Michael Holmes, who will turn 58 this summer, is on the young side for a Lifetime Achievement in Health Care award, which he will receive from the St. Louis American Foundation at a luncheon on Friday, April 29.
“I’m too young,” he said, “and I’m not done yet.”
He had only recently turned 50 when he heeded a call from God to leave corporate America after 30 years. Holmes previously was honored as Corporate Executive of the Year by the foundation at its inaugural Salute to Excellence in Business Luncheon in 2000, making him a first major dual awardee.
He left an executive position at Express Scripts in 2010 to found a non-profit pharmacy as a spinoff. Rx Outreach is an option for individuals and families who earn up to 300 percent of the poverty line. It fills prescriptions in 45 therapeutic categories, and many of its 360 drugs (in more than 800 strengths) can be purchased for $20 for a 180-day supply. Rx Outreach has now saved 243,000 patients (in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) some $387 million in medications.
That would not be a bad lifetime of work. But, as he said, he is not done yet.
He turned over the operational reins at Rx Outreach to Darryl Munden, who is now the non-profit’s president and CEO, but Holmes remains as chair of the Board of Directors. Turning over a company that he founded is itself an achievement of a lifetime in St. Louis, where so many executive entrepreneurs suffer from Founder’s Syndrome and simply are unwilling to step down.
Unlike so many others, Holmes trusted someone else to take his vision further than he had taken it himself.
“Darryl was ready to lead,” Holmes said. “I didn’t want to stand in his way. It wasn’t that I was bored or wanted to stop being active. But when you help prepare someone, once they are ready you owe it to them to give them a genuine opportunity.”
Chairing the Rx Outreach board only scratches the surface of Holmes’ continuing service to health care in St. Louis. Widely respected for his keen managerial acumen and effectiveness, he is actively sought out for board service.
He serves on the Board of Directors for BJC HealthCare, the state’s largest health care system and the region’s largest employer. He also chairs BJC’s Compensation and Human Resources Committee.
“Diversity is one of the performance objectives for the organization, as is its overall impact on making St. Louis healthier,” he said of his BJC board service.
He serves on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors for the United Way of Greater St. Louis, the region’s largest source of philanthropic funding and a lifeline for many health care agencies.
“I make sure organizations stay focused on their mission and focused on the appropriate diversity to reflect the communities they serve,” Holmes said.
Previously he served on the Board of Directors of Ascension, based in St. Louis, the nation’s largest non-profit health system and the largest Catholic health system in the world. Years ago he also brought the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America back from the edge of financial ruin as chair of its national Board of Directors.
All of this non-profit board service was and is uncompensated. “I’ve been blessed in life, so I continue to give back,” he said.
He also gives very generously of his time to younger professionals who are trying to find their paths to success. Since he left his operations role at Rx Outreach, he finds himself spending more and more time “mentoring younger people trying to make it in St. Louis,” he said.
“People call wanting to talk careers, situations they face and how they should handle them, career changes. I line up the right resources, find people opportunities, give them some corporate insights.”
He has a lifetime of corporate insights from more than 30 years working with a who’s who of corporate giants, including Monsanto, PepsiCo, Continental Airlines, Edward Jones and Express Scripts.
“I tell people things that might be helpful,” Holmes said. “It winds up taking up a lot more time than you realize.”
He and his wife, Gail Holmes, maintain their home base in St. Louis, but they also have a home in the St. Petersburg area. They have had the place in Florida for four years, but were able to visit for no more than 15 days per year before he stepped down at Rx Outreach. This year, he said, they already have spent close to 30 days in the Florida sun.
But even there, he works to better St. Louis. “In Florida, I spend half my time on the phone or computer talking to people back in St. Louis,” he said. “My wife is not always thrilled. Especially since I am supposed to be retired.”
He said the word “retired” with implied quotation marks. He does, however, anticipate an even more active future role – but doing what and where, he does not know.
“I’m not actively seeking, but I’m open if God leads me,” he said. “I don’t think I will ever quote ‘retire’ and stop doing anything, but what I do will change, as it has in the past. I never really knew what was next for me. God always had a plan for my life.”
Tickets for the 16th Annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards Luncheon on Friday, April 29 at the Frontenac Hilton are $750 per table for VIP/Corporate seating and $50 each/$500 table for Individual seating. To order tickets, call 314-533-8000 or visit www.stlamerican.com.
