Gérard van Grinsven
Entrepreneurial CEO offering progressive experience in operations leadership. Skilled at identifying and implementing process improvements to drive efficiency, productivity, and maximizing market penetration. Servant leader with proven success, managing cross-functional teams in both the hospitality and healthcare industries. Proud member of teams that have earned an unprecedented two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in 1999, and the Henry Ford Health System in 2012. During his tenure at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Gerard led the organization to be ranked fourth out of the 42 national hospital systems, tracked in the YouGov BrandIndex “Best Brand” survey. Mr. van Grinsven is one of the world’s most accomplished and recognized executives in customer service, delivering exceptional value by redefining world-class service standards. He is a highly regarded speaker, communicator and writer on the topics of driving growth and profitability through world-class service, the future of health care and creating a foundational patient experience in an era of value-based purchasing. His pioneering work and exceptional results in both luxury hotels and health care have forced competitors to emulate or be left behind.
Gerard has served as part of the global leadership team of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, where he opened 26 luxury hotels in Asia, the Middle East, South America and the United States. He served in a leadership capacity at The Mandarin Oriental Bangkok Hotel, one of the leading hotels in the world.
Gerard then served as a senior executive with the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, where he was President and CEO of the award-winning, 192-bed Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital. With no prior health care experience, he was hired three years prior to the $350 million hospital’s planned grand opening with complete oversight of design, construction, recruitment, staffing, on-boarding, program development and operational planning. After a successful tenure at the Henry Ford Health System, Mr. van Grinsven served as President and CEO of Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) from 2013 to 2015, a national network of five intensive cancer care hospitals. During his tenure, CTCA was the most profitable healthcare organization in the United States, consistently delivering superior outcomes in quality, patient satisfaction and stakeholder engagement.
In 2015, Mr. van Grinsven founded GHG – The van Grinsven Hospitality Group. GHG has partnered with top-tier healthcare providers to create a new hospitality model that synthesizes and operationalizes health and wellness, focused on safety, quality, compassionate care and a culture of highly emotional engaged stakeholders.
In 2022, Mr. van Grinsven joined Waterstone Properties as Chief Operating Officer. Like other consumer organizations, Gerard believes we need to treat people like valued and respected consumers, not by disease or payment, but by patient and consumer needs and their preferred engagement. GHG enables healthcare providers to deliver a one-of-a-kind patient experience, grounded in the principles of hospitality and a strong emotional engaged workforce.