it got, was the buoy to the craziness of Covid.” He further explains that, “no matter what happens, when you know with certainty that we have our health, our family, spirit, hope and faith. If you have those, no matter what happens in the world or in your job, you are going to be okay.” Sullivan refers to his job as a vocation and gives all the credit to his team at Catholic Health. ”I want to provide them all the tools they need and this includes spiritual care.” At the height of the Pandemic, he needed to make sure that everyone had everything they needed on all levels; physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He was creating certainty in the uncertain world of Covid. “It was like building and repairing an airplane while it was flying.” Sullivan reflects on the Prayer of St. Francis and how it applies today. “If you seriously read the words to the prayer of St. Francis,” said Sullivan, “the message is so true for not only society but also for how we are dealing with healthcare challenges, how we are dealing with personal challenges, isolation, social distancing, it really does resonate. When you really think about it, where there is doubt -faith, despair-hope, darkness-light; that gets right to the bedside of treating almost 1,000 Covid patients.” A little known fact about Sullivan is that he didn’t get accepted at St. Francis right away, he was waitlisted. “I was crying in my living room behind a chair in 8th grade because all my friends got into the schools they wanted to get into. Sullivan did eventually

Signs were tied up throughout the community, this one was right near St. Joseph Campus. The Factory Buffalo - with supplies of gowns in question, we reached out to a local (Kenmore) company and they augmented plant to make gowns!- very cool

Press Conference - This was the day we announced re-opening of St. Joseph’s.

get into St. Francis after being interviewed and put on probation by then Principal Fr. Peter Saparito. “He really stuck his neck out for me. If it weren’t for Fr. Peter I wouldn’t have gotten in.” “The uncertainty of my time behind that chair in the living room and maybe always falling short made me think differently throughout my upbringing. The one thing I stayed focused on is my faith, being a person of integrity; that’s something that people can’t take from me. People can take other things, you can lose your job, you could have a disease, but if you have a good moral compass and a strong faith, whatever that faith is, and high integrity, whatever happens, happens.” “What’s maybe different from myself and others is that I’m not here to keep a job,” said Sullivan. “I’m here to do a job and I don’t fear of the outcome of that job because I’m doing the best I can do, so if people worry about the outcome they are not focusing on the present moment. When people are so focused on a career they are missing the journey and the shaping of their life.” Sullivan explains that when he got to St. Francis he wasn’t as disciplined as he is now. “Between the Friars and teachers having me come in earlier because I didn’t do well in a subject, or kicking me off the basketball team because I was on probation, these moments in time kind of rattled me, but also shaped me. One of my best friends is from the Catholic Charities drive from sophomore year and I talk to him once a week no matter where we are in the world, he was man of the year in 1985, Eric Young. “St. Francis enabled me a safe environment, with the appropriate pressure, a great brotherhood around me that was safe and loyal to start developing the person that I am trying to still be, I’m not the person I want to be yet, you never stop, but it really helped me in those formative years and I don’t think you can measure that.” “The certainty that St. Francis created in that environment wasn’t as valuable to me as the ability to deal with uncertainty. You have to think outside the box, not become a cookie cutter student and be vulnerable. When you are vulnerable, yes you can get hurt but you can also learn a lot about yourself.” According to Sullivan, “whenever I go St. Francis, participate in an event or read something, it reminds me of where I came from.” The prayer of St. Francis resonates with him. “It’s remarkable, the Prayer of St. Francis, as old as it is, how it applies to today. It focuses on the we, not the me. It’s not about what I need from the world, it’s how do I understand more and learn more and be a servant of God in a different way.” Sullivan has daily devotional rituals that keep him grounded. He shared that he has been saying the rosary in his car on the way to work for the past 17 years. “I sleep great at night, I have an incredible spouse and family. Who knows what tomorrow is going to bring? Are we doing everything right, absolutely not, but we’re doing stuff.” He says, “For the students, indecision is the worst decision because if you are waiting for something to change, sometimes you have to change before anything will change.” First responders showed

appreciation to our healthcare

Sullivan explained that he heroes. This was at St. Joseph’s, usually doesn’t quote a non- notice a statue of him is in the religious person but, “Charles forefront.Darwin said it’s not the strongest or the most fit that survive, it’s the one most willing to adapt to change. That’s the world we are living in right now. If you are forcing yourself against all this uncertainty and change you are going to wear yourself out.” Taking the good with the bad. “The silver lining (to the pandemic) is that families got to spend more time together than they ever have during covid. Those are gifts that can’t be overlooked, the good things that came out of the pandemic.” A very humble man who does not like talking about himself, Sullivan credits his team at Catholic Health, his family and his faith for getting him through this crisis. “There are not a lot of things you can control in today’s world, but the more certainty you have in your faith, family and health, those are the main things no matter what happens.”