Save Share Print

Home News Program to Inform East Tennessee Business Leaders About Keeping Employees and Bottom Line Healthy

Program to Inform East Tennessee Business Leaders About Keeping Employees and Bottom Line Healthy

Published: Tuesday, October 2, 2007

World renowned business executive Michael Critelli, executive chairman of Pitney Bowes, a multibillion dollar international mainstream technology company, will lead a forum designed to assist business leaders throughout the region to establish an environment of health in their workplace that helps hold down healthcare costs while promoting a healthy lifestyle for employees.

“The long-tried strategy of shifting more healthcare costs on to employees does not work,” Critelli said. “By investing in health, companies can simultaneously lower their costs, increase employee productivity and enhance job satisfaction. Pitney Bowes has developed this model over nearly 20 years and it works.”

The forum, Creating a Culture of Health to Improve Your Bottom Line, 7:45 to 10:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 26 at the Knoxville Convention Center, includes breakfast, a keynote address by Critelli and breakout sessions for participants to gain more personalized advice they can put to use in their businesses. The forum will be of significant benefit to business owners, human resources professionals, chief financial officers, chief executive officers, managers and other business leaders. Cost is $30. To register, call 865.544.6970. Registration deadline is Thursday, Oct. 18.

“Michael Critelli’s experience and proven success in his own workplace will be quite an inspiration from which business leaders in East Tennessee can learn,” said Debbie Bell, director of Network Development at UT Medical Center. “Mr. Critelli has committed himself to developing and promoting a ‘culture of health’ at Pitney Bowes and views employee health as an investment rather than an expense. That philosophy best serves both the employee and the employer.”

In addition to the presentation by Critelli, several distinguished business leaders from East Tennessee will serve as moderators and panelists during the breakout sessions. One breakout session covers How to Provide Health Coverage in a Cost Effective Manner while the other addresses Do Healthy Employees Really Make Healthy Business … The Real Story.

The forum is a program of the Boling Distinguished Visiting Professorship in Health Policy Forum. The forum is a partnership of The University of Tennessee Medical Center, the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership, the UT Graduate School of Medicine and The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Business Administration.

Established through the Edward and Carolyn Boling Distinguished Visiting Professorship Gift Fund at UT Medical Center and the Graduate School of Medicine, the Boling forum brings together industry experts and business leaders to discuss innovative new approaches to healthcare policy and the impact they can have in the workplace, particularly on employee productivity.

The University of Tennessee Medical Center is a 581-bed, not-for-profit academic medical center, which serves as a referral center for Eastern Tennessee, Southeast Kentucky and Western North Carolina. The Medical Center, the region’s only Level I Trauma Center, is one of the largest employers in Knoxville. For more information about the University of Tennessee Medical Center, visit online at www.utmedicalcenter.org.