Why Joseph chose finance at Northwell over Wall Street

When Joseph Baglio accepted a position in Northwell Health’s Administrative Fellowship in 2003, he was walking away from a job on Wall Street.

“The same week I was offered a fellowship at Northwell, I was offered a job on Wall Street as an analyst,” recounts Joseph. “I did some soul searching and thought I wanted to invest my time in healthcare. I made the choice to come to Northwell for a year-long program and I’ve been here ever since.”

Today Joseph has advanced his career from starting as an administrative fellow to associate executive director of finance at Plainview Hospital and Syosset Hospital. In his role, he is responsible for the finance and operations management for both hospitals. Along with making sure his team have the resources they need to provide the best experience for our patients, Joseph manages the hospitals’ annual operating budgets, monitors patient volume, and develops capital and business planning. Joseph is also a mentor in Northwell’s 10-week Healthcare Management Program internship where he pays it forward to provide someone the education and experience he received starting his career.

It was his background in the Administrative Fellowship program that Joseph feels provided him with the experience to succeed in a role that balances operations alongside finance. “I’ve been exposed to different areas at Northwell which helped me prepare for the future,” says Joseph. “When you look at other organizations and roles in finance, they spend a lot of their day primarily only on finance. At Northwell, we’re the finance role of the future that’s just as much operations as it is finance. It makes for a career that’s not just emotionally fulfilling but intellectually stimulating.”

That is why he encourages other business majors to join the Northwell finance team. “There are so many opportunities here for those who are interested in finance. From hospital operations to corporate finance such as, accounting and financial reporting, it gives an individual a good foundation of how a healthcare organization operates from a numbers perspectives. Working in healthcare also means Joseph’s job is never boring: “Every year we are faced with many new challenges as the health system grows with the ever-changing industry.” It keeps the job from becoming routine and lets him use his experience and knowledge to help make sure our operations are fiscally viable.

But at the end of the day, it’s still all about having the ability to help people. “At Northwell, I am able to deal with a lot of day-to-day challenges that I would deal with in the market in a traditional finance role but I can feel good about my job because I’m helping people. It’s rewarding because I get the balance of being close to patients while still being on the business end of things.”

And Joseph’s work at Northwell isn’t over yet. “For me, I feel that not only has the organization invested in me through the fellowship program and other educational opportunities, I’ve invested a lot of time here too. It’s a two-way street, and I’m excited for what the future holds.”

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