David Jarrard

Chairman, Jarrard Inc. Executive Committee

David Jarrard has earned a national reputation for helping healthcare provider organizations throughout the US use their public and political strengths to succeed in high-stakes moments.

During his tenure as president and CEO, the firm he co-founded and led became the nation’s leading strategic communications consultancy dedicated to work that spans healthcare provider’s most challenging communications issues: organizational restructurings, M&A, issue and crisis navigation and strategic positioning opportunities.

Jarrard grew the firm from its four founders in 2006 into a national enterprise with more than 80 employees across 13 states and offices in Nashville and Chicago. During that time, the team served more than 1,000 clients in 45 states. In 2020, Jarrard managed the firm’s integration as a division of Chartis, one of the nation’s leading healthcare advisory firms.

Previously, Jarrard was CEO of political consultancy The Ingram Group, headed Jarrard Ingram Public Relations and was a partner at MPF Public Relations. Earlier still, he served as a communications executive at a national media company. Jarrard began his career as a reporter for Nashville’s daily newspaper, The Tennessean.

Jarrard is a sought-after thought leader, anticipating what lies around the next intersection of healthcare, leadership and strategic communications. He is the author of “Healthcare Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships: An Insider’s Guide to Communication,” written in partnership with Geisinger Health System. A regular speaker at national and state healthcare industry conferences, he is on the teaching faculty of the American Hospital Association’s professional group for hospital strategic planners and communicators. He has served on board of the PR Council (the public relations industry’s agency trade association), the editorial advisory board for Healthcare Insight Magazine and the board of professional advisors of the College of Media and Entertainment at Middle Tennessee State University.

Within the Nashville community, he has served in advisory positions to Siloam Health, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee and the Nashville Institute for Faith + Work.

Worth Knowing:

1. Grew up in the Atomic City near the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains
2. Loves Shark Tank and the business of business
3. A geek before it was cool
4. Connoisseur of live music