16. From Tax Attorney to Leading a Publicly Traded Real Estate Company, with John T. Thomas, President & CEO of Physicians Realty Trust

The Dealmakers’ Edge with A.Y. Strauss

Before law school, John T. Thomas knew he wanted to get to Wall Street. However, he could never have anticipated that one day he would be ringing the bell and taking a company public. On this episode of The Dealmakers’ Edge, Mr. Thomas sits down with managing partner Aaron Strauss and walks him through what can only be described as an incredible career in the commercial real estate sector. Now at the helm of a $6 Billion healthcare real estate leader, Thomas takes listeners through the challenges, triumphs, and realities of making it to the highest level of leadership in the commercial real estate sector.

Highlights include:

• Transitioning from an attorney to an executive.
• Testifying before Congress on healthcare reform.
• Getting tapped to take a company public.
• Focusing on culture to go from $135 million to over $6 billion in assets.

Let us know what you think at [e-mail].

ABOUT THE GUEST

Since 2013, John T. Thomas has served as the President & CEO of Physicians Realty Trust (NYSE:DOC). He also serves on their Board and is a member of the Finance and Investment Committee.

His prior leadership roles include serving as Executive Vice President-Medical Facilities Group for Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL, formerly known as Health Care REIT Inc.); as President, Chief Development Officer and Business Counsel of Cirrus Health; and as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Baylor Health Care System in Dallas, Texas.

While at Baylor, Mr. Thomas was responsible for managing legal and government affairs. His work included advocating for Texas H.B. 3 and Proposition 12, the 2003 Texas legislative and constitutional amendment efforts to increase patient access to physicians and care through reforming State medical malpractice laws. He co-founded the Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Healthcare, a national coalition to reform medical malpractice laws through federal legislation and also served as the Coalition’s chairman.

Mr. Thomas has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives and a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate’s Homeland Security Committee on matters related to healthcare policy. His experience also includes serving as General Counsel and Secretary for Unity Health System, a five-hospital division of the Sisters of Mercy Health System (St. Louis, MO). In that role, Mr. Thomas oversaw legal affairs for the organization and its subsidiaries.

His career began in private practice as a tax lawyer for Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCoy (New York, NY) before moving to Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal (now Dentons) where he was elected partner.

Mr. Thomas received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School and his B.S. in Economics from Jacksonville State University, where he graduated with Distinction and Special Honors in Economics. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Jacksonville State University Foundation. He was a previous member of the Board of Directors of Education Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: EDR) from 2016 to 2018.

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• Aaron's LinkedIn account (LinkedIn)
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