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November/December 2015 – BizVoice/Indiana Chamber
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Mike Packnett has called Fort Wayne home for less
than a decade. But don’t let that relatively short
tenure minimize the tremendous achievements for
his employer, community and Northeast Indiana
region.
Ask three people – or 30 or probably 300 – about Packnett,
president and CEO of Parkview Health, and here’s what they say:
Joe Pierce, president and CEO of Farmers State Bank in
LaGrange, who succeeded Packnett as chairman of the Northeast
Indiana Regional Partnership: “I learn from Mike every time I’m with
him. He has a passion for that leadership, for anything he tackles. Mike
has a gentle way of moving things ahead, but a very effective way.”
Paul Chodak, president and COO of Indiana Michigan Power,
relocated to Fort Wayne in 2010: “When you come into the area, you
ask, ‘Who are the people I need to talk to? Who knows what’s going
on in the community, who’s on the side of moving things forward?’ –
and Mike Packnett’s name came up from about 10 different people I
talked to.”
Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry, serving his second term in office:
“Mike has a very unique perspective on life. He believes in thinking
way beyond the norm. He’s a real visionary. He sees the big picture
and what the true possibilities are. What many of us see as limitations,
Mike sees beyond that.”
All this from someone who had no intention of leaving his native
Oklahoma. Packnett recalls the story.
“I got a call from a headhunter who said, ‘We’ve got the perfect
job for you’. I asked where it was and he said, ‘Fort Wayne, Indiana.’
I said, ‘You don’t have to go any further because I’m never moving
north – never.’ ”
Fortunately, the headhunter called back a few weeks later and
Packnett agreed to meet with members of the Parkview Health board
of directors’ search committee in Chicago. After being the first of a
dozen candidates interviewed over a two-day period, Packnett
recollects, “I called my wife, Donna, and said there’s good news and
bad news. The good news is you’re not going to have to move north;
the bad news is I really like these guys.”
The affinity was mutual. And thus begins the story of once
Oklahoma stubbornness transforming into Northeast Indiana
collaboration.
With open arms
Born in Ada, Oklahoma, the 61-year-old Packnett earned a
finance degree from the University of Central Oklahoma before
entering the oil and gas industry. He switched careers to health care in
1988 with the Sisters of St. Mercy (“I soon realized this would be my
life’s work,” he remarks). Oklahoma City was facing a choice of
passing a sales tax increase to provide an economic jolt or risk
becoming a “Dust Bowl” city.
“(Before the Oklahoma City evolution) I’m a native Oklahoman
(demonstrating with arms folded), thinking, ‘We’ve never done
anything. We never pulled anything together.’ Tulsa was the culture
center. People there looked down at us, called us Cowtown. And we
deserved a lot of that.
“When I came here,” Packnett continues, “when I started talking
about a new vision for Northeast Indiana, there were a lot of ‘me’s’;
people had their arms folded, going, ‘We’ve never done that.’ Having
experienced success in the transformation of a city gave me great
confidence that we could do that here.”
And that is exactly what his Parkview board of directors was
looking for.
“We’re the largest employer in Northeast Indiana – with about
9,500 people today. It was great that our board looked at me from day
one and said, ‘We want you to be involved in economic development.
We need you to be involved in economic development,’ ” Packnett
recalls. “They have a real belief that as the economy improves, Parkview
improves. They really get the integral part that health systems play.”
While today’s business leaders call on Packnett for his guidance,
some of his early visits were to Ian Rolland, longtime head of Lincoln
National Life Insurance Co. and the 1998 winner of the Indiana
Chamber’s Business Leader of the Year award. Affectionately referring
to Rolland as the “godfather” for his many community and statewide
contributions over the years, Packnett was told that buy-in was needed
from a large number of business and community stalwarts to make the
regional vision a reality.
“He was so prophetic,” Packnett says. “Bringing those folks
together started at around 25 and now it’s over 100 people from 11
counties in Northeast Indiana. We vet all those key issues in our four
pillars. To me, the neatest thing is to see 100-plus business leaders,
foundation leaders, education leaders and elected officials come together
around these things that will make the biggest difference for us.”
Chodak notes there were very few, if any, events he attended in
which Packnett was not already involved as a current or past
champion. He describes the challenge of regional leadership.
“Bringing people together is prioritizing the agenda that’s going to
move the entire community (or region) forward. People have very
strong opinions on how that should work,” Chodak explains. “Having
the interpersonal skills and leadership skills to maneuver within that
organization of very successful folks who are leaders in their own right
BUSINESS LEADER
OF THE YEAR
Mike Packnett takes pleasure in greeting people and helping meet their
needs at Parkview Regional Medical Center.