Paul Kappelman is driven.
By the age of 29, he'd already been named the CEO of the new Northwest Medical Center Oro Valley.
At 33, he's still the CEO and is now also the chairman-elect of the Northern Pima County Chamber of Commerce.
This Sunday, Kappelman will earn another title — ranking second in the Star 200's list of top executives under 40. Coming in first is his colleague, David Schultz, COO of Northwest Medical Center.
He's come a long way since his days doing odd jobs in various departments as an intern at St. Charles General Hospital in New Orleans. At the time, he was still a student at Tulane University studying business and history.
It was far from a dream job, but Kappelman used the experience to gain an understanding of and an appreciation for the hospital's infrastructure.
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"You don't realize how many people go into a hospital stay," he said, proceeding to list examples of everyone from the physician to the janitor. "It's the organization behind the scenes that requires a tremendous amount of coordination."
In 1998 Kappelman moved to Tucson with his wife, Lizzie, with whom he has two daughters — ages 4 years and 15 months. Within a short time, he was hired on at Northwest Medical Center to work under then-CEO Jeff Comer.
"He's a very, very gifted leader and person," said Elizabeth Maish, chief nursing officer at Northwest Medical Center Oro Valley and one of three people on Kappelman's senior management team. "He's just one of these people that is a combination of true business savvy mixed in with compassion and understanding."
The New Orleans-born, Baltimore-raised son of a doctor is the first to give credit to his three-member team and staff for helping him run the two-year- old facility.
The team's members — Maish, Chief Financial Officer John Moore and Assistant Administrator Chad Melton — "are really the day-to-day drivers of what goes on in their end," Kappelman said. "It's a very collaborative management style."
The subjects of collaboration and community recur often in his conversations about the medical center.
Kappelman encourages his staff to actively participate in community organizations, whether it's a Little League team or the local chapter of the Rotary Club, of which he is also a member.
Being involved "makes you a little more well-rounded," he said. "Whatever it is you do outside of work and family helps bring you a little balance."
While relatively young, Kappelman is hardly alone in his field.
Of the nation's 3,288 hospital CEOs, 7.2 percent are between the ages of 30 and 40, according to the American Hospital Association. The median is 52.7 years old.
Moore, chief financial officer at the hospital, said Kappelman's age has mattered little in his ability to perform in the hospital's highest position.
"He's a young CEO building a new culture, and it fits very well," he said.
Maish agrees. "He's somebody who is so credible that the age issue has never come up," she said. "He's very much part of the gang, and he's very well respected in that same vein."
Profile
Name: Paul A. Kappelman
Age: 33
Job: CEO, Northwest Medical Center Oro Valley,1551 E. Tangerine Road
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