He took pride in watching others grow professionally and personally
In over 40 years of service to the healthcare industry, Doug Harper has accomplished much. For example, he founded a med/surg distribution company in the 1980s. He was president of Physician Sales & Service (now McKesson Medical-Surgical) from 1999 to 2002. He served as president of NDC Homecare, group vice president of North America for Invacare, and is currently executive vice president and senior advisor for MTMC, the outsourced healthcare sales organization.
But it’s never been about the CV.
“Doug has constantly connected his industry friends for the greater good,” says MTMC Managing Partner Jack Moran. “He connects friends with job opportunities. He mentors friends and connects them with other mentors. He connects suppliers and distributors for initiatives that impact both. The overall industry has benefited so many times because of Doug’s selflessness and willingness to connect his network for the greater good.”
“I believe as we look back with a little perspective, Doug’s biggest contribution may be that he proved you can be a genuinely nice person guided by principles and reach the highest levels of success,” says Gary Corless, former CEO and board member of PSS World Medical.
“Doug Harper is perhaps the most respected person in the industry,” says Mark Seitz, chairman of NDC. “He earned that respect by combining a professional life of incredible achievement with an innate ability to have literally everyone share in his success. There are hundreds of individuals serving at all levels and capacities in our industry who attribute their personal and professional success to Doug Harper.”
“When you dealt with Doug, you well realized he also had your long-term goals in mind,” says John Moran, retired national sales manager for Welch Allyn. “His focus on the long-term success for both parties built stronger ties and better performance. This was true for his own sales and marketing teams as well as his suppliers.”
‘Have you thought about selling something?’
As a young man, Harper considered making a career out of golf. He got the bug in his early teens while growing up in South Hadley, Massachusetts. He caddied and participated in junior events in high school and continued to play competitively in college. After college, he participated in regional and state opens and became one of two professionals at the Country Club of New Seabury on Cape Cod.
In the summer of 1974, he found himself teaching golf to the children of Meyer Cyker, the CEO of Healthco, which at the time was the largest dental distributor in North America. “Around September or October, he asked me, ‘Hey kid, what are you going to do the rest of your life?’” recalled Harper in a 2004 interview with Repertoire. “In fact, being a golf professional in New England was a seasonal job, and I had no plans for that winter.
“So Meyer said to me, ‘Have you thought about selling something? Why don’t you come to my office on Monday in Boston?’” Harper did, started training in October and receiving a territory in January. “I got an order my very first call – for a $3.50 alcohol dispenser,” he recalls. “My first thought was, ‘This business is easy.’ My second thought was, ‘How can I support myself selling $3.50 alcohol dispensers?’
“As I grew into the role of a salesman, it was the relationships with customers, vendor partners and coworkers that energized me.” His first boss in the business – John Stutz – was an important influence. “He understood more about what physicians needed than they did. And if he got his arms around a physician, he wouldn’t let him go until he got the order.”
As physicians inspected office equipment in the Healthco showroom, Stutz had his own agenda. “He would usher them into his office, where he had his planning table, and ask, ‘Doctor, what are you trying to do? Tell me about the complexion of your practice.’” He would avoid quoting a price for individual pieces of equipment. “Instead, he’d say, ‘Doctor, we’ll give you this turnkey for $40,000, or whatever it was, including design, furniture, EKG, scales.’”
Stutz was a visionary in that he challenged physicians to think like marketers, added Harper. “He’d say to them, ‘You don’t want to look like the worst-equipped physician in the medical building. Your patients’ first impression is critical. Don’t you want your office to reflect your capabilities?’”
A frequent visitor to the showroom was John Sasen, who at the time was with Clay Adams (now part of BD), and who later became executive vice president and chief marketing officer for PSS World Medical and a close colleague of Harper’s.
‘Terrifying, exciting and rewarding’
Healthco was subsequently acquired by Foster Medical, and Harper was promoted to sales manager and then general manager. In 1981, he started his own physician distribution company – Medco Systems – on Cape Cod. “It was a very exciting time of growth of our industry. Starting our own company was terrifying, exciting and rewarding.” In 1987, Medco acquired its largest competitor – Quincy Medical Supply of Quincy, Massachusetts.
Three years later, he sold his company to Taylor Medical, for whom he served as Northeastern regional manager. In 1995, Taylor was acquired by PSS, and Harper became vice president of the company’s Northern region. In 1997, he left New England to move to PSS’s headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida, to become senior vice president of sales and marketing. He was named president in 1999.
“My years at PSS were filled with many challenges, but they were outweighed by the excitement of working with an extraordinary sales team and the leadership of John Sasen and [PSS Founder] Pat Kelly. In 1996, we signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Abbott Labs, which represented over $100M of new revenue for PSS. Abbott had great market share and an innovative pregnancy and strep test, and having the first in-office PSA testing instrument (IMX) opened many accounts to PSS.” The deal was pivotal in PSS’s overall strategy to become the market leader in in-office diagnostics.
“John and I enjoyed some nice wine that night!” he recalls.
Course change
In 2003 Harper and his wife, Cathy, decided to move back to New England, where their son, Doug, lived. “I always had in the back of my mind that owning a golf course would be a good way to end any career that I was going to have,” he told Repertoire. “I thought it would be great to be around something that was not only my avocation, but my passion. So my wife and I set some goals. Cathy loves the game too.”
They scouted the area for a golf course to buy, and in 2003 purchased Hickory Ridge Country Club in Amherst, Massachusetts, about 10 minutes from the course where Harper had caddied as a high-schooler. Designed in 1969 by golf architect Geoffrey Cornish, the course sits in the Connecticut River Valley, in the Mount Holyoke Range. “I actually played the course when I was younger,” he said.
In his new role as golf club owner, he implemented many of the skills he had acquired in the medical industry.
“Marketing is a big part of the business,” he said. Benefit outings for groups and causes were big income opportunities, which led Harper to routinely call on local charities, join the Chamber of Commerce and attend Rotary Club meetings. Though the club had an advertising budget, “marketing also has to do with taking care of our members every time they’re here,” he said. “Getting to know them by name and recognizing their guests is important. After all, those guests could become members next year.” The Harpers owned Hickory Ridge until 2013, when they sold it.
“It’s hard to talk about Doug without mentioning the game of golf,” says Moran. “He is an outstanding player with countless rounds in the low 70s. In spite of his abilities on the course, it is a pleasure to play with him no matter how high one’s handicap might be. He never gets rattled or overly serious out there. He is fun to play with and treats everyone the same regardless of ability. You can tell a lot about someone when you spend four to five hours with them on the golf course. This of course translates to his business leadership style.
“I have to mention his work ethic,” says Moran. “Doug has great vision and understands the big picture. However, he is also a day-to-day grinder. It would be very difficult to outwork him.”
Despite owning a golf course, Harper remained tied to the medical industry, serving as president of Brewer Medical and group vice president of North America and Latin America for Invacare. In 2017 he was named president of NDC Homecare and in 2020 became executive vice president and senior advisor for MTMC.
Asked recently about the most satisfying aspect of his career, he says, “Without a doubt it was the many friendships that developed through our industry and the pride that I have received watching so many of them grow both professionally and personally. I hope that in some small way I have helped. I am also so very proud of the fact that my son, Doug, is enjoying a great career with NDC in an industry that was so very rewarding for me.”
“Doug has a ton of experience, works hard and is very smart, but it’s his character that makes him special,” says Brad Hilton, senior vice president product strategy and supplier partnerships, McKesson Medical-Surgical. “He is kind, has high integrity and genuinely cares about everyone that he interacts with. In addition, he is a true professional. He stays current with key trends and he puts in the effort to learn new businesses, verticals and leaders. He is persistent and never drops the ball.
“I first met Doug when I was 23 and he has been a great boss, mentor and friend ever since,” he continues. “He never misses the opportunity to wish me happy holidays, check in on me and my family and offer his time, counsel and wisdom. He is a class act and great role model.”
MTMC’s Jack Moran says, “Doug always puts himself in the shoes of whoever he is interacting with. His empathy and the way he treats everyone like a customer is why he is such a successful leader. He always does the right thing and never lets a potential result get in the way of making the right ethical decision.”
Adds Mark Seitz, “Doug’s successful career in leadership roles is inextricably intertwined with his character. While Doug undoubtedly learned from many others throughout his career, Doug came to the table with an abundance of attributes that made for both an effective leader and an amazing friend. He is ethical, talented, compassionate, generous, genuine, and kind; but he is also appropriately competitive. How fortunate I am to have crossed paths with such an amazing man, and how fortunate is our industry that Doug Harper decided to make a career in healthcare distribution.”
Sidebar:
Doug Harper’s ‘Necessary items for success in leadership & life’
Doug Harper has shared this list of “necessary items” with new reps and leaders over the years. “I am amazed how many have told me they still use it with others,” he says.
- You need mentors to listen and learn from.
- You need to be a mentor.
- Hire people who can be your boss someday.
- Be honest/direct with people who are in the wrong roles.
- Remove problem employees. The rest of the team is watching.
- Spend more time with employees who are struggling.
- Listen and focus on the person in front of you.
- Treat all with respect.
- Never compromise your integrity.
- Run from unethical people.
- Only say things as if your mother were in the room.
- Protect your name.
- Always bring a solution to a problem.
- Treat/value existing customers as you do a prospect.
- Make news, don’t just report it.
- Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.”
- Drive down private roads.
“Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, every time you can.” – John Wesley