Debby Morris is a director currently sitting on three public boards. She is an operating executive with end-to-end experience from crisis management to successful exit.
Debby has depth and breadth of expertise in healthcare, real estate, and other services, garnered through a 30+ year career at private and public, national and global companies. She brings a multi-sector, differentiated combination of private-equity and public company executive leadership, large-scale transformation, and successful valuation realization through IPO and strategic sale transactions.
She is the author of Unbreakable Determination: Inspiring Women to Overcome Limiting Beliefs.
How did your career in healthcare start?
It began halfway through my career — I spent the first half of my career in other service industries (namely commercial real estate followed by collision repair) before deciding I wanted to go into healthcare. It was a challenge to “break in” at the C-suite level, but my unbreakable determination prevailed, and I am thankful to do what I love in a (healthcare) industry with meaningful, impactful purpose.
You helped navigate a successful IPO and sale during your time at Apria. What did that experience teach you about leading a company through major inflection points?
It taught me that during major inflection points, leadership continues to be about creating clarity, maintaining alignment, and making decisions with conviction despite uncertainty. Taking a company public reinforced for me the importance of keeping the organization focused on the long-term objective (running the business) while managing the demands of the moment (the IPO process) with a small team.
The biggest surprise is how long it can take to take a company public. In our case, it was years with investor meetings and activities that often seemed insurmountable. But, like with so many things, everything seems easy in hindsight!
What topics or issues are taking up the most time and attention in your boardrooms these days?
Growth and strategy are at the center of my boardroom discussions — where to play, how to win, and how to create sustainable value. The other major topics — capital allocation, risk, talent and succession, technology/AI/cyber, governance, etc. — are really about enabling and protecting the strategy. The more time spent discussing these while the board is together, the better.
What might the WBL network be surprised to know about you?
I am an author, a former national freestyle ski competitor, and the mother of 11-year-in-the-making boy/girl twins. Yes, I ultimately hit the jackpot with two babies at once!
