During Paul A. Gross Landmarks in Leadership Lecture, DeSouza Van Blarincum shares her five principles that define great leadership with students, faculty and College of Health Professions staff

Jackie DeSouza Van Blarincum, VCU MHA ’01, didn’t return to Richmond to talk about leadership in ideal conditions.

“I want to talk about resilient leadership and what it looks like in an ever-changing environment,” said Van Blarincum, president of HCA Healthcare’s Far West Division. “Not leadership when it’s stable, but leadership when the ground is moving as we speak.”

For her Spring 2026 Paul A. Gross Landmarks in Leadership Lecture, Van Blarincum focused on leading in environments defined by pressure, complexity and constant change. She spoke to health administration students, faculty and staff, as well as College of Health Professions and VCU leaders.

For Van Blarincum — who oversees six hospitals and numerous facilities across Las Vegas, Southern California and Northern California — that perspective starts long before the boardroom. A first-generation American, she pointed to her parents’ experiences as the foundation of how she leads.

“From both of them, I learned that leadership starts with character,” she said. “It’s about structure, discipline, accountability, servant heart and really recognizing that potential in others — and to also never give up.”

That mindset carried into a career built on stepping into difficult situations. From helping integrate hospital systems to leading through labor strikes and cultural division, she said the most important lesson has remained consistent: people can do hard things when leaders connect them to purpose.

“When people face this kind of change or this culture that’s fractured, we’ve got to connect them back to their purpose,” she said.

In today’s health care environment, that connection matters more than ever, she said. Leaders are navigating workforce shortages, regulatory pressure, financial strain and burnout — all at once.

“Our job is not to pretend these environments are easy,” Van Blarincum said. “Our job is to help people navigate it with clarity, steadiness and purpose.”

Van Blarincum pointed to her work leading the 18,000-employee HCA Far West Division as proof of what that looks like in practice. Once grappling with low performance metrics, the division improved dramatically after aligning around a shared mission, simplifying priorities and reinforcing accountability.

“Sometimes when teams are under pressure, leaders unintentionally create more stress,” she said. “Resilient leaders, though, do something different. They simplify, they clarify and they align.”

She outlined five principles that define resilient leadership:

• Anchoring on purpose
• Maintaining clarity and focus
• Building disciplined habits
• Creating accountability
• Continuously adapting

At the center of all five is a simple idea: purpose drives everything.

“In the absence of purpose, change really feels like disruption,” she said. “But with purpose, change becomes so much more meaningful.”

Her advice to future leaders: focus on what matters most, make expectations clear and build systems that allow teams to adjust and improve in real time.

“If everything’s important, then nothing truly is clear,” she said.

Ultimately, Van Blarincum said resilience is not built in one defining moment, but through daily discipline and consistent leadership.

“Resilience is not just about endurance,” she said. “It’s about staying connected to your purpose.”