One of William Wallace’s goals as Director of Organizational Development & Learning at Episcopal Health Services, Inc. (EHS) is creating a “best place to work” environment. While it’s important to love the actual work, he stresses that it’s “equally important to also love the place. Whether you’re management, union, nonmanagement, everybody knows we’re a place doing amazing work, and getting along as well.”
Prior to switching his career path toward healthcare, William spent his first 15 working years in hospitality, where he worked with companies such as Walt Disney World and Marriott. Without a college degree at the time, William says the vast experience he gained, including creating a leadership development program while at Marriot, helped him work his way up. With the economic slowdown in 2009 his position ended, and William decided to return to school full time. Taking courses in leadership development and organizational learning, he eventually earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees followed by a doctorate.
In the aftermath of dealing with some medical issues, William decided to turn his career focus to the healthcare field. His education completed, he began his own consulting company, which ran successfully for 15 years. Wanting to branch out further from the hospitality business, William worked with a variety of companies, Verizon, and AT&T, among them. He also consulted for several healthcare facilities, such as the University of Rochester Medical Center and the Anthony L. Jordan Health Center, one of the first federally qualified health centers in the country.
Before joining EHS a little over a year ago, William worked with the Department of Health for a couple of years. At EHS William oversees all non-clinical learning and education. “Some of the big projects we’re working on include evolving the new hire orientation process. We’re partnering with patient experiences in the Plantree Certification process to implement all the learning that’s needed to be Plantree certified. We’re also creating the leadership development academy and launching a physician leadership development program starting with the chairpeople. We’re really looking at creating a continuous learning culture where everybody has an individualized learning tract tailored to their needs and desires.”
As part of the Advisory Committee for the St. John’s ICARE Foundation, William recognizes his role as being the person to unify the two organizations [EHS and the Foundation] given the work his position encompasses. The Foundation, established in 2021, benefits and supports the charitable and educational activities of EHS. Since he’s involved with the entrance, and continued growth, of new team members into the organization, he feels he is a representative, a voice for that with ICARE. He maintains this is critical to the success of what he does.
As a member of the LGBTQ community, William is committed to ensuring that this voice is being heard in ICARE too. Despite achievements, he believes there is more work to be done. “We do a great job showing up for Pride, but it goes beyond wearing the flag, being at the parade. It’s more about insuring equality for the LGBTQ community and the patients being served. I believe there is a massive opportunity for us in the trans community here. It’s very important to ensure that there is a voice from this community on the Committee, one that can speak directly to issues that affect members of this community. Everyone’s experience, situation is different, and you need to feel safe waiting for care and comfortable in sharing what’s going on with your health. If not, then this will impact the care provided.”
Another goal William is enthusiastic about is EHS becoming a community hub for the Rockaway region. One way he envisions this is EHS as a place where community members can find work, whether in healthcare or other areas, such as the finance department. “They can come here and get an entry level job as a career development path to take them wherever they want to go. We become a place of education for them, not just in healthcare but in development as well, so we can uplift the community.”
Community connection is something William is passionate about, explaining, “When I was consulting, it was very important to me to be involved with the community. As such, I’ve been part of many different community initiatives. For example, in Rochester [in upstate New York], this may have been in economic development of the area or providing learning and development within my industry specialty.” As president and founder of several groups, William provided resources for professionals beyond the volunteer work he did. Here in the Rockaways, he says, “it's very important for me to do something similar. For ICARE the importance becomes creating the culture and implementing that culture of development across the entire organization. To be a strong voice for the organization’s culture. For creating the best place to work, as well as elevating EHS to have that strong impact in the community.”
William retains strong community ties to Rochester. While he has a home on the Rockaway peninsula, he spends many weekends upstate, commuting weekly to his work at EHS and for his new community in the Rockaways.
