Chaz Cox, an award-winning healthcare marketing and communications strategist, recently joined M Booth Health as Managing Director, Marketing Communications. We caught up with Chaz to learn more about his role, background, and approach to working with clients and staff.
Tell us about your role at M Booth Health.
The way I see it, my role is broken down into three categories: our people, clients, and business. With people, it’s about taking time to understand my team, making sure they’re supported in their careers, and that they’re doing work aligned to their passions. From a client perspective, it’s about building relationships, making sure their needs are being met and that they’re satisfied with our services, and looking around corners to best support them. And from a business perspective, working with our Executive Leadership Team to deliver very intentional and purposeful growth against our strategic plan.
What made you want to work at M Booth Health?
Ultimately, it was the people. The people are world-class – and the foundation that we are building on, given the firm’s legacy, puts us in a really good position. Then there’s the opportunity. When Stacey, our CEO, laid out the vision for me, I could see that she was building something special, and truly different. I feel incredibly lucky to lead this team during such a transformational time in health communications.
I think right now, with where we’re at in the world, for communications to be effective we need to move very quickly and at the speed of culture. With that, there’s a very finite period of resonance and relevance during which we can strike. So today, I believe that firms must have the resources that bring these solutions to bear, but also be nimble enough to strike with precision – and that is M Booth Health.
What’s something you’ve learned from past work that you’re applying here?
You’re only as good as your people. So you must listen to them, understand them, align their work to their passions, and grow with them. To be people-first is the only way to be truly successful.
What originally made you decide to work in this field?
I think all of us, regardless of our backgrounds, want to make a difference. We want to leave some mark on the world. We want to try and leave it in a better place than the world we came into. I saw my opportunity to do that in communications. As a young person, I certainly didn’t appreciate the great responsibility this would be, especially when we consider today’s issues around misinformation and the real public health threat that it poses. We as communicators play a very important role in dismantling this, and that’s just one example highlighting why I chose to do this. Because I wanted to make a difference.
What are some of your interests and passions outside of work?
I’m so glad you asked this question. I try to always have a non-professional goal that I’m working toward. What I do outside of work is what keeps me balanced and grounded.
I’m an endurance athlete, so I spend quite a bit of time training for my events. In the next year, one of my personal goals is to become a certified spin instructor.
I also love the outdoors. Having grown up on a farm, I have a great appreciation for the environment, so I love hiking, I love being on the water, I love tending to a garden. Really anything that will take me outside.
When I’m not outdoors, I have a deep appreciation for interior design. Over the pandemic, I enrolled in the Interior Design Certificate Program at Parsons School of Design in New York. While not a career ambition, I was eager to put some rigor behind what was previously a pedestrian interest. And while I don’t take on clients, I have this delusional perception that my modest Brooklyn one-bedroom apartment is worthy of an Architectural Digest feature.
How would people who know you well describe you?
I think they would say I’m a feminist with a keen sense of social justice; that I’m fun-loving, gregarious, and creative; that I don’t take myself too seriously; that I’m incredibly hard-working; and that I have a big heart.