About Us
Specialty Firm
Powerhouse Healthcare Executives
Our healthcare clients face many challenges including operational, financial, and compliance with an ever-changing legal, regulatory and competitive environment including those looking for turnaround solutions or advice to investing in a healthcare business.
The Peira Group has a full complement of a team and the industry know-how to help clients face and overcome these challenges and position them to capitalize on an ever-changing healthcare landscape and industry.
We are not career consultants.
We understand the complex and unique challenges, interconnected and high-stakes decisions involved facing health systems, hospitals and physician groups to develop market strategies and operational efficiencies to survive and thrive – because we’ve walked in your shoes and we’ve done the work you need help with.
Meet the team
Bill Leyhe, Founder/President
Bill Leyhe has a thirty-year career encompassing virtually all areas of health care, in particular hospital operations, transactions, strategic planning, legislative and health plan contracting.
Mr. Leyhe began his career with Tenet Healthcare as Chief Operating officer of Century City Hospital in Los Angeles. He was then appointed the CEO and President of Norwegian American Hospital in Chicago. He was an inaugural recipient of Tenet’s Circle of Excellence Award as outstanding hospital CEO. He then returned to California as Vice President of Operations where he had operational responsibility for nine acute care hospitals.
He then was appointed Vice President, Development for Tenet’s Western Division where he was responsible for hospital acquisitions and for the development of the Western Division Medical Group and independent practice association (IPA) strategy. During his tenure in this position Tenet acquired five hospitals in the west including Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.
He was then appointed Vice President Managed Care and Strategy for Tenet‘s Western Division where his department was responsible for managed care contracting activities for 39 hospitals. He was also Tenet’s representative for legislative and medical group issues including operational responsibility for Tenet‘s four medical groups and 12 IPAs.
Mr. Leyhe formed the Peira Group in 2008 with several senior executives from Tenet Healthcare where for the past several years they have been instrumental in the acquisition and strategic planning for many of California’s largest medical groups and hospital systems.
Mr. Leyhe has served as Chairman of Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC), Chairman of the Integrated Delivery Systems Association and committee member of the legislative board and governing board board of Federation of American Hospitals. He is a frequent speaker at various healthcare association functions. He graduated from Cornell University and has his Masters in Business Administration.
Barry Schochet
Relationships are key to any successful transaction. Barry Schochet over the past three decades has held positions at the very highest level of healthcare. He has served in several executive capacities at Tenet Healthcare Corporation, including Vice Chairman. He also served as the Hospital Division President for National Medical Enterprises and as Chief Executive Officer of Cypress Community Hospital in Pompano Beach, FL.
Mr. Schochet also currently serves as a board member of Universal Hospital Services. He previously served on the board of directors for The Broadlane Group. He also serves as an advisor to ARxChange.
Mr. Schochet holds a Master’s Degree in Hospital Administration from George Washington University and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Maine.
Paul O’Neill
Healthcare transactions be they merger, sale or acquisitions are extremely complex and expensive propositions. The Peira Group is very fortunate to have the expertise of Paul O’Neill who previously headed the merger and acquisition activities for Tenet Health including financial,legal and operational due diligence. He was also responsible for the real estate, construction and design, and facility management and oversight of Tenet Healthcare’s international hospitals in Spain and Switzerland.
Paul has also held senior management positions with Tenet Healthcare that included Vice President of Finance and Budgeting, Chief Financial Officer for Physician Services and Director of Capital Management.
Paul has a degree in Communication Science from University of California San Diego and a Master in Business Administration from Pepperdine University.
Ted Schrek
One of the most critical components to any health systems success is experienced executive leadership. The Peira Group is very fortunate to have Ted Scheck on our team.
Ted Schreck is a senior health care executive with more than 30 years of hospital management experience. He began his health career with the St. Joseph Health System (now St. Joseph Health) and at 28 years old was named president and CEO of Santa Rosa General Hospital.
He next worked with Sutter Health as the CEO of Delta Memorial Hospital, followed by a six-year stint as President and CEO of the Eden Township Hospital District. Ted’s next position was CEO of USC University Hospital and Norris Cancer Hospital, Los Angeles. As part of that role, he was named the Senior Vice President of Tenet Healthcare’s Los Angeles Region.
In 2006, Schreck became an independent consultant, most recently with Legacy Health System in Portland, Oregon where his focus has been on improving hospital operations and strategic planning. He has extensive experience in mergers, acquisitions and strategic planning.
Schreck is a graduate of UCLA and received his Masters and Doctorate degrees from the University of Southern California.
Tom Legacy
Tom has 30 plus years of hospital and health system supply chain experience encompassing acute care materials management, contracting and cost reduction implementation. Tom has directed multi-hospital supply chain strategies for a major national health care System covering six states. He additionally designed and implemented an asset management program for a national group purchasing organization (GPO).
Working in multi-hospital health care, Tom has achieved successes in cost reduction implementation, operational performance improvement and multi-strategy system initiatives. He has coordinated national contract compliance monitoring, purchased services and standard contracting modeling. Tom has extensive experience in supply costs bench-marking, supply / equipment contracting, cost reduction management, purchased services contracting, and outsourcing.
Tom has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from University of Maryland and a Masters in Business Administration from Nova University.
Anthony F Pfannkuche, PhD
The availability of quality C-suite executives is a major issues with many health care systems. Anthony Pfannkuche, PhD, is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bridge Executive Corporation a search company offering a wide spectrum of interim and permanent options to organizations needing C-suite leadership.
Long associated with leadership positions in the healthcare industry, Tony has had a successful career in the investor -owned hospital industry and in healthcare financing. He was the founder and CEO of California Care the Blue Cross HMO, which grew to become one of the largest managed care organizations in the country. He was a partner with the international executive search company SpencerStuart and co-founded SpencerStuart’s highly successful Life Sciences Practice.
Tony holds advanced degrees from the University of Iowa and the University of Chicago with post-doctoral studies at the Johns Hopkins School for Advance International Studies.
Sonoma Van Brunt
Sonoma has held executive leadership positions in the areas of strategic marketing, public relations, and business development for the past 20 years in both the investor owned and not-for-profit environment. Her past experience includes Vice President of Business Development for St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, a ministry within St. Joseph Health.
Sonoma is a strong results-oriented leader with a clear understanding of the impact of effective marketing, public relations and business development in the rapidly changing healthcare environment. Her strengths include understanding the customer, relationship building, and identifying opportunities for organizational growth. Her business development skills are augmented by a strong operational/ financial skillset.
During her career, Sonoma has developed programs responsible for service line growth in key departments such as orthopedics, oncology heart/vascular, outpatient surgery and emergency department. She has also handled public relations issues and was the co-architect of a strategic relationship with a renowned academic medical center.
Sonoma holds a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University and a bachelor’s degree in communication from Brigham Young University.