Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CDR) has appointed Keith Pitts, former Vice Chairman of Tenet Healthcare Corporation, as an Operating Advisor to CD&R Funds.Pitts brings more than 40 years’ experience as a senior executive in healthcare-related businesses. He served as Vice Chairman of Tenet Healthcare, a large, diversified healthcare services business in the US from 2013 until his retirement in 2019.
Prior to Vanguard Health Systems’ sale to Tenet, Pitts served as Vice Chairman of Vanguard, helping to build the business from a start-up to a public company with USD6 billion in revenue. Previously, Pitts was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mariner Post-Acute Network, a publicly traded, USD3 billion in sales post-acute services group that operated nursing homes, long-term acute-care hospitals, sub-acute assisted living facilities, and institutional pharmacies. Prior to Mariner, Pitts served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for OrNda HealthCorp, a publicly traded hospital company that during his tenure grew from 11 hospitals to more than 50 when it was sold to Tenet in 1997. Pitts also spent 15 years as a healthcare consultant, including serving as a Partner at Ernst & Young and leader of its Western US healthcare consulting practice. He served three terms as the Chairman of the Federation of American Hospitals. Pitts is a certified public accountant and earned a BS in Business Administration from the University of Florida.
“Innovative, value-based care delivery has been an important theme driving our healthcare investment strategy in recent years, and we believe Keith’s track record, insights and network across the healthcare spectrum will be an enormously valuable addition to the team,” says Ravi Sachdev, CD&R Partner. “We look forward to drawing on Keith’s extensive experience and entrepreneurial energy as we continue to emphasize creative investments in a highly dynamic industry sector.”
“CD&R’s reputation for operational excellence is a good fit for me,” says Pitts. “Advising the Firm on building businesses at the forefront of reshaping healthcare delivery to be more efficient and effective is an opportunity in which I am very excited to participate.”
