In this inquisitive Q&A series, we get personal with Andy guz, Manatee Memorial Hospital’s new chief executive officer. As CEO, Guz ensures that the hospital meets national quality, safety and patient satisfaction standards by leading with a balance of strategy, compassion and innovation.

A recent day in your life. Each day is different, but at the hospital, we start each day with an all-hands-on-deck Safety Huddle to ensure everyone is focused on patient safety. Then I usually have meetings with physicians and other leaders. If I get a break throughout the day, I try to walk around meeting people, as I am still relatively new. After work it’s either a community event, work dinner, or more often than not, going to the softball fields to coach or watch my daughters. The weekends are full of softball or hanging out around the house and pool with my wife and daughters.

When you were a kid you dreamed of . . .  playing baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates and having my own swimming pool. I am
one for two.

In our hometown, we do too much complaining about new people moving here and too little appreciating the reasons that they do.

For what fault have you been the most tolerant?
I allow people to fail as long as they are giving maximum effort and genuinely trying to do the right thing. 

Your guilty pleasure  . . .
Food. I love a good great meal, whether I am cooking or out to eat. 

My last supper would include . . .Homemade pasta Bolognese from Marcello Ristorante in Sarasota, the Grouper special from Café Gabbiano on Siesta Key, and Gus’s Fried Chicken from Memphis, TN.

Words you use too often . . .At the hospital many of my leaders hear, “What would you do differently if you blew up the process and
had to start all over?”

What is one thing that you will never understand. . . How to consistently hit a golf ball straight.

With 2 more hours in the day, I would . . .  Sleep for an extra hour and spend an extra hour at home with my family.

If you could undo one invention in the world, what would it be?Social media

What was the funniest thing you remember doing as a kid?  When I was 8 or 9,
I was the voice actor for a local
commercial about a rubber duck race on the Ohio River.

Would you rather have a rewind button or a pause button in your life?
At my age, I would say a pause button, but if I had a rewind button in college, I would have never
 graduated. Go Herd.

What is the scariest thing you’ve ever done? I’m afraid
of heights, so cliff-jumping into a lake. It was probably 50 feet but
felt like 5,000.

If you could snap your fingers and appear somewhere else, where would you be? Siesta Key, on the beach
in the summer.

You have to wear a t-shirt with one word on it, what would it be? IYINZ. I actually own this shirt, and it immediately resonates with the people who know what it means.  SRQ