Most physician leadership hires become a coin flip the day the contract signs.
The search firm is usually gone by then. I am not. For 22 years I have placed physician leaders in hospitals and healthcare-services organizations, and every placement comes with six months of executive coaching and a full one-year guarantee, so the hire actually holds.
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The real problem
The leadership role that stays empty costs more every month it stays empty.
If you run the organization, a vacant CMO, CNO, or service-line chair stalls the growth you are already planning for. Volume targets slip, your team runs harder to cover the gap, and the labor line keeps climbing while the role sits open.
If you lead people, the harder problem sits underneath the hire. You fill roles only to lose more out the back door, and there is no obvious bench ready to step up when a leader leaves. A physician executive who does not last the year does not just cost you the search. It resets the whole clock.
The track record
Numbers only two decades in one field can produce.
Why the placements hold
Every placement is built to stay.
Each physician leader I place gets six months of independent executive coaching, usually from someone with the same clinical background, built into the recruitment fee. It is not billed on top and it is not an upsell.
That support through the transition is the reason I can guarantee my placements for a full year, well past the 90 days most firms stand behind. When a leader is supported after the hire, the leader stays.
Why a specialist, not a big firm
When you hire Avery, you work directly with me from the first call to the final placement. There is no handoff to a junior researcher. I do not recruit across all of healthcare. I place physician leaders: chief medical officers, chief nursing officers, VPMAs, chief physician executives, and department and service-line chiefs. That is the whole practice, and it is why you get depth instead of a generalist.
A large firm gives you a team, a handoff, and no guarantee. I give you one senior specialist, direct accountability, and a placement backed by coaching and a full year. My searches run across the Canada and US border without the bureaucracy of a global firm.
I host Physicians Who Lead, where I talk with the physician leaders shaping healthcare on both sides of the border. It is how I keep my network deep and current.
What clients say
“Kevin has provided a variety of physician leadership services for our hospital over the past few years. Throughout each engagement, he has consistently delivered exceptional, timely, and highly professional service. His collaboration with Dr. Kristen Woods has been particularly impactful, enhancing the recruitment process through thoughtful coaching and mentorship for individuals stepping into new leadership roles. Kevin brings decades of expertise not only in physician recruitment, but also in clinical leadership development, organizational structure, and strategic physician engagement. His insight, professionalism, and commitment to excellence have made him a valued partner to our organization.”
“Kevin and his team at Avery recently led us through a key medical director leadership selection process at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. What stands out is how well Kevin understands the nuances of physician leadership: it is not simply about finding a capable clinician, but identifying someone with the self-awareness, communication, and organizational vision to lead effectively. Kevin brings that lens to every stage of the screening process, and it shows in the quality of the conversations and the decisions that follow. His contributions are calm, well-considered, and genuinely useful. It has been a pleasure working alongside Kevin, and I would recommend him to any organization looking to bolster their physician leadership search and selection processes.”