Chris Pace, Vice President of Healthcare Industry at SearchStax, recently opened up about leaving Banner Health after years on the provider side to take on a vendor role. His perspective on burnout, career change, and rediscovering purpose is gold.

Key Takeaways

Pace’s reflections were so valuable we decided to break our own rule and share five takeaways instead of the usual three.

Burnout Can Lead to a Bigger Impact. Stepping out of provider marketing after burnout can create space to help more peers and patients from a new vantage point. Ask Questions Like Your Next Job Depends on It. Tapping peers who’ve already made the leap can reveal hidden upsides and give confidence to take the next step. Your Title Isn’t Your Value. True career equity comes from your unique skills and perspective, not the logo on your business card. Use AI for Career Clarity. AI tools can surface blind spots and help weigh options with the same rigor marketers bring to campaigns. Community Is the Lifeline You Forget You Have. In moments of transition, support from peers and industry connections can be what buoys you. Not the End of the Road

Provider marketing can be exhausting, but burnout doesn’t have to be the end of the story. Pace admitted, “Man, I was burned out,” after years at Banner and Dignity Health, but he reframed the leap into vendor life as a way to stay empathetic and still help patients. Becoming “that empathetic person on the inside of a tech company” gave him a new path to support peers while still improving access to care.

Use Questions to Gain Insight

When the opportunity to join a vendor arose, Pace leaned on his network. He reached out to peers like Scott Schuster and Jared Johnson who had already made the jump, and asked them a lot of questions about their experience. He asked as many questions from as many people as he could.

Those questions helped him see a consistent theme that would have taken him longer to realize on his own: As a marketer with years of provider-side experience, “you can do more, you can give more from the provider perspective and use the credibility that you’ve earned over the years.”

Stop Confusing Title with Value

Losing a title or a big-name employer doesn’t mean losing your worth. Chris reminded himself (and now the rest of us) that your identity is tied to your personality, your unique skills and your character, not job labels.

“Are you you? Or are you the product you represent? What we carry forward is our uniqueness, our capabilities, and our persona. No one can take that away.”

AI Can Untangle More Than Campaigns

In true 2025 fashion, Pace used AI to aid in his decision-making.

“It is 2025. So what did I do first? I went to ChatGPT and I laid out the opportunities that I had…in some instances, yes, there was a bit of a SWOT, pro-con analysis that was done to evaluate them.”

The answers from ChatGPT and the act of putting his thoughts into the prompts helped Pace arrive at his final decision.

Community Is a Safety Net

Difficult moments often reveal the strength of the people around you. When his time at Banner ended, Pace was stunned by the response of his network: “I think my LinkedIn post of me announcing my departure for Banner will always be the most engaged post I’ve ever had…thousands of reactions and comments. It was overwhelming and emotional, and that to me got me through it.”

What Carries Forward

Pace’s recent experience shows that careers in healthcare marketing rarely follow a straight line. Titles shift and organizations change, but the ability to ask questions, articulate value (even if it’s your own), and building community are skills that carry forward.

In a market where so many are navigating layoffs and pivots, it helps to remember that when the old anchors slip, it isn’t always a loss. Sometimes it gives you the freedom to sail in new directions.

Learn more about SearchStax at https://www.searchstax.com/
Connect with Chris Pace at https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispaceaz/