Our Story

It all began with a phone call in 2000 from Health Administration Press, the publishing arm of American College of Healthcare Executives. At the time, I already had written a best seller on changing jobs in healthcare – Tyler’s Guide, The Healthcare Executive’s Job Search. HAP was in need of a book on hospital governance to replace another title that was out of print. Although I had conducted about 130 CEO search assignments and had served as board chair, my experience with boards at that time was episodic. Feeling unqualified to provide cover-to-cover content, I suggested to HAP to call my friend, Errol Biggs, Ph.D., who headed the graduate and executive program in health administration at the University of Colorado Denver. Errol’s monstrously busy calendar served as the catalyst that escalated our friendship into a partnership and another best seller, Practical Governance, which we co-authored.

Once the book hit the stands, we began receiving calls to conduct board retreats and seminars. We founded Practical Governance Group to serve as the platform on which to expand governance efforts. Not long after, I was selected as faculty for the governance portion of ACHE’s Fellowship Exam Review Course, and Errol and I were selected to facilitate the CEO Governance Roundtable at the ACHE Congress on Healthcare Leadership. It’s humbling that I have been selected as faculty every year since 1983. Errol and I continued to write extensively about governance, and some examples are featured on our Insight pages. Although the effort was part time for both of us, it was a lot of fun!

In the meantime, I continued as Chairman and CEO of Tyler & Company, a healthcare executive recruitment firm that I founded in 1978. While focusing on placing CEOs, I had an eye on fueling my efforts within Practical Governance Group after transitioning from my role at Tyler & Company. In 2013, that opportunity came, and we sold Tyler & Company to Jackson Healthcare, one of the largest healthcare staffing companies in the country.

As far as acquisitions go, it was an easy sale. Rick Jackson, founder of Jackson Healthcare, was and is my friend. He actually was largely responsible for my entry into the recruiting business in the late 1970s. Having a succession plan also helped in my phasing out gracefully.

May 1, 2015, marked the beginning of my efforts to establish Practical Governance Group as a significant force to bringing governance expertise to improve healthcare boards. We strive to provide the best education in healthcare governance and guidance that is both practical and implementable. Our goal is to raise governing boards of healthcare institutions to a level where they are excelling at the basics.

We applaud the approach of trying to move a board to “greatness.” However, we believe that if we can move the dial to “good,” we would have accomplished quite a bit. If Practical Governance Group can help healthcare boards with the foundation for success – that is, understanding their role and eliminating dysfunction – we lay the building blocks for a path to “great.”

We have assembled a knowledgeable, experienced, caring and down-to-earth team of governance experts who are deep in their content and thinking.

I encourage you to call me to discuss how we may advance your board so it functions at a higher level.

Very much look forward to being of service,

J. Larry Tyler, FACHE, FHFMA, CMPE
Chairman and CEO