Julie Younger has always been a person who likes numbers. She was comfortable in her job as chief financial officer at the Iowa Heart Center when the leaders of the practice asked her in April to also serve as interim CEO until a replacement could be found for the departing CEO. She accepted the interim position, but with a little apprehension. After a few months on the job and much encouragement from her co-workers, she decided to put her name in the running to have the job permanently. The search stopped there, and Younger, a 17-year employee of the Iowa Heart Center, became CEO at the end of June. In addition to her new job, the 47-year-old is also taking on two more challenges: training for her first marathon and being a new grandmother.

Where are you from?

I grew up in Atlantic. I studied accounting at the University of South Dakota and then moved back to Atlantic to join a public accounting firm.

Why did you choose a career in accounting?

I decided my junior year of high school that accounting was it for me. Math had always been my strength, and when I took an accounting class, it all clicked that that’s how I was going to use it.

How did your career in health care begin?

I had worked in public accounting for a couple of years when I had a child and decided I didn’t want to be traveling a week at a time overnight. The firm I had worked for did health-care audits, so that led me to work for the local hospital in Atlantic for about four years. Then my husband and I decided that we needed to check out the rest of the world, so we moved to Phoenix. I had two brothers who lived there, and we thought it would be a good place to live. We only stayed for about six months before we decided it wasn’t a very good place to raise a family. That’s when we decided to move to Des Moines. I worked for Mercy (Medical Center – Des Moines) for a couple of years before coming here.

What was this practice like when you first joined it?

It was called Cardiology Associates then. It was a small organization of 11 doctors and 90 employees. They had a consultant come in to do an overview of the organization, and they were advised to hire a business manager. They hired me, and I’ve been here ever since. Now we have 58 physicians and 500 employees.

Did you ever imagine yourself as CEO of this practice?

I didn’t really have aspirations of being in this position, to be quite honest. I loved my job in finance, and I prefer to be behind the person who is front and center, so I didn’t anticipate doing anything like this. It’s pushing me a little bit.

What convinced you that you wanted the job?

It was a combination of things, but I would say the support from everyone – from my family to the staff, physicians and managers at Iowa Heart Center. The other thing is you come to a point where you ask, “What’s the worst thing that could happen? How much risk am I actually taking?” If you think about that, sometimes the alternative is more risky than jumping in yourself because you don’t know who might come in and what changes might occur.

How has your job changed?

A lot of the things I’m doing now, I was already involved in before from a financial perspective, but did not have ultimate responsibility for. Now I’m making more decisions and working on practice development to identify ways that we might get involved in new business ventures and recruit new physicians. And I work with the physicians more closely now and act as the sounding board for them.

Have you encountered challenges with the transition?

The transition has been unbelievably smooth. The biggest thing has probably been time management, just because there are so many things that need to be done, in addition to getting around to every office to meet the staff. Otherwise, the biggest challenge is making sure you’re thinking ahead as much as you can and trying to anticipate the needs of the physicians and the staff, really being a leader as opposed to reacting.

What do you do outside work?

Long-distance running is my outlet. I run in the mornings before I come to work. I got started doing 10Ks and half marathons a few years ago. I had a brother-in-law who was killed in a car accident three years ago. He was a marathon director in Wisconsin. When he died, it was like running became the whole family’s way of coping, and we run as kind of a tribute to him. This October I’m running my first marathon in Chicago. It’s a good outlet and something we can do together as a family.

Describe your family.

I have two children, and I just became a grandma nine weeks ago. My grandson lives in Altoona, and it’s been a lot of fun having a little one around.

Do you feel it’s important to be physically fit with your job title?

Definitely. I think you need to set an example when you can. You have to be able to walk the talk. And it’s also motivating for other people, too. Sometimes you get two or three people together and it helps keep you on track with your goals.

-Sharon Baltes