Anton J. Gunn
Columbia, SC | 803-361-4597 | anton@antongunn.com | https://www.linkedin.com/in/AntonJGunn/
Functional expertise: Leadership, human capital strategy, strategic change management, health care, and public policy.
Unique value proposition: Elite-level expertise in building a high-performing leadership culture to maximize human capital to increase stakeholder value.
Anton J. Gunn is a keynote speaker, senior advisor, and thought leader with 25 years of experience in healthcare, government, and human capital strategy. Having worked instate and federal healthcare, human services, and management consulting, Anton’s career reflects his global, cross-industry perspective in key business and talent areas. Through his leadership roles, Anton has developed and implemented transformational initiatives focused on human capital, supplier diversity, corporate social responsibility, and health outcomes for more than 20 million Americans. His successful tenure as a senior executive has included roles as a chief diversity officer, presidential appointee, and board advisor across corporate, non-profit, and government organizations.
As the CEO of 937 Strategy Group, LLC, he provides organizational development, human capital strategy, and leadership development services. Anton’s career has been fueled by a passion for helping leaders build diverse, high-performing teams and a world-class workplace culture. His past client list of 240 organizations includes fourteen Fortune 500 companies in multiple industries and four federal agencies. Anton’s forward-thinking insights yielded tangible results in customer growth, employee retention, leadership development, and corporate social responsibility.
Recently, Anton was named one of the Ten Most Influential Minority Executives in Healthcare by Fierce Healthcare. Before retirement, Anton was the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer and Executive Director of Community Health Innovation at MUSC Health System. Anton designed, developed, and implemented the $1.6B healthcare enterprise’s workforce diversity, supplier diversity, and CSR strategy. His efforts resulted in multiple national awards, including Forbes’ recognition as one of the Top Employers for Diversity in America. Under his leadership, the diversity of the C-suite increased to 24% within five years, and 72 new minority suppliers were on boarded. In addition, these suppliers were awarded contracts totaling 51% of the controllable dollars on a $389 million construction project—the largest in the enterprise’s history.
Before his work at MUSC Health, Anton served as a two-time presidential appointee under the 44th President of the United States, Barack H. Obama. Anton is nationally recognized for his critical role as a principal advisor to the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. As a senior advisor and strategist, he helped develop and execute the long-term and short-term customer-acquisition strategy to reach stakeholders on the Affordable Care Act (ACA).These efforts resultedin7 million new health insurance customers in the nation’s first insurance marketplace. Anton has 25 years of board experience, including serving as the current Chairman of the Richland-Lexington Airport Commission. He also serves on the boards of Community Catalyst, Inc., CVMSDC, and the National Black Empowerment Council. He is a former Executive Committee Member of the Charleston (SC) Metro Chamber of Commerce and a former Advisory Board Member of Medicast, Inc., a healthcare technology start-up. Originally from Virginia, Anton has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina, where he played college football. He is also a former Resident Fellow at Harvard University. Anton is the best selling author of three books and has been featured in TIME magazine, the Wall Street Journal, INC Magazine, BBC News, NPR, and Good Morning America. He lives in Columbia, SC, with his wife Tiffany; they have one adult child.