100 Most Influential People in Healthcare – 2016

• Compensation: $1,876,451 - according to 2014 IRS Form 990
• Years on list: 1

Berdan, a 30-year veteran of Texas Health, was CEO for less than a month when one of his facilities, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, became ground zero in the Ebola crisis in September 2014. Thomas Eric Duncan first came to the hospital's emergency room showing symptoms of the illness, but was sent home with antibiotics and a pain reliever. Later Duncan was admitted to the hospital, becoming the first U.S. Ebola patient. He later died. "Mistakes were made," Berdan said in a full-page ad in local papers, admitting that safety protocols had not been put in place before the infected patient came to the hospital. Subsequently, the way the event unfolded has become fodder for post-mortems in how to'and not to'manage a crisis.