The Journey

Diane Daych T’85 once described herself to an interviewer as a “quant jock,” who before Tuck and a pioneering career as a health care investor had worked as an actuary. The analytically minded Daych adapted easily to Tuck’s quant-heavy first year curriculum, but says the most enduring lessons came in her second year. In particular, she recalls Prof. Brian Quinn’s entrepreneurship course. “All of a sudden there was no right or wrong answer,” she recalls with a laugh. “It really broadened my outlook and helped me think more strategically and make decisions with imperfect information, because that's what business is all about.”

The Calling

After Tuck, Daych worked as “a generalist in the buyout world,” before making the conscious decision to focus on health care in the early 1990s, a time when the industry was becoming dramatically more complex with the advent of managed care. She recalls her approach to Medical Care America, one of the first big surgery center companies: “I said ‘Let me come in and do deals for you,’ and they almost literally said, ‘Here, go run this.’”

“I call it my health care trial-by-fire,” says Daych, who was young, female, not a doctor, and a Yankee in South Texas. She ended up running the company’s operations in a large chunk of the state, gaining experience that laid the foundation for her success in private equity.

Looking Ahead

Daych’s time on the front lines gave her a gut-level appreciation for the influence of good management on health outcomes. “Just about every company we’ve invested in is focused on driving more efficient health care while making it better,” she says. Her fund’s investments include Clean Slate, a pioneer in Suboxone treatment for opiate addiction, whose board she sits on, and where she’s had the opportunity to see the program at work first-hand.

“I love the deal business. I love the analytics and the diligence and negotiating the deal, and I recognize my fiduciary responsibility to our investors to generate great returns,” Daych says. “But I find it very rewarding to invest in companies that positively impact health care delivery in this country.”