President and Founder of Bayada Home Health Care Mark Baiada visited Head of School Larry Van Meter’s Grade 10 “Leadership and the Quaker Dimension” class today.
Mr. Baiada provided students with insight into the hard work and philosophies behind the growth of Bayada Home Health Care, now one of the largest U.S. providers of clinical care and support services at home for children and adults of all ages. The company, which has over 300 offices in 22 U.S. states as well as offices in India, Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand, employs over 22,000 home health care professionals.
At a young age, Mr. Baiada, who grew up in Riverside, identified that he eventually wished to start his own business. After earning his B.A. and M.B.A. from Rutgers University, he began his career working in market research and read a great deal to learn what it would take to build a sustainable, scalable business while saving money as best he could.
In 1975, with $16,000 he founded what would become Bayada Home Health Care.
“I wanted to create a business which was an institution of long-term value and that was multigenerational,” said Mr. Baiada. Indeed, the business is truly multigenerational now as Mark recently passed the CEO torch to his son David, who is a member of the MFS Class of 1995.
In talking about the keys to success in building a business, Mark Baiada shared with students the development of the “Bayada Way,” the company’s values-based philosophy formed from input from thousands of clients, family members, and employees. He spoke of the value of hiring good employees who are committed to the Bayada Way. “If your heart is in the right place and you want to connect with other people, you’re in the right place,” he said of his company.