Carl and Toby Sloane
Your gift at work:
Still on board
If you build a better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to your door. This literary adaptation of an Emerson adage sums up an idea that Professor Carl S. Sloane would probably agree with.
He says that if we uphold the notion that Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center can always improve, we will maintain premier staff, conduct the most advanced research, offer superb patient care, and attract new patients.
Sloane, who served as the chair of the BIDMC Board of Directors from 2002 to 2005, notes the importance of financial support to the upcoming capital campaign, which will fund progressive projects to advance the medical center, securing its success well into the future. He and his wife, Toby, recently made a $1 million gift to help kick off the campaign. The couple asked that their generous donation be allocated to the President’s Fund.
Gifts made to the President’s Fund are extremely important as they are unrestricted and provide the medical center’s leadership with the necessary leverage to pursue unforeseen opportunities, from recruiting star physicians, to seeding new research programs, to taking advantage of emerging scientific and technological advancements. “It is going to require an extraordinary level of financial support to keep up with the increasing demands for service and the rapid pace of development in the biological sciences,” Sloane says.
The forward-thinking Harvard Business School professor was commended by his friend, BIDMC President and CEO Paul Levy, for his seasoned and carefully considered approach during his three years as chair. “Carl brought to his role an instinctive understanding of the challenges that accompany organizational change—a priceless asset for an enterprise that, by the very nature and speed of biomedical progress, is constantly evolving,” Levy says. “He helped create the picture of where that change could take us and was always able to communicate that vision in a powerful and motivational way.”
In addition to leading a dramatic financial turnaround, Sloane says one main focus during his tenure was to restore a sense of community and cohesion among disparate groups that formed after the merger of Beth Israel Hospital and New England Deaconess in 1996. “I worked hard to ensure our various constituencies within the medical center were engaged and to find occasions in which we could break down the barriers resulting from these prior conditions and re-kindle old and establish new relationships,” he recalls.
Levy credits Sloane’s focus on community and the people who are a part of it as an important component in uniting the medical center under the common vision and ideals that it has today. He attributes Sloane’s instinctive appreciation for the value of people in a successful enterprise to his 30 years in industry consulting. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, Sloane co-founded and was CEO of Temple Barker & Sloane, a Boston-based consulting firm, and its successor firm, Mercer Management Consulting. “Carl never let anyone forget that business, particularly ours, is about people,” says Levy. “During his term, he strove to create an environment where everyone in the BIDMC community could flourish, and he continues to do that today.”
The Sloanes are well-respected members of this now-thriving community, which has engaged their energies for more than two decades. In addition to his time as chair, Sloane served as a member of virtually every Board committee; today he is actively involved in several, including the Patient Care Assessment and Quality, Governance and Nominating, Major Gifts, and Master Facilities Planning Committees, the last of which he chairs. He is also a trustee for life. Toby Sloane has been active on the Celebration of Life Committee. The couple also has personal ties to the medical center; one of their children was born here, and several family members have received care here. Sloane says that his and his wife’s continued involvement with the medical center is important to him personally and, he hopes, for the continued growth and prosperity of the organization in the future.
When asked why he considers this medical institution different from the many others, he responds with a smile. “We practice differently here, and it resonates with the medical profession,” he notes. “It resonates with philanthropists and lay leaders who help to fund and make possible the level of care we deliver. This is an institution that gives love back, and it gets love in return.”
For this reason, Sloane says it is an important duty to carry on the great traditions that make BIDMC a cherished and respected hospital. “Today we are the beneficiaries of the philanthropic and visionary support that our grandparents and parents gave,” he says. “Our support, whether to advance cures for cancer in our oncology labs, to expand our facilities to accommodate the growing demand for high-acuity patient care, or to provide the most advanced imaging equipment, will create a legacy that will benefit generations to come.”
