No. 7: Brian Gragnolati

As president and CEO of Atlantic Health System and a recognized voice in the national health care conversation, Gragnolati is one of the most influential executives in the state.

Atlantic’s Morristown Medical Center made U.S. News & World Report’s 2020-21 Best Hospitals list for the third consecutive year. The facility was the only one from New Jersey to rank nationally.

Gragnolati has used his influence to become one of the faces of New Jersey’s response to the pandemic, with regular media appearances during which he speaks calmly and authoritatively about the latest developments and what the future might hold. And Atlantic Health operates the Morris County COVID-19 vaccination mega-site.

An interview with NJBIZ as the second wave took hold last fall was a good example of Gragnolati’s approach. “The increase has been particularly concerning … where we have seen in some instances between seven and 10% increases per day and those numbers are consistent with what you see in the state,” he said. At the same time “our modeling shows us that we’re not going to hit the levels that we hit back in April, in terms of hospitalizations and that’s because of, one, better access to testing that we have, and two, we’ve got kind of a different cohort of patients that we are seeing get the virus.”

In fact, despite alarm over how the second wave would play out, Gragnolati saw the future clearly. As the second wave slows, his views seem prescient.