Named in 2005 as one of the Atlanta’s Top 5 “Best Companies to Work For” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Regency Hospital Company is thriving because Chief Financial Officer and co-owner Gene Winters (B.S. ’86) has clear priorities: spend the dollars at the bedside on outstanding patient care, always live the golden rule, and celebrate the diversity of the company’s 2,300 employees.

Located in Alpharetta, Regency Hospital Company owns 15 long-term acute care (LTAC) hospitals. In most instances, RHC operates as a hospital within an existing hospital and creates a highly-specialized hospital offering a level of highly-intensive medical care. While the majority of these patients would likely languish for months in a hospital setting, Regency’s program reduces the stay to between 25 to 30 days, creating a win-win situation for the patient, the patient’s family, and the medical staff.

With CEO Rod Laughlin, Winters raised $22 million in investment capital in April 2001, with a significant portion coming from the four senior managers. According to some industry analysts, the company would be reasonably valued at $300-350 million by the end of 2004, despite only using $12 million of the $22 million raised. Winters would like to grow the company’s value to more than $750 million before considering an initial public offering. This rapid growth was recognized in FY 2005 by the Atlanta Business Chronicle when RHC was named the “#2 Fastest Growing Private Company in Atlanta”. For Winters, the company’s success is not measured in solely monetary terms. The true measure of greatness, the real bottom line, is that Regency has set a higher standard of excellence in healthcare, reflected in its commitment to outstanding patient care and better patient outcomes.

Due in large part to his rabbinical training, Winters’ motivation in his work is to bless others, whether they are patients, patients’ families, employees, physicians, or the local community. His top priority is to challenge the erroneous belief that the only way to survive in healthcare is to provide less care in response to shrinking public and private reimbursement. Instead, Winters believes that the best clinical performers with the best duplicable outcomes will always thrive while others struggle; in essence, people are willing to pay for high quality healthcare, whether for themselves or a loved one. A huge part of the challenge is to transform a work force into a team that supports the mission and demonstrates compassion for RHC’s patients and their families. His business vision focuses on new hospital development as well as targeted acquisitions to multiply his company’s assets, turning RHC into a shining example of what is right with healthcare in America.

Winters has strived to make a difference throughout his life. While serving as the President of the Student Government Association at UWG, he created the Freshman Council to help address the struggles of incoming freshman and to give them a voice in student governance. Motivated by the deaths of three fellow students on Highway 61, the SGA under Winters’ guidance was instrumental in moving the deadly highway up the list of the state DOT’s list of priority projects. Spearheaded by the administration of UWG and SGA Senator Ed Henderson and using contacts gained by Winters interning in the State Senate and the 7th District Court Administrator, the funds were secured to begin purchasing the right of way that year, leading to the eventual widening of the dangerous twisting two-lane road into the divided four-lane linking UWG to Interstate 20 today.

Winters credits his two internships provided by UWG with the opportunity to learn the necessary skills to excel in his profession: learning the legalese to understand complex governmental laws and regulations (Medicare, Medicaid) from his internship in the Georgia State Senate, and securing his ability to work under intense scrutiny and pressure while clearing the legal dockets for Georgia’s 7th District Court Administrator covering more than 15 counties in northwest Georgia. As a competitive high school debater, he believes the debate workshops of retired UWG debate coach Dr. Chester Gibson were instrumental in honing his verbal skills as well as teaching him to analyze matters quickly and accurately.

Early in his career, Winters was groomed for success by HCA, the nation’s largest healthcare provider. After serving for less than a year as the chief accountant at its 200-bed hospital in Rome, he was given an opportunity to work in the audit division of the company’s Nashville offices. In less than two years, he was promoted to CFO of a 200-bed Louisiana hospital, positioning him at 24 as the youngest hospital CFO in the chain’s history. At age 27, he left HCA, starting a hospital chain called Transitional Hospitals Corporation (THC). After growing that chain to 23 hospitals in six years, THC was sold to Kindred Healthcare for $639 million.

Winters feels his strategy for business success is simple and based on two principles — one, avoid “paralysis by analysis” by moving on business opportunities quickly before your opponents, and two, anticipate the direction and opportunities of the industry before your opponents.

Winters also has a vision for higher education for business students. He envisions more entrepreneurial training allowing students to share big dreams, brainstorm, gain practical experience, learn to be his/her own person, own a business and build individual wealth.

When a life is spent blessing others, blessings are due in return. Winters is blessed with Cyndee, his wife of 15 years. According to Winters, much like the prophet Elijah, Regency has been fed abundantly in a very tough industry due to the company’s desire to bless others.