Legacy Award: Greg Graves

Bob Page: Greg does not think small. So think about his role at The Greater Kansas City Chamber, the big five, right? It wasn't the small 10. It was the big five, which has lived beyond Greg's leadership. When he became the board chair, he goes, "Okay, we need to do something big. Let's solve peanut allergies." We said, "Well, maybe there's something else we could do." And actually that conversation led to the zero harm initiative. Let's stop harming patients. That's the kind of thing that Greg does. When he's in, he's all in and he wants to do big things that have a big impact.

Tammy Peterman: He's passionate. He's compassionate. He's very, very generous. He's got a great deal of energy and he's very visionary. I think Greg Graves can see things that others can't see.

Mark Uhlig: What happens at the health system changes lives – it changes families, it changes workplaces, it changes our community. And when you change those things, you change the future.

Robba Moran: What I admire most about Greg is his commitment to people and to others and his care and concern for people because people in his position oftentimes can go off when they get to retirement age, they play golf all the time, or they spend all their time with their close friends and family. And Greg gives back.

Greg Graves: Hey!

Doug Girod: Probably my favorite story of Greg, and I think it really exemplifies his passion and his enthusiasm, is as we were having the event to break the ground for the new Cambridge North Tower. And we were all there with our hardhats and our shovels ready to turn dirt, Greg shows up with a bulldozer with a shovel full of dirt and dumps that. Of course, Greg was probably the only one among us who could actually drive a bulldozer. But I think that really speaks to how he takes everything and puts everything he has into it.

Mark Jorgensen: I would call him a multiplier. I think he gets more out of people than they would have otherwise thought. And in so doing, they accomplish greater things.

Bob Page: We, in the history of the health system, had never done a fundraising campaign. We'd always been part of the university's campaign. So keeping with the theme of if you are going to do it, do it big. We said, "Well, let's do a hundred million dollar campaign as our first campaign." Well, who do you want to lead that? You want Greg and Deanna to lead that.

Tammy Peterman: We all know when Greg and Deanna set their sights on something, they're going to reach those sights. They're probably not only going to reach them, they're going to exceed them. That's exactly what happened with Cambridge Tower A.

Greg Graves: We're certainly not afraid to ask people for their money, but I'm most proud of the highest expectations that we have for ourselves now, for our board of directors, for our management team, for the health professionals and everybody who works here, who understands that it's not good enough to be best in class today. It's important to be best of class tomorrow.

Mark Jorgensen: Greg comes from a small town in South Dakota, and that comes through – that sense of community – and I think he wants to do all he can to honor that sense and that feeling and to grow our communities.

Robba Moran: You think of Greg in terms of Burns and Mac, you think of Greg in terms of the health system. And I think people in the room just trust him. You trust him. And I think that's so important in leadership.

Greg Graves: We have a duty here. We have a duty here to the next patient that walks in the door, but we have a duty here to the patient who's going to walk in the door 10 years from now. We have a duty to the health of our city and our state, of course, but we're above that now. We have a duty to the science of what we bring to the next cure, to the next child. We're not here just to cure the patient of today, but to advance the medicine, to push the science.

Doug Girod: The health systems' Legacy Award is something that honors people who have given tremendously to the health system over an extended period of time. He cares so much about everything that we do and really understands the importance of what an academic medical center means.

Tammy Peterman: Greg Graves will have a lasting legacy for a lot of reasons. He jumped into the deep end with us and he stayed there. He focused on really good and important things like quality and safety and always making sure that was front and center at the board.

Bob Page: When I think about Greg's legacy, I think it's really going to be about continuing the trajectory that we've had. He's been part of this since we went from Kansas City to the state, the region, the nation, international. That's Greg's impact.

Greg Graves: Deanna and I have got to be involved in a lot of great things in this city that I think move the city forward, but I don't have anything that I do that I absolutely loved like I love this place.