Deanna Banks

Principal

Deanna Banks is a trusted talent advisor with more than 25 years of experience as a human capital consultant and thought leader on diversity. Her practice is comprised of many of the industry’s leading hospital systems, academic medical centers, trade associations, and health insurance and managed government programs (Medicare and Medicaid). Deanna is skilled at partnering and consulting with boards of directors and chief executive officers on executive recruitment and retention, succession planning, and organizational and leadership development.

Her acuity in talent mapping and leadership development make her a valuable asset to her clients beyond executive search, where she is experienced in identifying chief executive officers, chief human resources officers, clinical division heads, chief finance officers and other senior executives. She works with many of the hospitals and health systems that achieve high rankings from U.S. News & World Report, as well as other industry lists.

She continues her mission of leading cultural diversity initiatives by educating leaders and organizations to successfully attract, promote, and retain ethnically diverse executives. Deanna has given presentations on executive development and other leadership topics at the Wharton School of Business (University of Pennsylvania), the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE) and the Bluford Healthcare Leadership Institute. She also serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the PAN Foundation.

Deanna joined Furst Group in 1998 as a Vice President and now, as a Principal, has an ownership interest in the firm. She founded the Washington, D.C., office and is frequently called upon to speak or moderate industry panels. Her extensive background with AHIP (formerly American Association of Health Plans) included the management of two prominent executive training programs in the industry, the Executive Leadership Program and the Minority Management Development Program.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland.

Client & Candidate Testimonials

Deanna Banks

The Furst Group team was excellent to work with. They were knowledgeable, professional, transparent, organized, and available. They took the time to really understand our culture and business model prior to initiating the search and were also very patient with us as we navigated some organizational changes during the recruitment. Deanna and the team's counsel were thoughtful and spot-on. The team was a pleasure to work with. A great partnership!

Deanna ran an extremely orderly process and brought forward a number of well-qualified applicants. She helped manage expectations as the interviews unfolded, and she worked with our team to navigate a complex set of interviews given the number of interviewers involved as well as pandemic considerations. Furst Group's performance was above what I have experienced in other searches.

One of the best searches we have conducted with a search firm in a while. Deanna and the team were responsive—adjusting and pivoting based on changing expectations, feedback, and other organizational factors. The candidates brought forward were strong, experienced candidates, along with some "step-ups" per our request. The team provided honest assessment and insight into the candidates. It was a pleasure to work with Deanna.