April 4, 2025 • 31 mins
The latest Building Black Business podcast episode features David Montague in conversation with Dennis Pullin, President and CEO of Virtua Health
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody. My name is David Montague and I'm your
host for this week's episode of The Building Black Bass Podcast.
I'm here with Dennis pull In, President and CEO of
Virtual Health. Dennis, it's very next to me too. Thank
you for having me. I've been looking forward to doing this.
How is your trip to New York City so far?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Great trip and to do this which I was looking
forward to. And from this we will leave and fly.
We have a home in Houston and so we'll be
going to Houston.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
What is your weekend look like? Any plans any You know?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
My weekend is typically filled with dinners with my wife,
golf with my friends, and some much needed downtime.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
That sounds very nice. I'm very jealous, all right.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, you know, when you put in the time during
the week, you have to find space to recharge absolutely,
And for me, I fly back and forth almost weekly,
so I spend the time flying to Houston to sort
of decompress from the week, and the time coming back
to New New Jersey to sort of gear up for
(01:02):
the week.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
So I've kind of figured out how to make it
work for me.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Why New Jersey's headquarters over there?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, so Virtua is primarily in South Jersey. Right now,
we're in three states. We're in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
But our corporate headquarters is just literally across the river
from Philadelphia in Marlton, New Jersey, so it's about twenty
minutes from Center City.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
My grandparents are from They live in shamong very very small.
I'm okay. When people I bring it up, they have
no idea. But I love Marleton. I grew up there.
I went summer camp over there. Yeah, so that's where
we are. The smile on my face, I know the
listeners can't see it, but I'm like, someone knows what.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I want to take it back a little bit and
just started about learn about what you did growing up?
What did you study in undergrad where did you go,
what did growing up look like for you?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
You know, I grew up in San Antonio, and I
was very fortunate that I had two parents that were
very supportive, you know. Unfortunately neither of my parents got
to graduate high school.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
They had three.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Boys and really encourage the three of us and me
in particular to pursue the things that were meaningful to me.
And after high school, I decided I wanted to get
a degree in biology. You know, they didn't quite know
what that meant, but they knew what it meant to me,
(02:37):
and so it was very much, very encouraging to support
me and pursuing what I wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
And honestly, you don't see that a lot in lack
in African American households. I think people especially when they
have a passion project or something that they're really ready
to give one hundred percent of their all too. In
high school and college, A lot of the times for
my friends my family, they're all like, no, like, you
need to focus on something that's going to bring in
(03:06):
the bills.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And I think it's also a misnomer that just because
you're in a household that's not populated with classically educated
individuals don't mean that there aren't intelligent people in that household.
So neither one of my parents had formal education, but
(03:28):
they were two of the hardest working people. I knew
they were extremely intelligent. They just grew up in the
South during a time where they just couldn't afford to
not work and to go to school, and so they
encouraged us a lot. And even for the things that
they didn't quite understand. They were still supportive, and so
(03:53):
people would always ask me why healthcare did did anybody
encourage you to go into healthcare?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
And the answer is no. My parents encouraged me.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
To do something that would be meaningful, and so me,
as a young kid, I always had an interest in science,
and I always sort of had this entrepreneurial spirit about
me as well, and so it became the perfect marriage
between my love of science and my love of business.
(04:26):
You know, to pursue a career in the business of healthcare,
absolutely I get to do good and also get to
do well.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
What did college look like for you?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So college was interesting and in hindsight, it was the
best experience I could have had. While I was in
the middle of it, I thought there had to be
a better way.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Where did you go?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I went to undergraduate. I went to Texas Lutheran University,
which is about an hour outside of San Antonio, where
I grew up, and I decided I wanted to get
a degree in biology. Obviously, my family couldn't afford to
send me away to college, so I did what many
kids do that were in my situation. I had loans,
(05:16):
I had scholarships, I had grants, I had work study.
I had a job that I kept in San Antonio.
So during the year I would go to school. Every
weekend I would drive back to San Antonio work my
job in San Antonio worked at a grocery store, and
then during the week I had a job on campus.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
And so it was.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
A challenge, but I got to tell you, looking back
on it, it was perhaps the best proving grounds that
I could have experienced. I learned responsibility, I learned how
to commit to something. I learned that things weren't going
to be easy, but there was a light at the
end of the tunnel. And so after I graduated from
(05:59):
Texas Lutheran, I went on and got a master's degree
from Texas A and M.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And sure you can learn how time management to it was.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
A necessity, you know, Listen, I stayed on campus on
the weekends twice in four years because I had to
manage my time my environment in a different way. And so,
like I said, I probably complained a little bit about
(06:30):
it while I was going through it, But when I
look back on it now, you know, if you talk
to my family, my wife, they will tell you I
don't think they would define me as a workaholic, but
they will tell you he.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Works a lot. He works a lot, and I don't
think about it.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I just I do what I feel I need to do,
and that's just kind of in my blood.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Now. So after you got your master's, how did you
get here? I know it took some time.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
How did I get here?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You know, a whole bunch of years in between. You know,
I've always been on the business side of healthcare. I've
always been committed to taking care of people and providing,
you know, care, particularly for those that might not otherwise
have access to it. And I took on jobs with
increasing responsibility. I worked for the first twenty six years
(07:26):
of my career in Texas, primarily based in Houston. That
took me to Washington, d C. And Baltimore, and then
eight years ago, I took the role as president and
CEO of Virtual Health, which is in New Jersey. It's
a integrated health system anchored with excuse me, anchored with
(07:50):
five hospitals and four hundred care locations throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
and Delaware.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
And I love it, you know. I get to wake
up every.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Single morning and be part of an ecosystem that is
by design created to make life better for people, and
so I love being a part of that. I love
having an opportunity to go and do good and create
a pathway for groups of people that otherwise might not.
(08:30):
You know, there's a lot of vulnerable people in all
of our communities. So it requires leaders people like myself
to say, you know what, I'm going to do something
about it. And so I have an opportunity to do that.
So I love what I do.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
And I was going to I'm jumping around a little bit.
What advice did you follow when you first started? Can
be eight years ago when you first became the president,
but what advice took out to.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
You, you know, I don't know if it was the
advice from just eight years ago as opposed to some
advice someone gave me early on in my career, and
that advice was, you know, make sure you surround yourself
with impactful people. You know, people that are you know,
(09:19):
pushing the envelope, people that are doing you know, positive things,
people you can learn from, people that will help guide you.
You know, as we have two kids, and I would
always tell my kids, it's difficult to move forward when
you're always watching your back and so you because you
will trip and fall. But if you have people around
(09:42):
you that will support you, that will look out for you,
that will help you navigate some of those difficult situations,
it will allow you to focus on the things that
you want to focus on. So that's a piece of
advice that I have helped and that's a piece of
advice that I try and share with others. Make sure
(10:05):
you surround yourself with people that matter.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Community is everything.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
You need. You need your own personal village.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
If we took health care out of that, I took care,
health care out of your whole life everything. What do
you think that you'd be doing today? You mean in
terms of a backup plan?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, I didn't have one, to be honest with you,
I just never approached it that way. I knew that
I was called to be the best version of me right,
and I knew that that was the space that I
could do that. So I never thought about do I
need a backup plan? You know, I learned early on
(10:47):
who amongst us? You know, I love the game of golf,
but my skill and my passion don't reconcile. You know,
I have much more passion for it than I do skills.
So I'm not gonna be making the live and playing
golf and golf you know, I love making craft cocktails,
but guess what that's for me, my friends and my family.
(11:08):
I couldn't make a living at it. And so I
say that to say I focused on doing what I
felt I was destined and called to do, and I
never thought about a backup plan.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I going back to college and stuff. And you know,
I see when I told my mom that I wanted
to pursue radio as a career, She's like, well, what's
playing number two? And I'm like, there is none. You know,
I'm going to do it. I'm going to be here.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Because sometimes if you worked too much on creating a
backup plan to take your focus away from what's in
front of it, Hey, yep. And so that's what I
wanted to do. I and you know, and I was
also one of those individuals. I didn't have this three
year planned, this five year plan, and this ten year plan.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I just I didn't and I still don't think that.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Wait.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I allow whatever it is that I'm doing today to
create my opportunities for tomorrow. And so I focus I
commit I do all of the things that are important
to me today such that it will create a pathway
for tomorrow. So I never thought about, well, I need
(12:23):
to do this so in three years I could do that,
and in five years I could do that. I'm just
not wired that way. That is a pathway that a
lot of people use and focus on, which is good. Yep,
that just wasn't the way Dennis pulland decided to plant
(12:43):
his course to plan it.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Going back to health care and your role, you talked
a little bit about being passionate as a child in
biology and science and everything. What about healthcare now speaks
to you?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know, a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
One, as I mentioned, I love being in a position
to do meaningful work. What speaks to me, and I
would probably phrase it just a little different. What concerns
me around healthcare today is the disparities that we see.
You know, not everybody are in a position to be
(13:22):
afforded quality care, to have access to quality care, and
so I focus on trying to create opportunities to level
the playing field, you know, I focus on health equity.
I focus on eliminating the disparities. And so that's what
(13:43):
speaks to me making sure that I use my platform,
making sure that I use my position to create an
opportunity for everybody to be treated like they matter. Absolutely so,
no matter what color, what gender, what orientation, what religion,
(14:07):
everybody deserves to be treated with the same amount of
compassion and get the same quality care as anybody else.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
So that's what speaks to me.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
With your schedule being I'm sure packed Monday through Friday,
even the weekends, like you said, golf and playing time
of your family and everything, how do you position yourself
to make the best use of your time and have
the greatest impact.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
You know, as a as a leader, as a president
and CEO. I always try and create a sense of
urgency around the things that I do. One Tomorrow's I
promised two. If you are going to be impact for
(14:53):
if you are going to make change, you can't sit
around and wait for it to just have. You have
to assert yourself. You have to have a sense of urgency.
Some people think it's crazy, but I don't go to
bed at night with an unopened email and I get
(15:15):
tons of emails every single day, not that I respond
to every one of them, but I am aware of
what's being required of me. I know, if there's something
that needs my attention or needs the attention, you know,
being in healthcare, I can't afford not to look at
(15:37):
my text messages or get to them, you know, three
or four hours. I'm in a mindset that someone's life
or welfare or well being may be dependent upon a
decision that I make, and so they deserve that attention.
And so I do read my emails, I do read
(16:00):
my text and I make sure that if it's something
I need to address, it's addressed at that moment. If
it's something that can wait, it can wait, or someone
else can deal with it. But I have at least
given the person that reached out to me the courtesy
of being aware and mindful of what the requests. And
(16:20):
I think as leaders, you will find most It's been
my experience that most successful leaders one of the common
denominators is a sense of urgency, absolutely a willingness to
take care of the tasks that need to be taken
care of.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I'm sure there's a lot of heavy decisions on your mind,
and you know, reading these emails and texts, like you said,
you know where someone's life and future kind of depends
on you. Can't imagine that being the easiest thing to
think about. What does self care look like for you?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Self care is making sure that I do have some downtime, Yes,
making sure that I have an opportunity to recharge that
spending time with my family. That's spending time with my
friends out on the golf course. We solve the problems
of the world while playing golf. You know, there's no
(17:17):
subject that's off limit, from family, the illness, to religion,
to politics, and none of it makes sense usually when
we're talking about it, but it.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Is a vehicle to decompress.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
You know. You sort of asked me a moment ago,
and I get the question quite often. People want to
know what's the most exciting or rewarding part of being
a president and CEO and what's the biggest challenge? And
I will tell people all the time. For me, the
(17:53):
answer is the same for both questions. You know what
I enjoy the most about my posse position? And this
may sound a little arrogant, but if you bear with me,
you'll understand it's the power of the pen.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
It's the ability to.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Deem something important by signing my name to it that
most often will get done. You know, and so that
is something that's exciting knowing that, you know, in my universe,
in my little world, if I deem it important by
signing my name to it, most likely it's going to
(18:35):
become somebody's priority and it'll get done well. My biggest
challenge as a CEO is the power of the pen
knowing that because I deemed this important and I sign
my name to this particular project, we don't have unlimited resources,
so it's going to take it away from something else.
(18:58):
And so am I being bullish on one thing and
at the same time, you know, preventing something else from happening?
That keeps me up at night? Did I make the
right decision? Did I make or place the right amount
of priority on one thing because someone got to me
(19:18):
and provided me with a compelling reason to support this
other What about the person that didn't have access to me,
didn't have the ability to state their case.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
You have to weigh those things. Yeah, you have to do.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
You have to for every decision you make, it may
impact something else negatively.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
And so I think about those things.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Did you want to play yourself and talk about your
podcast that you have, You know.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
The podcast that I have it's really intended to.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Uplift and elevate the voices of the people that inspire me.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
So I have a podcast called Here for Good.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I actually have two, one call Here for Good and
a second call Here for Good, the Inside Edition Here
for Good, I get to talk to leaders, to successful
people that have taken that success and use it for
good to help elevate the communities around us. What are
they doing to inspire others to do good?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Right?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
And the Inside Edition is my opportunity to connect with
my workforce, the people that do good at Virtua and
tell their stories outside of work, that the things that
they're committed to, the things that are important to them,
(20:47):
how are they uplifting the communities around them.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
And it's been great for me to do.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
You know, I've learned so much about the people that
we rely on to make life better for others, and
so it's a way of connecting me and you know,
I've also over the last couple months, spent a lot
of time in writing and publishing my own book, which
(21:16):
is scheduled to be released here shortly Suited for Leadership,
Suited for Leadership, And it's about sharing the lessons that
I've learned that I was taught, that I have lived
in that I now have an opportunity to pass on.
(21:37):
And it's not just about being a leader, it's about
using that platform to be impactful, to make a difference.
How do or you suit it? And it's a play
on my love of fine clothes, but it's really being
suited is about how you show up. How do you
(21:58):
prepare yourself, how you set an example of what being
prepared is like, you know, to me, luck is when
an opportunity presents itself, you're prepared, you know. And so
being suited for leadership is I want to show up
(22:19):
in a way that the people that I am fortunate
and blessed enough to lead, they know I'm prepared, they
know I'm present, they know that I am committed. And
being suited for leadership is also about making a difference.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
You know, are you.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Doing the things that you need to do that's going
to leave and have an impact? And so yeah, and
so I just was encouraged by folks that know me,
people that have I've encountered throughout my career and they say, hey,
there something there to be said, maybe you should share it.
(23:04):
And it is the scariest thing that I've ever done,
you know, but I put in the time. I'm excited
about it. Hopefully it will. It's not a how to book,
It's it's meant to inspire. It's meant to just share
some stories that others may be able to gain from.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
What's one thing that you didn't know that was required
from authors when you were when you were writing it.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I think the thing that challenge me the most because
one of the big things that I focus on as
a leader is authenticity, being authentic. Well, to write the book,
I had in order to be authentic, I had to
be vulnerable.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I had to share things that.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I had never really voiced out loud, you know, dealing
with imposter syndrome, the fear of failure, you know, being
found out thinking, well people are gonna say, you know,
well he's really not as smart as he thinks.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Sometimes we get caught up in the the voice that
we hear most often in our head is our own,
and you have to get outside of that. And so
the vulnerability that I encountered right while writing it was
caught me off guard.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I was like, I didn't even want anybody to read
any of the chapters while I was writing, like, well,
this don't make sense. You really want to say that,
and I didn't want to have to rewrite, and so
it wasn't until I was finished that Okay, you can
read the introduction, but I guess it was a long
(24:48):
answer to question. But the answer is being vulnerable. That
was the thing that jumped out at me that I
didn't think about.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
I feel the same way here with like the podcast
that I that you know, the content that I'm in
front of. I hate kind of showing my friends and
family because they're.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Like, we didn't know you could do this, and I'm like, oh,
it's been probably about ten years now that I've been
trying to convince our two kids that I'm a big
ass deal, and I have failed miserably because they're like, yeah,
yeah right, dad, can you take the trash out?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
You know, That's kind of how they deal with me.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
But I think now, and they're young professionals and doing
extremely well in their own right, I think the book
will provide them with a tool to maybe connect with
some of the things that they're unsure about. And so
(25:47):
by design, it is for aspiring leaders, seasoned leaders, people
that are wanting to connect with how they may be
able to have a different kind of impact.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Absolutely, that's a couple of last questions for you talking
about your kids. Are any of them following in your footsteps?
Are they like you or they like your wife?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
And so our kids are are unique. One wants to
save the world and one wants to run the world,
and and and both of them have a little bit
of that in each and I think they get it
from me and from from their mom our. Our son
(26:32):
is in healthcare. He's a healthcare administrator as well. I
tried to talk him out of going in it, but
you know, it's what he had an opportunity to witness
growing up and felt compelled to do.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
So. Are our daughter, You know.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
She is about connecting with the most vulnerable in the
world and wanting to provide resources and an avenue. She
does a lot of work for USAI D. You know,
they're both great young professionals and have just enough of
(27:10):
me and them and enough intellect from their mom and
them that there their heart working and they do quite well.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Absolutely. Second question to you was going to be in
your podcast. You asked your guests what would your eighteen
year old self think of who they are today or
who you are today? Sorry, what would your eighteen year
old self think of who you are today? If I
could ask you that question?
Speaker 2 (27:36):
You know, I knew that question was going to eventually
get me into trouble because I've never wanted to answer it,
but I always pose it to my guests, and I'm
always curious as well.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
I would love to learn the background, like why that question?
Speaker 2 (27:51):
But yeah, so what would my eighteen year old self
think of who I am today?
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I think, on the one hand, he would.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Not be surprised because even as an eighteen year old,
you know, I was focused, yep, and I had to
function in a manner that many eighteen year olds didn't,
And so I don't think he would be surprised about what.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
I do and how I go about doing it.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
He may be a little disappointed that I hadn't done more, okay,
and so, but I think he would say, Okay, yeah,
this makes sense. This fits with who you are and
what you even back then, wanted to do. But you
need to pick up the pace. You know, you need
to do a little bit more to inspire a few
(28:52):
more folks.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Tough on yourself, your own harsh critic. Yeah, I am
final question because we are on the iHeartRadio platform. I'm
a big music lover. If you had your own iHeart
radio station on our app, which artists and songs would
be on it?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Well, I'd have to have two different ones, because you know,
I love music like yourself, and I use music. So
there's a group of artists that when I need an
attitude adjustment and I want to get in that great,
excited fun space, there's nobody like Michael Jackson, Prince and
(29:34):
James Brown do it for me the core three raw
or without questions, without questions. But then when I'm in
a mode where I want to reflect and connect and
just find my meaning, it would be a combination of jazz,
somebody like a Norman Brown followed with an Anita Baker
(29:57):
followed with an earl clue, followed by Gladys Knight, followed
by Stevie Wonder's Songs of the Key of Life, which
I think is the greatest album that was ever ever produced.
And so my taste in music sort of run those
two gamuts.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
I like, it's kind of like a twelve am, do
you know, to like six pm a little bit, and
then as you're winding down the six PM. Absolutely, that's
what my brain went to. Dennis, was great talking to
you today. How can people find out more about you?
Find like where your book they wanted to pre order it,
find your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, I'm excited the book will be out soon. Suit
it for leadership. You can go to Dennis Pulling dot com.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
That'll tell you all.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
About the book and it also share a lot about
the great work we're doing it virtual health you can
go to virtual health dot org. And it's just I'm
blessed to be in the position that I'm in in
order to try and make a difference. So thank you
so much for having me, and thank you for allowing
allowing me to share some of my thoughts and tell
your audience about the many wonderful things we're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Absolutely, my name is David Montague. This is the Building
Black Bis podcast. You can find more episodes on our
iHeartRadio app and wherever you get your podcasts, and we
will see you at the next one.
Hello everybody. My name is David Montague and I'm your
host for this week's episode of The Building Black Bass Podcast.
I'm here with Dennis pull In, President and CEO of
Virtual Health. Dennis, it's very next to me too. Thank
you for having me. I've been looking forward to doing this.
How is your trip to New York City so far?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Great trip and to do this which I was looking
forward to. And from this we will leave and fly.
We have a home in Houston and so we'll be
going to Houston.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
What is your weekend look like? Any plans any You know?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
My weekend is typically filled with dinners with my wife,
golf with my friends, and some much needed downtime.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
That sounds very nice. I'm very jealous, all right.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, you know, when you put in the time during
the week, you have to find space to recharge absolutely,
And for me, I fly back and forth almost weekly,
so I spend the time flying to Houston to sort
of decompress from the week, and the time coming back
to New New Jersey to sort of gear up for
(01:02):
the week.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
So I've kind of figured out how to make it
work for me.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Why New Jersey's headquarters over there?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, so Virtua is primarily in South Jersey. Right now,
we're in three states. We're in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
But our corporate headquarters is just literally across the river
from Philadelphia in Marlton, New Jersey, so it's about twenty
minutes from Center City.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
My grandparents are from They live in shamong very very small.
I'm okay. When people I bring it up, they have
no idea. But I love Marleton. I grew up there.
I went summer camp over there. Yeah, so that's where
we are. The smile on my face, I know the
listeners can't see it, but I'm like, someone knows what.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I want to take it back a little bit and
just started about learn about what you did growing up?
What did you study in undergrad where did you go,
what did growing up look like for you?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
You know, I grew up in San Antonio, and I
was very fortunate that I had two parents that were
very supportive, you know. Unfortunately neither of my parents got
to graduate high school.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
They had three.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Boys and really encourage the three of us and me
in particular to pursue the things that were meaningful to me.
And after high school, I decided I wanted to get
a degree in biology. You know, they didn't quite know
what that meant, but they knew what it meant to me,
(02:37):
and so it was very much, very encouraging to support
me and pursuing what I wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
And honestly, you don't see that a lot in lack
in African American households. I think people especially when they
have a passion project or something that they're really ready
to give one hundred percent of their all too. In
high school and college, A lot of the times for
my friends my family, they're all like, no, like, you
need to focus on something that's going to bring in
(03:06):
the bills.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And I think it's also a misnomer that just because
you're in a household that's not populated with classically educated
individuals don't mean that there aren't intelligent people in that household.
So neither one of my parents had formal education, but
(03:28):
they were two of the hardest working people. I knew
they were extremely intelligent. They just grew up in the
South during a time where they just couldn't afford to
not work and to go to school, and so they
encouraged us a lot. And even for the things that
they didn't quite understand. They were still supportive, and so
(03:53):
people would always ask me why healthcare did did anybody
encourage you to go into healthcare?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
And the answer is no. My parents encouraged me.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
To do something that would be meaningful, and so me,
as a young kid, I always had an interest in science,
and I always sort of had this entrepreneurial spirit about
me as well, and so it became the perfect marriage
between my love of science and my love of business.
(04:26):
You know, to pursue a career in the business of healthcare,
absolutely I get to do good and also get to
do well.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
What did college look like for you?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So college was interesting and in hindsight, it was the
best experience I could have had. While I was in
the middle of it, I thought there had to be
a better way.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Where did you go?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I went to undergraduate. I went to Texas Lutheran University,
which is about an hour outside of San Antonio, where
I grew up, and I decided I wanted to get
a degree in biology. Obviously, my family couldn't afford to
send me away to college, so I did what many
kids do that were in my situation. I had loans,
(05:16):
I had scholarships, I had grants, I had work study.
I had a job that I kept in San Antonio.
So during the year I would go to school. Every
weekend I would drive back to San Antonio work my
job in San Antonio worked at a grocery store, and
then during the week I had a job on campus.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
And so it was.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
A challenge, but I got to tell you, looking back
on it, it was perhaps the best proving grounds that
I could have experienced. I learned responsibility, I learned how
to commit to something. I learned that things weren't going
to be easy, but there was a light at the
end of the tunnel. And so after I graduated from
(05:59):
Texas Lutheran, I went on and got a master's degree
from Texas A and M.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And sure you can learn how time management to it was.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
A necessity, you know, Listen, I stayed on campus on
the weekends twice in four years because I had to
manage my time my environment in a different way. And so,
like I said, I probably complained a little bit about
(06:30):
it while I was going through it, But when I
look back on it now, you know, if you talk
to my family, my wife, they will tell you I
don't think they would define me as a workaholic, but
they will tell you he.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Works a lot. He works a lot, and I don't
think about it.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I just I do what I feel I need to do,
and that's just kind of in my blood.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Now. So after you got your master's, how did you
get here? I know it took some time.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
How did I get here?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You know, a whole bunch of years in between. You know,
I've always been on the business side of healthcare. I've
always been committed to taking care of people and providing,
you know, care, particularly for those that might not otherwise
have access to it. And I took on jobs with
increasing responsibility. I worked for the first twenty six years
(07:26):
of my career in Texas, primarily based in Houston. That
took me to Washington, d C. And Baltimore, and then
eight years ago, I took the role as president and
CEO of Virtual Health, which is in New Jersey. It's
a integrated health system anchored with excuse me, anchored with
(07:50):
five hospitals and four hundred care locations throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
and Delaware.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
And I love it, you know. I get to wake
up every.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Single morning and be part of an ecosystem that is
by design created to make life better for people, and
so I love being a part of that. I love
having an opportunity to go and do good and create
a pathway for groups of people that otherwise might not.
(08:30):
You know, there's a lot of vulnerable people in all
of our communities. So it requires leaders people like myself
to say, you know what, I'm going to do something
about it. And so I have an opportunity to do that.
So I love what I do.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
And I was going to I'm jumping around a little bit.
What advice did you follow when you first started? Can
be eight years ago when you first became the president,
but what advice took out to.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
You, you know, I don't know if it was the
advice from just eight years ago as opposed to some
advice someone gave me early on in my career, and
that advice was, you know, make sure you surround yourself
with impactful people. You know, people that are you know,
(09:19):
pushing the envelope, people that are doing you know, positive things,
people you can learn from, people that will help guide you.
You know, as we have two kids, and I would
always tell my kids, it's difficult to move forward when
you're always watching your back and so you because you
will trip and fall. But if you have people around
(09:42):
you that will support you, that will look out for you,
that will help you navigate some of those difficult situations,
it will allow you to focus on the things that
you want to focus on. So that's a piece of
advice that I have helped and that's a piece of
advice that I try and share with others. Make sure
(10:05):
you surround yourself with people that matter.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Community is everything.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
You need. You need your own personal village.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
If we took health care out of that, I took care,
health care out of your whole life everything. What do
you think that you'd be doing today? You mean in
terms of a backup plan?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, I didn't have one, to be honest with you,
I just never approached it that way. I knew that
I was called to be the best version of me right,
and I knew that that was the space that I
could do that. So I never thought about do I
need a backup plan? You know, I learned early on
(10:47):
who amongst us? You know, I love the game of golf,
but my skill and my passion don't reconcile. You know,
I have much more passion for it than I do skills.
So I'm not gonna be making the live and playing
golf and golf you know, I love making craft cocktails,
but guess what that's for me, my friends and my family.
(11:08):
I couldn't make a living at it. And so I
say that to say I focused on doing what I
felt I was destined and called to do, and I
never thought about a backup plan.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I going back to college and stuff. And you know,
I see when I told my mom that I wanted
to pursue radio as a career, She's like, well, what's
playing number two? And I'm like, there is none. You know,
I'm going to do it. I'm going to be here.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Because sometimes if you worked too much on creating a
backup plan to take your focus away from what's in
front of it, Hey, yep. And so that's what I
wanted to do. I and you know, and I was
also one of those individuals. I didn't have this three
year planned, this five year plan, and this ten year plan.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I just I didn't and I still don't think that.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Wait.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I allow whatever it is that I'm doing today to
create my opportunities for tomorrow. And so I focus I
commit I do all of the things that are important
to me today such that it will create a pathway
for tomorrow. So I never thought about, well, I need
(12:23):
to do this so in three years I could do that,
and in five years I could do that. I'm just
not wired that way. That is a pathway that a
lot of people use and focus on, which is good. Yep,
that just wasn't the way Dennis pulland decided to plant
(12:43):
his course to plan it.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Going back to health care and your role, you talked
a little bit about being passionate as a child in
biology and science and everything. What about healthcare now speaks
to you?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know, a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
One, as I mentioned, I love being in a position
to do meaningful work. What speaks to me, and I
would probably phrase it just a little different. What concerns
me around healthcare today is the disparities that we see.
You know, not everybody are in a position to be
(13:22):
afforded quality care, to have access to quality care, and
so I focus on trying to create opportunities to level
the playing field, you know, I focus on health equity.
I focus on eliminating the disparities. And so that's what
(13:43):
speaks to me making sure that I use my platform,
making sure that I use my position to create an
opportunity for everybody to be treated like they matter. Absolutely so,
no matter what color, what gender, what orientation, what religion,
(14:07):
everybody deserves to be treated with the same amount of
compassion and get the same quality care as anybody else.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
So that's what speaks to me.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
With your schedule being I'm sure packed Monday through Friday,
even the weekends, like you said, golf and playing time
of your family and everything, how do you position yourself
to make the best use of your time and have
the greatest impact.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
You know, as a as a leader, as a president
and CEO. I always try and create a sense of
urgency around the things that I do. One Tomorrow's I
promised two. If you are going to be impact for
(14:53):
if you are going to make change, you can't sit
around and wait for it to just have. You have
to assert yourself. You have to have a sense of urgency.
Some people think it's crazy, but I don't go to
bed at night with an unopened email and I get
(15:15):
tons of emails every single day, not that I respond
to every one of them, but I am aware of
what's being required of me. I know, if there's something
that needs my attention or needs the attention, you know,
being in healthcare, I can't afford not to look at
(15:37):
my text messages or get to them, you know, three
or four hours. I'm in a mindset that someone's life
or welfare or well being may be dependent upon a
decision that I make, and so they deserve that attention.
And so I do read my emails, I do read
(16:00):
my text and I make sure that if it's something
I need to address, it's addressed at that moment. If
it's something that can wait, it can wait, or someone
else can deal with it. But I have at least
given the person that reached out to me the courtesy
of being aware and mindful of what the requests. And
(16:20):
I think as leaders, you will find most It's been
my experience that most successful leaders one of the common
denominators is a sense of urgency, absolutely a willingness to
take care of the tasks that need to be taken
care of.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I'm sure there's a lot of heavy decisions on your mind,
and you know, reading these emails and texts, like you said,
you know where someone's life and future kind of depends
on you. Can't imagine that being the easiest thing to
think about. What does self care look like for you?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Self care is making sure that I do have some downtime, Yes,
making sure that I have an opportunity to recharge that
spending time with my family. That's spending time with my
friends out on the golf course. We solve the problems
of the world while playing golf. You know, there's no
(17:17):
subject that's off limit, from family, the illness, to religion,
to politics, and none of it makes sense usually when
we're talking about it, but it.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Is a vehicle to decompress.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
You know. You sort of asked me a moment ago,
and I get the question quite often. People want to
know what's the most exciting or rewarding part of being
a president and CEO and what's the biggest challenge? And
I will tell people all the time. For me, the
(17:53):
answer is the same for both questions. You know what
I enjoy the most about my posse position? And this
may sound a little arrogant, but if you bear with me,
you'll understand it's the power of the pen.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
It's the ability to.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Deem something important by signing my name to it that
most often will get done. You know, and so that
is something that's exciting knowing that, you know, in my universe,
in my little world, if I deem it important by
signing my name to it, most likely it's going to
(18:35):
become somebody's priority and it'll get done well. My biggest
challenge as a CEO is the power of the pen
knowing that because I deemed this important and I sign
my name to this particular project, we don't have unlimited resources,
so it's going to take it away from something else.
(18:58):
And so am I being bullish on one thing and
at the same time, you know, preventing something else from happening?
That keeps me up at night? Did I make the
right decision? Did I make or place the right amount
of priority on one thing because someone got to me
(19:18):
and provided me with a compelling reason to support this
other What about the person that didn't have access to me,
didn't have the ability to state their case.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
You have to weigh those things. Yeah, you have to do.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
You have to for every decision you make, it may
impact something else negatively.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
And so I think about those things.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Did you want to play yourself and talk about your
podcast that you have, You know.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
The podcast that I have it's really intended to.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Uplift and elevate the voices of the people that inspire me.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
So I have a podcast called Here for Good.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I actually have two, one call Here for Good and
a second call Here for Good, the Inside Edition Here
for Good, I get to talk to leaders, to successful
people that have taken that success and use it for
good to help elevate the communities around us. What are
they doing to inspire others to do good?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Right?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
And the Inside Edition is my opportunity to connect with
my workforce, the people that do good at Virtua and
tell their stories outside of work, that the things that
they're committed to, the things that are important to them,
(20:47):
how are they uplifting the communities around them.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
And it's been great for me to do.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
You know, I've learned so much about the people that
we rely on to make life better for others, and
so it's a way of connecting me and you know,
I've also over the last couple months, spent a lot
of time in writing and publishing my own book, which
(21:16):
is scheduled to be released here shortly Suited for Leadership,
Suited for Leadership, And it's about sharing the lessons that
I've learned that I was taught, that I have lived
in that I now have an opportunity to pass on.
(21:37):
And it's not just about being a leader, it's about
using that platform to be impactful, to make a difference.
How do or you suit it? And it's a play
on my love of fine clothes, but it's really being
suited is about how you show up. How do you
(21:58):
prepare yourself, how you set an example of what being
prepared is like, you know, to me, luck is when
an opportunity presents itself, you're prepared, you know. And so
being suited for leadership is I want to show up
(22:19):
in a way that the people that I am fortunate
and blessed enough to lead, they know I'm prepared, they
know I'm present, they know that I am committed. And
being suited for leadership is also about making a difference.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
You know, are you.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Doing the things that you need to do that's going
to leave and have an impact? And so yeah, and
so I just was encouraged by folks that know me,
people that have I've encountered throughout my career and they say, hey,
there something there to be said, maybe you should share it.
(23:04):
And it is the scariest thing that I've ever done,
you know, but I put in the time. I'm excited
about it. Hopefully it will. It's not a how to book,
It's it's meant to inspire. It's meant to just share
some stories that others may be able to gain from.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
What's one thing that you didn't know that was required
from authors when you were when you were writing it.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I think the thing that challenge me the most because
one of the big things that I focus on as
a leader is authenticity, being authentic. Well, to write the book,
I had in order to be authentic, I had to
be vulnerable.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I had to share things that.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I had never really voiced out loud, you know, dealing
with imposter syndrome, the fear of failure, you know, being
found out thinking, well people are gonna say, you know,
well he's really not as smart as he thinks.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Sometimes we get caught up in the the voice that
we hear most often in our head is our own,
and you have to get outside of that. And so
the vulnerability that I encountered right while writing it was
caught me off guard.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I was like, I didn't even want anybody to read
any of the chapters while I was writing, like, well,
this don't make sense. You really want to say that,
and I didn't want to have to rewrite, and so
it wasn't until I was finished that Okay, you can
read the introduction, but I guess it was a long
(24:48):
answer to question. But the answer is being vulnerable. That
was the thing that jumped out at me that I
didn't think about.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
I feel the same way here with like the podcast
that I that you know, the content that I'm in
front of. I hate kind of showing my friends and
family because they're.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Like, we didn't know you could do this, and I'm like, oh,
it's been probably about ten years now that I've been
trying to convince our two kids that I'm a big
ass deal, and I have failed miserably because they're like, yeah,
yeah right, dad, can you take the trash out?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
You know, That's kind of how they deal with me.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
But I think now, and they're young professionals and doing
extremely well in their own right, I think the book
will provide them with a tool to maybe connect with
some of the things that they're unsure about. And so
(25:47):
by design, it is for aspiring leaders, seasoned leaders, people
that are wanting to connect with how they may be
able to have a different kind of impact.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Absolutely, that's a couple of last questions for you talking
about your kids. Are any of them following in your footsteps?
Are they like you or they like your wife?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
And so our kids are are unique. One wants to
save the world and one wants to run the world,
and and and both of them have a little bit
of that in each and I think they get it
from me and from from their mom our. Our son
(26:32):
is in healthcare. He's a healthcare administrator as well. I
tried to talk him out of going in it, but
you know, it's what he had an opportunity to witness
growing up and felt compelled to do.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
So. Are our daughter, You know.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
She is about connecting with the most vulnerable in the
world and wanting to provide resources and an avenue. She
does a lot of work for USAI D. You know,
they're both great young professionals and have just enough of
(27:10):
me and them and enough intellect from their mom and
them that there their heart working and they do quite well.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Absolutely. Second question to you was going to be in
your podcast. You asked your guests what would your eighteen
year old self think of who they are today or
who you are today? Sorry, what would your eighteen year
old self think of who you are today? If I
could ask you that question?
Speaker 2 (27:36):
You know, I knew that question was going to eventually
get me into trouble because I've never wanted to answer it,
but I always pose it to my guests, and I'm
always curious as well.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
I would love to learn the background, like why that question?
Speaker 2 (27:51):
But yeah, so what would my eighteen year old self
think of who I am today?
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I think, on the one hand, he would.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Not be surprised because even as an eighteen year old,
you know, I was focused, yep, and I had to
function in a manner that many eighteen year olds didn't,
And so I don't think he would be surprised about what.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
I do and how I go about doing it.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
He may be a little disappointed that I hadn't done more, okay,
and so, but I think he would say, Okay, yeah,
this makes sense. This fits with who you are and
what you even back then, wanted to do. But you
need to pick up the pace. You know, you need
to do a little bit more to inspire a few
(28:52):
more folks.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Tough on yourself, your own harsh critic. Yeah, I am
final question because we are on the iHeartRadio platform. I'm
a big music lover. If you had your own iHeart
radio station on our app, which artists and songs would
be on it?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Well, I'd have to have two different ones, because you know,
I love music like yourself, and I use music. So
there's a group of artists that when I need an
attitude adjustment and I want to get in that great,
excited fun space, there's nobody like Michael Jackson, Prince and
(29:34):
James Brown do it for me the core three raw
or without questions, without questions. But then when I'm in
a mode where I want to reflect and connect and
just find my meaning, it would be a combination of jazz,
somebody like a Norman Brown followed with an Anita Baker
(29:57):
followed with an earl clue, followed by Gladys Knight, followed
by Stevie Wonder's Songs of the Key of Life, which
I think is the greatest album that was ever ever produced.
And so my taste in music sort of run those
two gamuts.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
I like, it's kind of like a twelve am, do
you know, to like six pm a little bit, and
then as you're winding down the six PM. Absolutely, that's
what my brain went to. Dennis, was great talking to
you today. How can people find out more about you?
Find like where your book they wanted to pre order it,
find your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, I'm excited the book will be out soon. Suit
it for leadership. You can go to Dennis Pulling dot com.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
That'll tell you all.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
About the book and it also share a lot about
the great work we're doing it virtual health you can
go to virtual health dot org. And it's just I'm
blessed to be in the position that I'm in in
order to try and make a difference. So thank you
so much for having me, and thank you for allowing
allowing me to share some of my thoughts and tell
your audience about the many wonderful things we're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Absolutely, my name is David Montague. This is the Building
Black Bis podcast. You can find more episodes on our
iHeartRadio app and wherever you get your podcasts, and we
will see you at the next one.
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