Trevor Fetter is a Senior Lecturer in the General Management unit. An experienced corporate executive, director, and entrepreneur, he teaches the Short Intensive Program for MBA students entitled The Life and Role of the CEO, plus Leadership and Corporate Accountability, a required course in the first-year MBA program. Trevor is a founding member of the school’s Healthcare Initiative Advisory Board and former member of the Board of Dean’s Advisors. He received an MBA degree from HBS in 1986.
After graduating from HBS Trevor joined the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch in Los Angeles, where he worked with clients in the healthcare, entertainment, and oil services sectors. In 1988 he joined client MGM/UA Communications, a producer and distributor of motion pictures and television programs under the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists brands, as senior vice president, becoming executive vice president in 1990 and Chief Financial Officer in 1993.
In 1995 he left the entertainment industry for healthcare, joining another former client Tenet Healthcare Corporation as SVP. In 1996 Trevor became Tenet’s Chief Financial Officer and served in that role through the end of 1999. Seeking to create a new venture from within Tenet, in late 1999 Trevor and several colleagues launched Broadlane, a company designed to improve the performance of healthcare providers in the supply chain using emerging e-commerce technology. Broadlane was featured in Inc. magazine's list of fastest growing private companies during his tenure.
In late 2002, Trevor was asked to return to Tenet as President. The company was faced with several severe challenges including extensive litigation and investigations. He was named Chief Executive Officer and a director in 2003. Under his leadership, the company grew to $20 billion in revenues (Fortune 500 #134) and increased EBITDA each year during his tenure, expanding margins all but one year in which the company made a significant acquisition. The company employed 130,000 people, making it one of the top sixty employers in the U.S., and had operations in more than 40 states and the United Kingdom. As CEO, Trevor launched initiatives to re-shape the company’s hospital portfolio and to create growth engines in new business lines of outpatient services and business-to-business services in the revenue cycle and value-based care. Tenet’s hospitals that held a #1 or #2 market position went from 60% of the portfolio to more than 75%. The newly-formed businesses each became multi-billion dollar businesses and one of them, Conifer Health Solutions, is the subject of an HBS case study on innovation within large enterprises. Trevor was known for establishing a culture of growth and patient centricity while at Tenet. He launched several initiatives dedicated to providing exemplary healthcare to all, including a “Commitment to Quality,” which transformed the company into a clinical quality leader, and the “Compact with Uninsured Patients,” which was widely adopted industry-wide and praised by patients’ rights advocates. In 2017, under pressure from an activist shareholder seeking to break-up the company, Trevor left his position as Chairman and CEO of Tenet.
Trevor is an experienced public company director. In addition to serving on the board of Tenet from 2003-2017, including as its chairman, he has served on the board of The Hartford Financial Services Group, a diversified financial services company principally in the insurance business, since 2007. At The Hartford, he is the Lead Independent Director and has served on every committee and has chaired the Nominating and Corporate Governance and Compensation committees. He serves on the board of two private companies, Trimedx Inc. and the Santa Catalina Island Company. Trimedx is a company formed by Ascension, the nation’s largest non-profit health system and the world’s largest Catholic health system, and Towerbrook Capital Partners, a leading private equity firm, where Trevor serves on the firm’s Senior Advisory Board. The Santa Catalina Island Company is the historic owner of Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California. Trevor also serves on the board of the Catalina Island Conservancy, a land trust dedicated to preserving the ecology of the island. He also serves on the Board of Fellows of Stanford Medicine, the Smithsonian National Board, and the Founders Council of the United States of Care.
A native of Southern California, Trevor received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University in 1982. Since 1983 he has been married to his Stanford classmate, Melissa, a community volunteer and board leader. Together they were honored with the 2017 Henry Cohn Humanitarian Award presented by the Anti-Defamation League.
This case is designed to provide an engrossing overview of stakeholder capitalism through a vigorous discussion of the conflicts that can arise when trying to serve multiple stakeholders.
In 2007, Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) subsidiary Janssen has to decide whether or not to launch a new opioid painkiller—the first such launch in 25 years—amidst growing concerns about opioid abuse in the U.S.
The (A) case starts with the history of human interaction with opioids, the most effective painkillers known, from the Sumarians through the innovation of controlled release opioids, lead by Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin.
By the time J&J is ready to launch a new opioid, this innovation has lead to increased opioid addiction, complicating the launch decision. Benefits to customers are now murky, employees may no longer feel the company is living up to its Credo, and society as a whole may be harmed.
The (B) case summarizes the fallout of the opioid crisis, and how J&J’s participation in that crisis has affected their brand, and society.
There are numerous restrictions against trading on material, nonpublic information (MNPI)—typically called “insider trading.” This note describes the limitations facing managers and investors as enforced civilly and criminally within the United States.
Fetter, Trevor, Eugene F. Soltes, and Grant Wahlquist. "Background on Insider Trading Liability." Harvard Business School Background Note 320-080, December 2019. (Revised January 2020.)
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This case is designed to provide an engrossing overview of stakeholder capitalism through a vigorous discussion of the conflicts that can arise when trying to serve multiple stakeholders.
In 2007, Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) subsidiary Janssen has to decide whether or not to launch a new opioid painkiller—the first such launch in 25 years—amidst growing concerns about opioid abuse in the U.S.
The (A) case starts with the history of human interaction with opioids, the most effective painkillers known, from the Sumarians through the innovation of controlled release opioids, lead by Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin.
By the time J&J is ready to launch a new opioid, this innovation has lead to increased opioid addiction, complicating the launch decision. Benefits to customers are now murky, employees may no longer feel the company is living up to its Credo, and society as a whole may be harmed.
The (B) case summarizes the fallout of the opioid crisis, and how J&J’s participation in that crisis has affected their brand, and society.
Trevor Fetter, Erik Snowberg and Rebecca M. Henderson
This case is designed to support a lively discussion about the relative merits of shareholder vs. stakeholder perspectives in the context of a company that provides a vital public service that has important environmental implications. The 2007 purchase of TXU, the largest utility in Texas, was the largest leveraged buyout in history. Yet, within seven years TXU was bankrupt. TXU (A) examines the spectacular turnaround of TXU from 2004 through 2007, in which shareholders received a tenfold increase in the share price and the CEO was rewarded with nearly $280 million in compensation in four years. But other stakeholders objected to the company’s strategy of aggressive price increases and building new coal-fired power plants. Amidst growing pressure from regulators, elected officials, and consumer groups the board decided to sell the company to the private equity firms KKR and TPG. TXU (B) covers the period after the transaction and the reasons for the buy out’s failure, including its enormous financial leverage and a “one-way bet” on natural gas prices that exceeded the exposure of any of the world’s largest integrated energy companies.
Trevor Fetter, Erik Snowberg and Rebecca M. Henderson
This case is designed to support a lively discussion about the relative merits of shareholder vs. stakeholder perspectives in the context of a company that provides a vital public service that has important environmental implications. The 2007 purchase of TXU, the largest utility in Texas, was the largest leveraged buyout in history. Yet, within seven years TXU was bankrupt. TXU (A) examines the spectacular turnaround of TXU from 2004 through 2007, in which shareholders received a tenfold increase in the share price and the CEO was rewarded with nearly $280 million in compensation in four years. But other stakeholders objected to the company’s strategy of aggressive price increases and building new coal-fired power plants. Amidst growing pressure from regulators, elected officials, and consumer groups the board decided to sell the company to the private equity firms KKR and TPG. TXU (B) covers the period after the transaction and the reasons for the buy out’s failure, including its enormous financial leverage and a “one-way bet” on natural gas prices that exceeded the exposure of any of the world’s largest integrated energy companies.
Toffel, Michael W., Trevor Fetter, John Masko, and Sarah Mehta. "JUUL and the Vaping Revolution." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 619-068, May 2019.
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