Premise Health CEO Shares Learnings from Past Acquisitions with Business Dealmakers

In his 30+ years of experience, Premise Health CEO Stu Clark has been involved in numerous acquisitions. Over time, he learned what can make or break a deal – the people. In an interview with Business Dealmakers Nashville, Clark shared how his mindset has shifted to focus more on culture and team when evaluating a potential target.

“Earlier in my career I was very quantitatively driven — is this going to create shareholder value as a result of what we’re paying for this company and what we plan to do with it after it’s inside of our organization,” Clark said. “It dawned on me about mid-career, so maybe in my early to mid-30s, I realized that it is the human element, at least in our industry, that makes these deals succeed or fail.”

For Premise, Clark explained the team that’s being acquired must be able to live by his company’s ethos in order to be considered successful. To determine this, Clark and his executive team talk with the clients and team members in varying roles across the targeted organization. Once complete, they all gather to share their thoughts.

You can listen to Clark’s full interview in the Smart Business Dealmakers podcast here.