Dual board roles at LUNGevity and Acadia Healthcare Jason Bernhard brings three decades of healthcare M&A
LUNGevity Foundation has announced the appointment of Jason Bernhard to its Board of Directors, adding high-level investment banking expertise to the nonprofit’s leadership as it advances research, care and advocacy for people affected by lung cancer.
Bernhard, Managing Director and Global Chief Operating Officer of Financial Advisory at Lazard, brings nearly three decades of experience advising healthcare clients on complex transactions, including cross-border mergers, restructurings, leveraged buyouts and capital raises. His tenure at Lazard, which began in 1997, includes roles as Global Co‑Head of Healthcare Investment Banking, Head of Healthcare for North America and membership on the firm’s Investment Banking and Global Executive Committees.
LUNGevity’s leadership says Bernhard’s strategic perspective and deep healthcare knowledge will bolster the organization’s ability to scale research funding and improve patient outcomes. Bernhard himself described the opportunity as an extension of a personal and professional commitment to improving survivability for people diagnosed with lung cancer.
The appointment coincides with Bernhard’s recent addition to the board of Acadia Healthcare, expanding that board to eight members. Acadia Healthcare, a behavioral healthcare services provider traded under the ticker ACHC, named Bernhard amid a period of shareholder activism and strategic review. New York investment firm P2 Capital Partners disclosed a 7.3 percent stake in Acadia earlier this year and signaled intentions to engage management on measures to maximize shareholder value. Separately, Acadia has been evaluating a potential divestiture of its roughly $1.1 billion U.K. operations acquired in 2016.
Board leadership at Acadia emphasized Bernhard’s industry-specific financial and capital markets acumen as timely for pursuing strategic priorities and long-term shareholder value. The company’s shares have experienced volatility in recent months, including a late-summer slide followed by a partial recovery; they closed most recently at $32.97.
Bernhard’s career began in Merrill Lynch’s Mergers & Acquisitions Group, with assignments in New York, London and Hong Kong. He holds a B.A. (cum laude) and an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and The Wharton School. Observers say his dual roles at nonprofit and corporate boards underscore a growing trend of finance leaders applying transactional expertise to both philanthropic and corporate governance challenges.