Featured Interview
Larry Bensignor on Leadership, Gratitude, and Giving Back
Read my interview on Medium regarding our project at Shady Grove Medical Center. Below is a shortened version — click through for the full conversation.
For Larry Bensignor, a life-threatening heart attack in 2016 became the catalyst for a new chapter centered on leadership, gratitude, and giving back. The cardiac event — and the team at Shady Grove Medical Center who saved his life — reshaped how he thinks about service, philanthropy, and the responsibility that comes with a second chance.
A Second Chance
Larry recalls the moment vividly. What began as an ordinary day ended in an emergency room, with a team of physicians and nurses working to keep him alive. He survived, but he didn't walk away unchanged. "When you come that close," he says, "you stop thinking about what you have and start thinking about what you can give."
From Patient to Partner
In the years that followed, Larry joined the governing board of Shady Grove Medical Center. He and his wife Fern made a transformational gift to help build and fit out the heart and stroke catheterization lab — now known as The Larry and Fern Bensignor Cardiovascular Interventional Radiology Laboratory.
For Larry, the gift wasn't symbolic. It was practical, and personal. The same kind of lab had saved his life. Investing in it meant investing in the next person who would arrive at the hospital in the same condition he once did.
Leadership as Service
Larry views board service the way he views giving — as a responsibility, not a credential. He has served on boards across healthcare, the arts, and the Jewish community, and what he brings to each is the same: patience, candor, and a belief that institutions get stronger when their leaders are willing to ask hard questions.
"Good boards aren't there to applaud," he says. "They're there to push, to support, and to leave the place better than they found it."
Gratitude as a Practice
Gratitude, in Larry's framing, isn't an occasional feeling. It's a daily discipline. He keeps it close in the way he treats colleagues, in the causes he supports, and in the quiet conversations that rarely make it into a press release.
"Your financial statement isn't in the body," Larry says. "It's your name at the top."
Read the Full Interview
For a deeper look at Larry Bensignor's reflections on leadership, healthcare philanthropy, community involvement, and the lessons he learned after surviving a life-threatening cardiac event, read the full interview on Medium.