James Blazar was placed as the executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Hackensack University Health Network in Hackensack, New Jersey. HackensackUHN is the parent company of Hackensack University Medical Center and Hackensack University HealthPartners Medical Group, and is a corporate joint venture partner with LHP Hospital Group in ownership of two additional hospitals. With a service area of more than six million people, the network encompasses 1,717 hospital and nursing home beds, more than 10,800 employees, and 3,300 credentialed medical staff members, making it the largest healthcare system in northern New Jersey. In his position, Jim is responsible for regional strategic network growth through mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and creative partnerships with health systems, hospitals, ambulatory centers, and physicians. He also oversees annual health network and service line strategic planning and monitoring; network affiliate program growth, referral capture, and clinical integration initiatives; advertising corporate partnerships and professional sports sponsorships; and targeted growth community outreach through the HackensackUMC Friends Program.
Jim brings to the position a consistent record of achievement in launching successful brand strategies, increasing market share, improving patient satisfaction, and fostering teamwork and collaboration. He has had a distinguished career in healthcare administration, marketing, communications, strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, and operations, with an intense focus on quality of patient care and health and wellness.
Before joining Hackensack, Jim served as the senior vice president and chief strategy and transformation officer for Hartford HealthCare in Hartford, Connecticut, a highly-integrated healthcare delivery system consisting of five acute care hospitals, a behavioral health network, a VNA, two medical groups, a wide variety of outpatient and home care services, and multiple clinical partnerships, all supported by more than 18,000 employees. In this capacity, Jim was accountable for strategy, business development, marketing, data analytics, and a newly-created sales department. During his six-year tenure, Jim developed HHC’s first-ever strategic plan, which included new mission, vision, and values statements, and led many large acquisitions, partnerships, and affiliations on behalf of HHC. The system grew from $1 billion to $2.5 billion in revenue and its market share increased by 9.6% during Jim’s tenure.
Previously, Jim served as the president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic Canada, and as the chief marketing and communications officer for Cleveland Clinic’s Cleveland, Ohio headquarters. He also spent eight years with the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan in medical group strategy and health system marketing. Earlier in his career, Jim developed his own marketing consulting firm, which grew from $500,000 to $4.5 million in revenue. He began his career as an associate administrator for marketing research and new corporate services at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago.
Jim is originally from Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his bachelor’s degree in management and marketing from the University of Cincinnati and his MBA in hospital administration from the University of Chicago. He has received numerous awards for his work in marketing and communications, and has been active in a variety of local and national organizations. Outside of work, Jim enjoys spending time outdoors. He and his wife are the parents of two grown children and have two grandchildren.
