Why do MBAs from Top Schools Across the Country  Choose DaVita?

For the company: because they want to be a part of the DaVita story and culture

For the leadership: because they want to work with and for the leaders that make up DaVita

For the opportunity: because they want the opportunity to develop professionally and personally

The Company

Who Are We?: 

DaVita is a Fortune 500 classic MBA case study of a company that has ”done it right.”  In fact, the DaVita story is told in a Stanford business case.

The Basics

• DaVita is the employer of choice for over 29,000 professionals (teammates) and is guided by its mission—to become the provider, the partner, and employer of choice. DaVita’s high quality care meets and exceeds national guidelines.
• For patients suffering from chronic kidney disease, we operate 1300+ clinics and home peritoneal dialysis programs in 42 states, as well as Washington, D.C.
• DaVita, Inc. is an entrepreneurial Fortune 500 company and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticket symbol DVA. DaVita, Inc. generates $4.9 billion in revenues and currently has a market capitalization of $4.8 billion. The company’s stock price has increased over the past four years from $3 to approximately $62 today.
• We have 8 corporate offices and 7 strategic business units supporting the field. 

The Story

DaVita has technically been around for 30+ years, but we still consider ourselves a "new" company. To reflect the creation of the “new company”, we renamed ourselves "DaVita" in 2000 shortly after CEO Kent Thiry came on board, wrote the mission, and led the company-wide collaborative effort to vote on and establish the core values. The results of the phenomenal turnaround:

• Steady increase in our stock price from $1 to $60+ in 7 years
• Reduction of turnover by 1/2
• Revenue: $4.9 billion
• EBITDA: $992.33M / OI: $273 million 
• We now provide the best clinical results of any large player in the industry

The Culture

• We live our Mission and Values – they are institutionalized as part of interviewing, training, performance reviews, celebrations and rewards (more information).   You would be hard pressed to find teammates who have been here more than  6 months who don't have them memorized.
• In the age of corporate ethics scandals and given the strong cultures of the schools where we recruit, particularly important to many of MBA's are our values of integrity, continuous improvement, accountability, team, fulfillment, & fun - but you truly have to see it to believe it!
• Outside of M&V, other aspects to the DaVita Way that are appealing to MBA’s include:
  •  a fact based approach to management and decision making.  We are mentioned in the book by Stanford professors Jeff Pfeffer and Bob Sutton: Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management)
  • fast paced, entrepreneurial spirit - we are surprisingly agile for our size; admission of failure is welcomed and valued; we have an open executive culture (if you e-mail the CEO, he will reply)

The Validation

DaVita has received these awards:

• Rated by Fortune magazine as one of the "Top 10 Most Admired Health Care Companies" in 2006, 2007 and 2008
• Ranked on Training magazine’s "Training Top 125" in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 (Only for-profit health care company on the list)
• Received Modern Healthcare’s "Spirit of Excellence Team Award"
• Received "Compassionate Employer Recognition" from the Compassionate Friends (One of 80 companies selected from across the country)
• DaVita CEO, Kent Thiry, ranked number 2 on Institutional Investor’s list of "Best Chief Executive Officers of Health Care Facilities"
• Ranked number 458 on the 2007 FORTUNE 500®
• Ranked number 64 on the Barron’s 500
• Receive Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) 2005 "Leadership in Innovation" Award

The Leadership

Our business is our vehicle. Our team is our strength. MBAs come to DaVita to work with and for great leaders.  From leaders on their teams (administrative assistants, fellow managers, analysts and hourly clinical employees), to leaders in the C-level and Vice Presidential offices, you will get the opportunity to work with DaVita’s top team leaders:

Kent  J. Thiry
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Since October 1999, Kent J. Thiry has been the Chairman and CEO of DaVita Inc. Previous to that he served as Chairman & CEO of Vivra Incorporated, which he joined in 1991. Prior to working for Vivra, Mr. Thiry was a partner at Bain & Company, an International management consulting company. He earned his BA degree, with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa, in Political Science from Stanford University in 1978, and his MBA, with honors from Harvard Business School in 1983.

Joseph  C. Mello
Chief Operating Officer

Joe Mello joined DaVita Inc. in June of 2000 as Chief Operating Officer. Previous to that he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the leading Practice Management company in the asthma/allergy segment. Mr. Mello also held various positions within MedPartners, Inc. and spent ten years with KPMG Peat Marwick, LLC, where he was admitted to partnership. He currently sits on the board of Radiologix, Inc. Mr. Mello earned a Bachelor of Science, Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech and a Masters in Business Administration from Golden Gate University

For the opportunity

MBA’s come to DaVita’s new Redwoods program for the unparalleled opportunity.  The Redwoods rotational program provides you with the skills to succeed at these opportunities and develop into a strong leader.