Furst Group Places Chief Growth Officer for Paradigm

June 17, 2021 – Executive recruitment firm Furst Group, which serves the healthcare and insurance industries, has placed Tom Mafale in the newly created role of chief growth officer at Paradigm, an  industry leader in solving catastrophic and complex healthcare challenges. Paradigm created the chief growth officer position to focus on delivering new and existing products and services to a wider range of markets as part of the company’s strategic growth plan. Mr. Mafale comes to Paradigm with more than 30 years of experience leading best-in-class health care organizations. His demonstrated leadership in driving rapid growth, while building and developing cross-functional teams, will strengthen Paradigm’s ability to innovate and evolve its products and services across markets, according to the company.

Most recently, Mr. Mafale served as executive vice president, chief sales and client officer at HealthSmart, a Centene Company. There, he oversaw sales, account management, operations and marketing for one of the largest third-party administrators in the country. His career has included senior leadership roles at top companies, including Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and Centene. Across these roles, he developed a reputation as a seasoned sales, business development and operations leader with a track record of successfully optimizing and enhancing sales performance, revenue growth and strategic go-to-market strategies.


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“Paradigm is an exciting company, with a reputation for achieving outcomes that are unparalleled in the workers’ compensation industry,” said Mr. Mafale. “As I join a dynamic organization with an incredibly strong growth plan, I frankly can’t wait to get to work. Paradigm shares my commitment to a strong culture that values mentoring and cooperation, all to serve a larger purpose of improving lives and creating value.”

Paradigm is an accountable specialty care management organization focused on improving the lives of people with complex and catastrophic injuries and diagnoses. Since 1991, the company has offered deep clinical expertise, high-value specialty networks, behavioral health support, payment integrity solutions, and robust data analytics to generate the very best outcomes for patients, payers and providers. Paradigm is based in Walnut Creek, CA.

Healthcare Recruiting

Furst Group, which is headquartered in Rockford, IL, partners with many of the premier healthcare organizations in the world, from providers and payers to life-science companies and private equity/venture capital firms. While Furst Group’s roots are in managed care, the firm continues to be one of the nation’s leading executive search partners to health systems, hospitals, academic medical centers, post-acute and hospice and palliative care facilities. Its work with insurers stretches back to the HMO era, yet the firm also teams with life-science, pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Furst Group also has offices in Phoenix, AZ; Radnor, PA; San Francisco; Brentwood, TN; Chicago; Irving, TX; Minneapolis, MN; Seattle; St. Louis; and Washington, D.C.

Chief Growth Officer

Chief growth officer is currently a hot C-level role as companies of every stripe navigate in a pandemic environment. And while not every company has one, more of these positions are likely to emerge. According to recruiters, the CGO role itself is expanding and its popularity is rising, especially among professional services firms that understand client needs and who want to be front and center to achieve long term revenue growth and stay competitive. The CGO, they report, is free to challenge the status quo in order to discover new pathways to growth. But the position holder also leads their organizations to a heightened sense of responsibility and purpose.

Recruiters focused on finding C-suite leadership for their corporate clients say that CEOs have created the position of chief growth officer to drive revenue growth during periods of slowing economic activity. But leaders are now seeing advantages to having growth leaders on board much earlier, when business is booming, or when business is under stress like it is now, to help establish organizational rigor.

An expanding number of search firms have been working with organizations to find top chief growth officers in recent months. Here’s a look at a few recent growth officer searches from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

 The Bowdoin Group has placed Kevin McDonald as chief growth officer at SchoolCare, a provider of student health records software in K-12 schools. Partner Sean Walker led the search along with managing director Katelyn Marini. “It was a pleasure working with Kevin and the SchoolCare team throughout this search,” said Mr. Walker. “Kevin is a passionate, successful and mission-driven executive who has a strong track record of scaling high performing sales teams. His knowledge of the payer market and value-based care space, as well as his ability to take companies to the next stage of growth, played a key role in joining the digital health startup.”

Reston, VA-headquartered executive search firm NorthWind Partners has assisted in the placement of Jean-Francois Blanc as chief growth officer of Akima. He is charged with leading the company’s corporate development efforts, growing revenue, and expanding market share. Partner Hunter Murray led the assignment. “Jean-Francois is a hands-on leader with experience winning large contracts in both the Department of Defense and civilian agencies,” said Bill Monet, president and CEO of Akima. “We are pleased to add him to our leadership team, and we expect his knowledge of the market and his past success winning strategic contracts will serve him well in this growth-focused role.”

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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