By South Florida Hospital News, for ACHE of South Florida

Rudy Molinet acknowledged that people often refer to him as a Swiss Army Knife, and the comparison to the multi-purpose tool couldn’t be more accurate. Molinet founded Artemis Synergies, Inc., a consulting firm where he provides individual executive coaching to healthcare clients. He has also served as board chair at Holy Cross Health, the only faith-based, nonprofit hospital in Broward County, for the past three years. Additionally, he has been a member of ACHE – American College of Healthcare Executives – since 2019 and became a fellow. Molinet has served as a Healthcare Executive for more than 40 years and is putting that experience to work in the service of others.

Molinet particularly enjoys his role as a professor at Florida Atlantic University, about which he said, “I teach the executive MHA (Masters of Health Administration) program, teaching marketing, strategic planning, and leadership. I think the thing I enjoy most about working at FAU is helping the future healthcare leaders, and that’s my connection with ACHE.”

In further explaining the connection between FAU and ACHE, he recounted that he was looking for an opportunity for students to have real-world experiences and networking opportunities, and after researching different organizations thought ACHE would be the best fit. He became a member himself, then said, “I approached our administration and they agreed to pay the membership dues for the students for the course I teach called the Leadership Boot Camp.”

Molinet requires students to attend two ACHE networking events, then write a report about who they met and what they learned. “As I explain to them, you have to get out there and meet people; it’s important to get a degree, but it’s as important to have connections to leverage that degree to grow in your career journey.”

He added that healthcare is a very competitive and complex business, so it’s important to have every tool in the arsenal to be great leaders: “The tools they need, the resources, the research, state-of-the-art best practices – all of those things are wrapped around the services ACHE provides for its members.”

Molinet said he tells students when they graduate to make sure they start on that path to becoming a fellow, a FACHE designation. He recalled with a chuckle, “One of my students said, ‘Yeah, professor, if it’s so great, why haven’t you done it?'” He accepted that as a challenge and as a result said, “I got my fellow when I was 60, and I encourage students to do it, too.”

This is not the path Molinet would have chosen when embarking on a career. He revealed he wanted to be a physician, but his father became sick and he couldn’t afford medical school, so he chose to go into nursing. “I knew I wanted to do more than take care of patients – which of course is important – but I wanted to make an impact at a broader level.” He then earned his MPH in Health Administration from Columbia University and moved to Florida.

Molinet is also proud of his volunteer work at Holy Cross Health, where he serves as the chair of the board of directors. “I think that’s very impactful to the community to have an openly gay board chair at our ministry to help build bridges with the LGBTQ community. It’s important that we continue the ministry of working with those who can’t afford to be cared for, as well as those who can.” He said he believes it’s also important to have diverse opinions and lived experiences on the board.

Of his Swiss-Army-Knife reputation, Molinet said, “All the work I do is related, it’s all about a personal mission of helping to provide better healthcare through whatever channel I’m involved in – whether coaching, teaching, or, in the case of Holy Cross, providing governance and leadership as the board chair. My mom always taught me to give back, and when I do this work, I am also honoring her.”