How do you get a job on Capitol Hill? Take a sabbatical and move to Washington, DC - meet Amy Efantis who did just that and has never looked back.
The Political LifeSeptember 02, 2024x
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How do you get a job on Capitol Hill? Take a sabbatical and move to Washington, DC - meet Amy Efantis who did just that and has never looked back.

Amy is currently SVP of Corporate Affairs and Public Relations at Ascension. Amy is an experienced leader who has guided successful teams in the U.S. and abroad & believes strongly in servant-leadership; over two decades of experience in Washington, D.C. leading organizations, managing budgets, imaging strategy and developing people; 10+ years of lobbying & health care policy success in the bio-pharmaceutical space; keen appreciation for our dynamic, changing environment & the necessity to be at once strong and nimble. 

[00:00:11] Welcome back to another episode of The Political Life. Today we come to you back to the DC area.

[00:00:22] Technically, I think our guest Amy Efantis from Ascension. I always call it Ascension Healthcare.

[00:00:29] I'll have to ask Amy whether or not that's correct. Ascension is a healthcare company,

[00:00:38] essentially hospitals located in I think over 15 states. She can tell us exactly

[00:00:46] around the country and if you are in a state with one of their hospitals, you're probably very familiar

[00:00:51] with them. But I think technically she is in Maryland but we will find out. Amy and of

[00:00:59] course Maggie Mick is here with me. Amy welcome to the show. Thank you. It's great to be with

[00:01:05] you Jim and Maggie. So Amy why don't you start off by just introducing yourself to our listeners.

[00:01:15] Tell them a little bit about yourself and your career if you want. Excellent. Thank you. So my

[00:01:24] career started, I grew up in Grand Bay, Wisconsin and I went to college in Madison, Wisconsin.

[00:01:33] And excuse me, my master's degree or I went through a professional program for educators. So

[00:01:39] in secondary education and started out my career in teaching. And I was a high school teacher

[00:01:45] for four years and enjoyed it very much. Taught history and government but really wanted to

[00:01:53] see what that looked like in action. And so I got a leave of absence from my job for a year.

[00:01:59] I went to Washington. I didn't have a job and I walked the halls looking at

[00:02:06] different offices in the Wisconsin delegation and I wanted to, at that time I was very interested

[00:02:14] in working for a Democrat and I walked into the office of Congressman Tom Barrett

[00:02:19] and was fortunate enough that there was a staff assistant job available open and

[00:02:26] the front desk was open. The front desk was open and I remember the chief of staff saying,

[00:02:32] you know, you've been a teacher is this really going to challenge you enough? And I said, I'm

[00:02:37] very hungry to learn. So that involved a cut in pay and going from a nine or 10 month work

[00:02:44] schedule to a 12 month work schedule. But within that first year it became very clear that

[00:02:49] there would be the president at that time was Bill Clinton and that there was going to be an

[00:02:55] impeachment. And Tom Barrett was on, I believe at that time it was called oversight and government

[00:03:01] reform and he had kind of made a name for himself. And if you'll recall tragically Congressman

[00:03:08] Sonny Bono was killed in a skiing accident. And then that seat was sort of was taken by his wife

[00:03:18] Mary Bono and she came to Congress very interested in a seat on the judiciary committee

[00:03:25] recognizing that there would very likely be an impeachment. And so they needed to balance the

[00:03:30] other side with a Democrat and my boss got a seat on judiciary and all of a sudden, you know,

[00:03:38] we're in the middle of an impeachment hearing of the president and it was amazing. And

[00:03:44] after that I was not going back to the farm, the proverbial so I was booked on DC.

[00:03:51] And I worked for Tom for a little over four years and ended up doing his healthcare work

[00:04:00] when he was assigned to energy and commerce with very little background in healthcare apart

[00:04:05] from my own experiences as a patient. It was a steep learning curve but I learned a lot about

[00:04:14] you know, Medicare Medicaid and it was eye opening to say the least

[00:04:22] to recognize how Byzantine I think it's not really a healthcare system right it's just

[00:04:27] a hodgepodge of different components that sometimes work together and sometimes don't but

[00:04:36] but so when Tom ran for governor I moved to a freshman office Congressman Archer Davis

[00:04:46] from Alabama and although we were the same age he was you know, Harvard double domer who had

[00:04:53] gotten a law degree at Harvard and was a definite overachiever whereas I was not so much so

[00:05:01] it but it was a great fit and I was hired as this legislative director and

[00:05:06] learned a lot working for him he was ended up eventually on the ways and means committee and

[00:05:13] so again I saw healthcare from another dimension. And when I left for Tours office my first job

[00:05:22] outside of Congress was with pharma which was a terrific place to sort of cut my teeth

[00:05:29] and lobbying and then from there I went to Beringer Engelheim where I spent about eight years and

[00:05:36] it was tremendous because of course Beringer is an interesting company it's a family owned

[00:05:43] company and so seeing the pharma world through that lens was fascinating and from BI I moved

[00:05:52] to Biogen to a U.S. company really different experience quarterly earnings are everything right

[00:05:59] and of course we were dealing with things like newborn screening which was just

[00:06:06] that was an incredibly rewarding experience but also the challenges of adjucane you

[00:06:11] happen to in its development this was before it was you know the controversy around

[00:06:18] what we were building up to that so that was a great learning experience too

[00:06:22] and then I left Biogen to go to the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association and I was leading

[00:06:30] PPTA which is a small trade association but very significant because it's the

[00:06:38] collectors and manufacturers of products made from human plasma I had been a plasma donor

[00:06:44] in college and so this meant something to me I understood how important donation was but then

[00:06:52] seeing it really in action was profound and how much those patients depend on the goodwill of

[00:07:01] donors and it was that was incredible and of course that the most challenging part was

[00:07:07] being there during a pandemic and then from PPTA I was at GSK so I was back in pharma

[00:07:14] GSK was you know is a wonderful British based company so again publicly traded but

[00:07:22] ex-US headquartered and that's a different lens again on pharma and then most recently I joined

[00:07:32] Ascension and I'm very excited to work in Catholic healthcare and for the hospitals so

[00:07:39] I've seen healthcare from a lot of different perspectives I'm still not convinced we have

[00:07:43] a healthcare system but I'm excited to be a part of it. Well some incredible jobs

[00:07:51] really some what great experience so two questions one so how long did you end up

[00:07:57] spending on the hill and why don't you tell us a little bit about what it was like working for

[00:08:02] the plasma association during the pandemic. Okay great well I was on the hill for the better part

[00:08:11] of eight years and you know working on the hill is amazing because I think people don't appreciate

[00:08:22] how much power staffers have and that's sort of contrasted against not so great hey

[00:08:35] so it tends to be younger people but it's a tremendous place to learn and it was a great

[00:08:43] learning experience I mean and I met all kinds of cool people working on the hill not just

[00:08:47] members of congress but people like you know Michael McDonald and the cast of the West Wing

[00:08:55] and Carol King and I mean the list is extensive my kids are always sort of gobsmacked at the

[00:09:02] people I've met I think they think I'm friends with all of them of course none of these people

[00:09:07] remember me but um but then just don't just don't dispel your children of the the idea that

[00:09:14] yes Carol King and I are our best friends but you know watching the the significant bills that were

[00:09:23] passed while I was there and and watching the formation of Medicare Part D and it was an amazing

[00:09:31] time to be on the hill and although it didn't pass being there during the discussions on

[00:09:35] patients bill of rights we've seen you know the arc of that has resulted in a lot of reforms

[00:09:41] that have come to fruition which have been huge benefits for patients so it was it was exciting

[00:09:49] and it was monumental in many ways to be there and I was also working on the hill during 9-11 so

[00:09:57] it was from a sort of from a place of growth both intellectually emotionally spiritually

[00:10:06] it was an amazing time to be there and then I think to your second question Jim about PPTA so

[00:10:15] when I joined PPTA it's it's an interesting organization because there is a limited number

[00:10:22] of sort of their global board it's just a handful of companies but the collectors are numerous

[00:10:29] so that's a separate board that's part of PPTA and they're collectors all over the world

[00:10:35] and that's why it's a global organization and of course you know we were moving along thinking

[00:10:44] like everyone else that we all had plans and then suddenly 2019 happened and all those plans

[00:10:53] changed and what was I think most gratifying about that experience was that it was so collective

[00:11:02] you know that we shared this it was the great equalizer everyone was impacted and in the same way

[00:11:09] we all had to shut down and but the impact it had to plasma was sort of more austere I will say

[00:11:19] than a lot of other industries because the patients particularly who rely on those medicines

[00:11:26] to treat things like immune deficiencies those medicines it's very tenuous and so they when

[00:11:34] somebody sits in a chair and has a needle put in their arm to donate plasma that plasma is turned

[00:11:44] into a medicine and put into someone else's you know usually inside of a year and ensuring that

[00:11:52] there's continuity there is everything and of course people weren't donating plasma during that

[00:11:58] time and so there was a it required a major effort on the part of those companies which did heroic

[00:12:04] work in increasing and in reaching out and finding donors and the Department of Health and Human

[00:12:11] Services and the general public and I think it was it was an effort that spoke for itself

[00:12:20] because we didn't see huge shortages which was great and that was fair and I think you all remember that

[00:12:29] the there was plasma was sort of front and center for a short period of time in discussions on the

[00:12:35] treatment of COVID as well and continues to play a role in research so that was exciting

[00:12:42] and extremely challenging but also just you know that I would say at the end the payout of that was

[00:12:51] I'm so grateful to have been a part of that. So you recently took the new role at Ascension

[00:13:00] can you tell our audience more about Ascension and I think more pointedly you had said that it

[00:13:09] was a calling to make the decision to cross over and you've spent a lot of your career

[00:13:14] on the pharmaceutical side of the industry what was that calling that pulled you to Ascension

[00:13:21] in addition to just being a great employer and corporate citizen? Yeah that's so that's a great

[00:13:28] question and I think in healthcare I'm sure a lot of people are aware that people tend to look

[00:13:35] at healthcare in terms of segments and the segments often there's a lot of civil war among

[00:13:42] the segments within healthcare which makes it particularly interesting and I'll never lose

[00:13:51] the admiration that I have for what the biopharma industry does because it's value added

[00:13:57] and it's saving people every day and medicines keep people out of the hospital

[00:14:02] and it's a huge part of prevention. I think what particularly called me about Ascension was

[00:14:11] that its mission is it's an extremely poignant mission that's lived every day and I've never seen

[00:14:23] this in any organization before where everyone I meet at Ascension is deep in the mission and

[00:14:29] is constantly sharing it through the sort of lens of what they're doing today.

[00:14:37] They're always talking about mission and how important it is. I was you know my family and I

[00:14:43] are practicing Catholics that's not such a popular thing today and I almost feel like

[00:14:50] I'm able to sort of come out as a kid and at Ascension I can be- Hey my kids go to Catholic

[00:14:55] school you're among friends. Yeah and but there is a sense I think even among my family and friends

[00:15:08] who were raised Catholic that there is some dissonance between if you're someone who is

[00:15:14] intellectual and cares about people that there is that disconnect I don't see that at all and I'm

[00:15:20] proud of my faith and it's been extremely refreshing to work at Ascension and have that

[00:15:30] sense throughout the organization and of course a lot of people at Ascension are not Catholic

[00:15:36] and aren't expected to be in and that's part of what makes Ascension great but it's the mission

[00:15:42] that is so amazing to me. So there's over 141 hospitals and I think the work that

[00:15:50] you know there's Ascension does a lot of charity care and I had the privilege to visit some hospitals

[00:16:01] in Wichita, Kansas this week and it's eye-opening to go into the emergency room of a hospital

[00:16:11] that does a lot of care for people who don't otherwise have access to healthcare it's very

[00:16:17] eye-opening and I think for those of us I live in the DC area I'll be really candid with you when

[00:16:23] someone in my family gets sick we're cherry picking the best hospital and we go there and we

[00:16:29] friends were doctors there and that's we have that privilege but most people don't

[00:16:35] and so it's really important to recognize that need in our communities and I love that Ascension

[00:16:43] is part of addressing that need. You had mentioned Maya Martinez Davis as being a friend and mentor

[00:16:52] that you learned a lot from what were the lessons that you learned I'm always so curious

[00:16:57] about mentor-minty relationships and just how we help each other grow in our profession just

[00:17:05] what did you learn from her and what's a shout out to her if she's listening to this podcast?

[00:17:12] Well first of all I mean Maya you know she I continue to lean on her for that role as mentor

[00:17:20] but Maya is fascinating she's first of all I think her greatest strength is that she's an

[00:17:34] amazing 30 year-old and she's the most excellent person in the future and I think that's one of

[00:17:34] the things that we do for with the family especially when in a supervisory role to look at

[00:17:36] ourselves our team one as the people who work for us this is my team one this is my team

[00:17:43] but the truth is that is not your team your team one are your peers

[00:17:47] and I think the reason we thought and that was a challenge for me and the reason we default to

[00:18:00] to you, it's more difficult with your peer group and who will hold you accountable in a different way.

[00:18:09] So that was so valuable for me that that team that we shared at GSK that Maya built.

[00:18:20] And the second thing is that she's someone who's a big believer in getting people,

[00:18:26] the right people in the right job, the right time. And that talent is everything, developing

[00:18:36] talent is important and then finding the right talent. And it's critical to have the

[00:18:44] right mix of people to get done what you need to do. And so I feel like when I look back at

[00:18:53] the team that I was able to build at GSK, I left there feeling like that was

[00:19:00] the best team I'd ever built and the best team I'd ever worked with. So my peer group, that team one,

[00:19:09] that's not easy to do. But I'm also a firm believer that we should challenge ourselves

[00:19:15] constantly. I think as women, especially women of a particular age, I think I'm part of really

[00:19:22] the first generation of women who is that there weren't women before me who have built

[00:19:31] incredible careers that have spanned decades. But I'm the first, I think, generation of women

[00:19:37] that sort of makes up roughly half of our workforce who's working until retirement.

[00:19:44] And that's a different kettle of fish because we've, you know, now we've raised kids,

[00:19:49] now we're launching them into college. And that's a different dynamic when it comes to your career,

[00:19:57] because there's not a lot of past role modeling. Yes. It's kind of pioneering that.

[00:20:06] So I've challenged myself to try new things and to take on new challenges when they come up.

[00:20:12] And sometimes, you know, it's been a huge success. And sometimes it's been enormous challenges.

[00:20:20] And sometimes it's been both. Yeah, I would comment on that too, that the generation right before

[00:20:27] you were the pioneers in politics and policy. They are the women who were either elected or

[00:20:33] became the first heads or the first firm leaders, etc. And they had a lot of weight to carry,

[00:20:39] to do that. I think that they were so forward facing to charge ahead that sometimes the mentee

[00:20:48] mentor relationship was lost because they were doing the work. And so for your generation, kind of that

[00:20:53] 10 years behind and then I'm 10 years probably behind you, my generation in the 40s and 30s,

[00:21:00] we are so focused on how do we develop the 20 somethings and the 30 somethings because

[00:21:06] we didn't receive necessarily that kind of pulling us along. We were still kind of pulled along by

[00:21:14] men leaders in the workforce. So I'm so glad that is a key focus of you, of your career is to

[00:21:22] build up women because you're right, the generation right in front of you, they were just so

[00:21:27] focused on doing the work and building the careers that it was hard to bring others along.

[00:21:32] We just kind of got to watch and emulate versus learn directly from.

[00:21:37] Yeah, I completely agree with that. I had a mentor at Beringer Engelheim who remains a friend of

[00:21:44] mine Marla Persky. She was our general counsel. And I remember Marla told me one time she said

[00:21:51] the mark of a successful leader is when someone you've hired surpasses you.

[00:21:59] Yes. And it's a glory to see. I agree with that. I mean, I've had a couple of colleagues who have

[00:22:06] just gone on to do amazing things and I'm so proud of them. I love seeing that growth and that

[00:22:14] success. And I think I have a lot of women friends who they're big on celebrating each other's

[00:22:23] success. So I feel like and I've had male mentors too who have done that. So I'm really,

[00:22:28] I feel very fortunate in that sense. So you've had to join many different teams over your career.

[00:22:38] And I would imagine that some of the teams you just plug into and other teams you're brought on to

[00:22:45] build a team, as you said. How has it been adapting and joining Ascension

[00:22:56] in your current team? Well, Ascension is I mean, I'm very new in my role.

[00:23:03] I've come into a group of people who are well established and very strong, which is always

[00:23:08] a positive, a net positive. But I think looking across Ascension as an organization,

[00:23:16] the leadership is nimble. And I like that because I think there is a sense of

[00:23:26] nurturing and recognizing the need for building. That's important because

[00:23:37] when I was at GSK working for Maya, for example, and Maya's tough. Maya is not an easy leader.

[00:23:44] And that's I think what I like most about her is that she's at once very tough, very strong

[00:23:53] and a good leader and shepherd. And so she created an environment that she signaled and supported

[00:24:04] change, which is important. I don't the one statement I cannot tolerate in the workplace

[00:24:12] is we've tried that before. I can't stand it. I think it should be banned.

[00:24:18] And while I understand that sometimes people feel like ideas are being resurrected that

[00:24:27] seem like old hat, they weren't tried now. They weren't tried in today's environments.

[00:24:32] So let's try it again. And being open to change, to adapt to what's coming is everything. And I

[00:24:40] think you can have the really strong leaders, really smart people. But if they fail to

[00:24:46] recognize that, they're never going to move their organization forward.

[00:24:50] And how many states are you active in now or you have hospitals located in and

[00:24:57] are you are they expanding into other areas? Yeah, well, there are hospitals. I think

[00:25:03] you mentioned the footprint earlier and there are over 140 hospitals. I think looking at

[00:25:10] Ascension's future, Ascension is very focused on optimizing in the markets where we exist and

[00:25:20] pruning to grow, finding the best, it just best serve those communities. And of course,

[00:25:26] your community needs change. They expand and contract in different areas and different service

[00:25:32] lines. So I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on this, Jim, because I am very new

[00:25:38] at Ascension. And but the one thing I'm recognizing, one of my colleagues used this

[00:25:45] example or analogy, it's the Rubik's Cube that you can, the complexities of what hospitals are

[00:25:54] dealing with are incredible. And so it's how what care models look like, what

[00:26:04] payer models and mixes look like. You know, looking at pharma, what's happening in the pharma

[00:26:13] industry and what that will do to sort of help patients to not need hospitalization,

[00:26:21] reducing utilization in certain areas, and you're going to increase it in others.

[00:26:26] So it's probably a work force coming out of the classroom. Yep. And the workforce issues

[00:26:33] are particularly acute for hospitals, like getting the right staffing. I sat in on a meeting,

[00:26:43] a fly on the wall on a sort of logistics meetings at one of our hospitals that they have every

[00:26:48] single day and they're connected with a number of hospitals talking about the beds they have

[00:26:54] available and how they get people. It was amazing. I mean, I was stunned at the complexities

[00:27:01] that the nurse leaders have to deal with every single day. And when you then don't have the staffing

[00:27:09] to meet that, it's like 20 layers of supply chain from all different angles.

[00:27:17] It is and it's a universal issue. It's hospitals everywhere are facing the same challenges.

[00:27:24] And that sort of introduces other issues like, okay, so workforce development we know,

[00:27:30] I mean, our unemployment rate, of course, in this country nationwide looks pretty good today.

[00:27:35] But I still think, you know, I have kids who are in college right now. And if you look at

[00:27:41] what we could and should be doing in developing kids for professions where there are jobs

[00:27:46] available, there's so much opportunity there. And in a hospital particularly, it's not just

[00:27:54] nursing. I mean, it's such a myriad of talent that's needed. And there's so much potential there.

[00:28:01] So I think it's an exciting time and I'm very excited that Ascension's mission is so focused on

[00:28:09] the underserved. So you started the conversation with your interest in continuous learning and

[00:28:18] the kind of risk but also just leap that you took to Capitol Hill from being a teacher.

[00:28:23] And you've made, you know, continuous changes throughout your career. Every five years, every

[00:28:29] three years. What is one question that you ask yourself, whether it's learning based or just

[00:28:35] opportunity based? What's one question when you're thinking about taking on a new role or

[00:28:39] going to a new organization? Like how do you reach the decision I'm going to take that leap?

[00:28:46] Yeah, I love this Maggie. Well, it's not what does my stock portfolio look like because I

[00:28:51] don't have one obviously. And that's never been a driver for me. But what is, is an organization

[00:29:01] going back to that idea of openness to change? Because particularly when you're talking about

[00:29:08] healthcare, the environment is changing so rapidly that if the organization is not

[00:29:14] willing to change with it, it's not going to work. And when you have, you know,

[00:29:19] hospitals don't have the option to not serve patients. It's not an option. And particularly

[00:29:26] when you have a mission like Ascension has and you're building in areas in places where you have

[00:29:31] locations in places like Ascension has, that's not an issue. You're operating 24 hours a day,

[00:29:37] seven days a week, every single day of the year. So you have to be open to change.

[00:29:44] And it was interesting being in the hospitals in Kansas this week, hearing from people who were

[00:29:51] your where we are seeing successes and efficiencies being driven and things like optimization are in

[00:29:59] places where people are open to trying new things. And you know that that goes from the

[00:30:05] custodial staff, you know, through the surgical staff, everyone has to be willing to try it.

[00:30:11] And in our space, I think we get very hung up on our space meaning sort of like public affairs,

[00:30:20] public relations. We get hung up on the fact that we've established a set of relationships and so

[00:30:25] this should serve us for the rest of our career. But in fact, that's a small component that

[00:30:31] that relationship building is constant, and that the stakeholders of those relationships

[00:30:36] are constantly changing. One final question. How before we get into Maggie's going to ask you

[00:30:46] a couple questions we asked all the guests, but what how much traveling do you have to do

[00:30:52] going to onsite locations? So this job, it's, you know, we have, I want to visit

[00:31:02] a lot of our hospitals. My goal is to make it out to all of our markets. And so but the

[00:31:11] geography is relatively consolidated, I mean, we access sort of in the middle part of the country

[00:31:16] all the way, you know, from top to bottom, which is a contrast from, you know, working for

[00:31:22] plasma where we had in one year, I was in China, Korea, all over Europe, sounds terrific and was

[00:31:31] a great learning experience, but it's very taxing on someone with a family. So

[00:31:37] this works out great. And and I think getting to know places, I had never been to Wichita,

[00:31:44] Kansas. It was amazing. I mean, it was a terrific opportunity. So I'm really excited

[00:31:49] about that part of this. Wichita is a great city. I'm a native of Topeka so. Oh, you are.

[00:31:55] Yes, it was. I mean, the nicest people and beautiful prairie, you know, for miles. And

[00:32:05] when we when I took off, my flight was delayed. It was the obviously it was a big beautiful moon,

[00:32:12] but something about that moon over the prairie was really spectacular. The big skies of the planes

[00:32:19] are hard to describe. Yeah, breathtaking. Well, the two final questions we like to ask

[00:32:26] guests are where were you last? So you just said Wichita and when you were in Wichita,

[00:32:31] what was the best meal that you had or a good restaurant recommendation? And then where are

[00:32:36] you headed to next? What we like to do is share maybe where you're traveling to so that if

[00:32:42] somebody wants to reach out and make a connection, they can give you a food tip or a restaurant

[00:32:48] recommendation so that you are well fed when you are traveling. Oh my gosh, I'm not going to

[00:32:53] remember the name of the restaurant now, but there was it was in Wichita we ate at a

[00:33:02] of course it was a steak restaurant and it was fantastic. I didn't eat steak. Sorry,

[00:33:08] I don't eat red meat, but that's important to know somebody's gonna send you a food

[00:33:12] food rack. Right, I did have a fantastic scene.

[00:33:19] But I will also tell you that four days before that we were in Greece

[00:33:24] and my husband's family lives in Greece. We were not in Santorini or some fancy island. We go to

[00:33:31] a small fishing village on the Gulf of Corinth. So if anyone is traveling to Greece on the

[00:33:38] mainland but wants to go to the most spectacular seaside villages in the world, I'm happy to

[00:33:44] give you some recommendations. And then where are you headed to next?

[00:33:50] I don't have a trip on the books, but I'm trying to get to Wisconsin to visit our Wisconsin market.

[00:34:00] So I'm hoping that'll be Milwaukee. I'm somewhat familiar with Milwaukee having worked for

[00:34:06] Tom Barrett, but I would love recommendations for restaurants in Milwaukee. Fantastic.

[00:34:13] Well thank you Amy. It was a pleasure having you and we're wishing you all the most success in

[00:34:19] your new role with Ascension. Thank you Maggie and Jim really appreciate this.

[00:34:23] Amy, that was great. And for our listeners have a great week and we will see you next Monday.