Jen Storch, 33

Jen Storch thought she was going to be a doctor, and after some chemistry and biology classes at the University of Florida, work with one patient at a time.

She instead focused on the administrative side of medicine, and has spent her career with the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System. Now she helps more than 130 employees take care of 200,000 patients a year as an executive in SMH’s ambulatory-outpatient services department.

Storch developed her passion and appreciation for health care administration during a residency program where she shadowed and worked with multiple hospital executives. It’s a place, Storch discovered, where no two days are the same.

“It’s fun to face new challenges and grow,” Storch says. “You come into work with a plan and calendar and sometimes it doesn’t work out. But that’s what makes my job exciting.” 

The ambulatory-outpatient department is one of the fastest-growing units within the SMH system and has facilities spread through Manatee and Sarasota counties. Storch, who started with SMH in 2007, now oversees eight of those facilities. She has led projects to move two urgent care centers, and she’s also overseen the expansion and opening of three others, including the latest, on St. Armands Circle.

Storch won an SMH quarterly leadership award for the fourth quarter last year for her work with the urgent care centers. SMH executives, in presenting the award, say Storch is a “confident, kind and fair leader who is never too busy to jump in and help when needed.”

— Mark Gordon

Q&A

Name: Jen Storch

Age: 33

City of residence: Sarasota

Twitter handle: I’m still back in the Stone Age…

Employer: Sarasota Memorial Health Care System

Title: Director, Ambulatory Services

Birthplace: Tampa

Years on the Gulf Coast: 9

Marital status/children: Single, no children

Alma mater: University of Florida.  Go Gators!!

Best place to network: Local industry events

Coolest business experience: Getting to continually experience new challenges at work from opening new facilities to dealing with last minute legislation changes.  The new challenges and constant changes require that you’re always on your toes and never allow you to get bored.

Messy desk or clean workspace: Usually a bit messy during the day, but always clean and organized before I leave for the day.

Best business lesson ever learned: Lead by example.  Sounds a bit cliché, but it’s definitely one of the ways that I have been so successful over the past few years. 

A website that makes your job easier: I don’t know what I’d do without Google and Amazon

Community group you’re most involved with: Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation

Favorite off-hours activity: CrossFit and running

Two people, dead or alive, you’d like to have dinner with: My late grandmother and grandfather

What you would be doing if you could pick another career:  Running a winery in Napa

Top item on your bucket list: Travel more.  Italy and Hawaii are top on my list

Skill you’d like to learn: Patience.   Forever working on that one

Who would play you in a movie about your life: Tina Fey

If I had a magic wand I’d: Fix the health care industry