Thirty-two years separate Reeve Waud’s solo launch of Waud Capital Partners in Lake Forest, Illinois, and Dr. Edith A. Perez’s decision to join Cornerstone Specialty Network as Chief Medical Officer. The span between these events reveals a methodical approach to building healthcare investment credibility that culminated in attracting one of oncology’s most respected leaders to a private equity-backed platform.
Dr. Perez’s appointment validates a long-term reputation-building strategy that differentiates Waud Capital Partners from competitors pursuing quick financial gains rather than sustainable healthcare leadership. Her decision demonstrates how consistent execution and sector expertise can create magnetic attraction for elite medical talent.
The Long Game Creates Sustainable Advantages
Waud’s approach to building healthcare credibility required patience and persistence that most private equity professionals cannot sustain. After founding the firm in 1993, he spent five years proving his investment thesis before raising his first institutional fund in 1998. This bootstrapped beginning created a culture of careful capital allocation and operational excellence that would characterize the firm throughout its evolution to approximately $4.6 billion in assets under management.
The breakthrough came in 2005 when Waud founded Acadia Healthcare as a startup platform focused on behavioral health facilities. Rather than acquiring existing companies, he built a healthcare business from concept to over 260 facilities, culminating in a successful 2011 IPO. Crucially, Waud remained engaged as Chairman of Acadia’s board long after the typical private equity exit, demonstrating commitment to sustainable healthcare platforms rather than transactional relationships.
This extended involvement with Acadia Healthcare signaled to healthcare leaders that Waud Capital Partners builds lasting businesses. The company’s continued success as a public entity validates Waud’s operational approach and creates credibility that attracts subsequent healthcare executives to his portfolio companies.
Sector Expertise Drives Decision Making
Dr. Perez’s career pattern reveals consistent selection of market-leading organizations during growth phases: Mayo Clinic during its cancer program expansion, Genentech during oncology drug development surge, and Bolt Biotherapeutics for immunotherapy innovation. Her choice of Provider Network Holdings suggests recognition of similar growth potential in Waud Capital’s specialty healthcare consolidation strategy.
The platform supporting over 1,500 providers across 41 states creates opportunities for clinical collaboration and data generation that individual practices cannot achieve. Dr. Perez expressed enthusiasm about “utilizing novel tools to optimize patient care by developing collaborative, retrospective, and prospective data generation and insights, across the network.”
Her statement reveals appreciation for the scale advantages that Waud Capital’s platform strategy creates. After completing more than 480 healthcare transactions over three decades, the firm possesses consolidation expertise that enables complex multi-company integrations like Provider Network Holdings formation through combining four complementary businesses.
The Dr. Perez appointment validates Reeve Waud’s patient approach to building healthcare investment leadership through consistent execution, operational excellence, and long-term relationship building rather than financial engineering shortcuts.
For more information: Provider Network Holdings Appoints Dr. Edith A. Perez, M.D. as Chief Medical Officer of Cornerstone Specialty Network
