From an early age, Anthony Coletta, MD, MBA, knew he wanted to be a doctor. He would tag along with his father to the hospital, where the elder Coletta was a pathologist. “I was probably a real nerd, but that’s all I really wanted to do,” he says. After undergraduate studies at Georgetown University and medical school and residency at Thomas Jefferson Medical College, Dr. Coletta joined the medical team at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Considered a pioneer in the development of laparoscopic surgery—a type of surgery that’s minimally invasive to the patient—Dr. Coletta made great strides in the evolution of Philadelphia-area healthcare.

In 1990, he performed the first laparoscopic appendectomy in the Philadelphia region along with the first laparoscopic colon resection that same year. Philadelphia Magazine named him a top doctor in the region in 2009. Realizing that his career as a surgeon wasn’t his entire identity, Dr. Coletta made the switch after 25 years in the operating room. “I decided that I wanted to do a MBA in my early 50s,” he says. “A burden was lifted when I started the program and I knew it was okay for me to leave the operating room.” Dr. Coletta went through the Fox School Executive MBA, and went on to his first role outside of being a physician—chief medical officer and executive vice president at Holy Redeemer. He joined Independence Blue Cross in 2013 where he led the creation of Tandigm Health, currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Independence where he currently serves as President and CEO. “I chose the Fox School deliberately for the quality of the faculty, the curriculum, the international trip in the second-year, and the cost; it was manageable for me since I was paying myself,” says Dr. Coletta. “From my time at Fox and now being in the boardroom, I learned the importance of teams; we are much stronger together.” Over the years, Dr. Coletta has seen the healthcare industry change. The future, according to Dr. Coletta, includes healthcare that’s delivered at the right time, by the proper doctors, and at the right price. He wants to simplify the way care is handled, something he refers to as a big, hairy, audacious goal. “BHAG—that’s actually a term I learned at Temple,” he says. “We’re not shooting for small, incremental goals at Independence; we have to go all out to make the business enterprise successful.” When he’s not troubleshooting healthcare, Dr. Coletta has been generous with both his time and financial resources. His family has endowed the Coletta Family Scholarship Fund at Fox, a business school that he says has been transformational. “Of all of my educational experiences, including Georgetown and Jefferson, Fox was the richest and deepest,” he says. “I just feel indebted to Temple University in terms of the way it helped launch the next stage of my career.”

Temple University Degree
Executive Master of Business Administration ’06, Fox School of Business

Title & Company
President and CEO, Tandigm Health

Temple University Awards & Affiliatons
Generational Leader

What I wanted to be when I was 20 years old
Ever since first grade all I ever wanted to do was be a doctor. Of course, this was influenced by my being around my dad who was a pathologist and always talked about his love of medicine. The only time I wavered was when I was asked by my college advisor what I would do if I did not get into medical school. Actually, the thought never occurred to me! So after some thought I told him I would become a teacher. Teaching is something I still love and has always been a part of my medical and now business career.

Best piece of advice anyone ever gave me
Follow your heart.