News + Ideas

The Impact Blog is a spotlight series that highlights and celebrates the diverse employees that make MGAC tick. Beyond their day-to-day schedules, we want to know how they have a greater impact on their colleagues, their company, and the communities in which they live and work. We want to know what makes them get out of bed in the morning, what led them to their current role, and what they hope their lasting impact will be.

 Today, we get to know Joe Léger, Director at MGAC.

MGAC: Welcome to the impact blog, Joe!

Joe Léger (JL): Thanks for having me!

MGAC: What’s your role here at MGAC?

JL: I’m a Director with the Technology Solutions group, based out of MGAC’s Seattle office. My role varies from day to day, but I work pretty heavily with healthcare clients. I’m engaged on a number of projects involving new hospital buildouts, technology improvements, and owners’s rep work. Additionally, about a quarter of my time is spent in the business development world. I’ve been in this industry, and specifically in the healthcare space, for more than 30 years, so I have made a lot of connections from a national footprint perspective along the way.

MGAC: And how long have you been with the firm?

JL: It was six years this past December.

MGAC: That’s great. What brought you here six years ago?

JL: I was working at another firm when I got a call from a recruiter, which I typically wouldn’t take. But I was on a long drive between San Diego and LA, so I answered. He shared the role: a West Coast Director for MGAC’s tech group. At the time, I wasn’t familiar with MGAC, so it intrigued me. In terms of my career, I’d come out of the design and engineering world and moved into technology infrastructure, so the owner’s rep and project management aspect was really appealing. So we continued the conversation, I spoke with senior leadership, and after a month or so of really good conversations, I ended up at MGAC—and have been here ever since!

MGAC: You mentioned you’ve been in the industry for more than three decades. Is this always a line of work you wanted to get into?

JL: There’s an interesting story of how I got into this. And that goes for pretty much every member of our technology team—there’s no formal education for this work, no specific degree program. So we all have very unique stores that brought us here.

MGAC: Do tell!

JL: I grew up in the San Diego area and went into the Marine Corps, going to school the entire time. When I got out, I spent a summer working for an IT cabling infrastructure contractor in Southern California. I rose through the ranks quickly and became a project manager. Now, that wasn’t meant to be long-term; it wasn’t what I thought I ultimately wanted to do. But they asked if I wanted to go to the Seattle area and work with Microsoft temporarily. I said yes, and ended up moving up there permanently. This was in ’93. While I was working at Microsoft, one of the design consulting engineers whispered about coming over to the consulting side of the world; that it gets you out of the weeds of construction and into management. And so I made the switch. That was about 30 years ago, and I’ve been doing this ever since.

MGAC: Sounds like you found the right fit in the end. Safe to say your younger self would be happy where you ended up today?

JL: Absolutely. I’d be pretty stoked. I enjoy what I do and it’s so diverse. Each of my projects is highly different. Our group also tends to have multiple projects going at once, which makes for really interesting, never-boring days. That said, I also joke to people that ask what I do that I’m like Chandler on “Friends”—no one really knows what I do. I travel so much for work, and when someone asks on a plane, I probably have a slightly different answer every time based on how in-depth I want to go!

MGAC: Fair enough! Speaking of projects, which are keeping you busy these days?

JL: I spend a good portion of my time at Stanford University Medical Center. I was actually working with them prior to joining MGAC, going on 10 to 11 years now. They’re a great client. I’m working daily on that project and physically there once every two to three weeks. I’m also involved in Cooper University Medical Center in Camden, New Jersey. On the business development front, I’m really excited about a large pediatric care hospital in Texas we’re going after at the moment.

MGAC: All corners of the country! Sounds like no two workdays are alike in your world—but what’s a favorite day on the job look like?

JL: Going on-site is what I like best. Walking around, meeting and communicating with other players, seeing and observing. And sitting in an actual meeting instead of a video call!

MGAC: What do you like best about working in the healthcare space?

JL: Without a doubt, the complexity. The healthcare projects we deliver are some of the most complex of any you could build. There is so much going on in terms of the tech—and it’s all changed dramatically over the 30 years I’ve been doing it. Buildings used to be containers for people; now, they are more and more becoming containers of information. There are lots of wireless, medical systems, and other systems we need to integrate and bring together. What we do really matters, and you actually see your value and output at the end of the day.

MGAC: Absolutely. You mentioned the many changes in healthcare while you’ve been doing this work. What are some of the biggest evolutions you’ve witnessed?

JL: On the tech side, the biggest change over the last 15 years has been wireless in healthcare. Facilities will have up to five, six, seven types of devices in the ceiling that are all wireless. These could be WiFi, patient tracking, telemetry, physiological monitoring. It makes for a really complex environment—and a challenge for us. How do we take all these ugly devices and still help the architectural design team create an appealing healing space? That’s been a big change that’s become pretty mainstream these days.

MGAC: Certainly no small feat!

JL: The other big change that healthcare is on the front of is AI. Healthcare will probably be the most positive beneficiary of AI integration. It’s already proving to be, in terms of how physicians are using it. For example, Stanford has bought into a database that compiles medical use cases. With the help of AI software, a physician can plug a case in front of them into the AI tool, the system helps identify what’s going on.

MGAC: Fascinating. What’s something about your job you wouldn’t have expected when you were first starting out?

JL: When I first started, most of the projects I worked on were pretty local and specific. But once I got into healthcare, I started traveling a lot, especially over the last 25 years. What we do is so specialized and so few people do it. I’m in Seattle today, and could have my next meeting in Florida. It’s more about expertise than local presence.

MGAC: What challenges have you been faced with so far?

JL: Back to when I was doing more design work and helping architects, we were always fighting for a seat at the table. There are the traditional trades: architect, contractor, engineer, and we were the stepchild. Getting space for our equipment was like pulling teeth, because we weren’t part of that traditional lineup. Truth be told, we still have to be tactful about how our work integrates with design. There’s no hiding that we require more real estate, conduits, and cables. All that can feel like it gets in the way of a vision—but these are essential elements of the buildings we work on. Technology is a utility, not a “nice to have.” At the end of the day, if your network goes down, you aren’t working.

MGAC: How do you hope your work will impact your local community?

JL: Working in healthcare, especially designing technology, obviously has such a great impact on communities. Our role really comes in the form of bringing technical expertise to our clients. For example, a lot of facilities don’t know about AI opportunities. It’s very fulfilling to connect those dots. We also spend so much time with these projects. A large hospital, say, will last four to five years from design to the day they go live. When that day comes, we get to see all these tools and technology literally filtering down to the end user: the patient. And that goes for projects of any size. One of the things about our work in healthcare is that we work in very different facilities: from a world-renowned medical center like Stanford to a highly specialized children’s hospital to a hyper-local rural hospital. We recently worked on the Lummi Nation Health Center, the centerpiece of a Wellness Campus serving the Lummi Nation in northwestern Washington State. It was incredible going to the ribbon cutting, and truly feeling like a part of the community.

MGAC: It’s amazing—and inconceivable—to think about how many lives healthcare projects will benefit over time. 

JL: Absolutely. It’s so rewarding thinking about those outcomes. We put a great deal of time and energy into designing various systems and bringing them together, so to see it all play out—and impact real lives—is so rewarding. I was at Stanford a few weeks back in a space that opened a year and a half ago. It put a smile on my face to see all the systems we put into place go into use.

MGAC: It sounds like bringing systems together is a big part of what you do.

JL: That’s right. It’s the integration piece, and someone has to manage all of it. In healthcare, it’s a long journey with a lot of “dress rehearsals” before physicians start seeing patients. We go through a number of scenarios to ensure everything is working perfectly.

MGAC: Very cool. Working in all corners of the country, tackling some of the industry’s most complex work—what gives you energy to get it all done?

JL: I’m naturally a high-energy person to begin with. I’m always on top of stuff, and talk a lot…it’s my disposition. Plus, I enjoy what I do—that helps!

MGAC: How do your days typically begin?

JL: I wake before most people are up and running, around 4:30 am. That might be a military thing. I also like to have a set routine, which begins with going to the gym. (And if I don’t do it then, I won’t go!) Then I read the news, and after that, often start working around 6 am—that does help with East Coast clients. The day always goes fast from there.

MGAC: Early riser! And how do you wind down at the end of it?

JL: Because I get up early, come 3 to 4 pm, I’ll have been working for a while. I’ll start to chill out, listen to music, and get outside. I’m looking at the next day’s calendar, emails, tying up loose ends. I consciously try to have that hour to chill out. Of course, if I’m traveling, that’s all different! It looks like taking a car back to the hotel.

MGAC: Are you ready for some rapid-fire questions?
JL: Sure!

MGAC: Describe your job in 5 words or less.

JL: Diverse. Challenging. Rewarding.

MGAC: What’s your most typed phrase at work?

JL: Integrate.

MGAC: What’s your biggest work goal for 2025?

JL: Same as every year: spend more time doing business development and growing the team.

MGAC: What can you not get through the workday without?

JL: My phone. I travel so much. I left my phone at home the other week, and I couldn’t even get through a few hours without it.

MGAC: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

JL: “You can’t please everyone, so you have to please yourself.” So many people spend so much time worrying about what people think. In reality, you’re probably spending more time worrying about what they might think about you than they are spending actually thinking about you. Don’t try to please people, just do what’s right. That’s what matters.

MGAC: What’s the most unique thing we might find on your desk?

JL: An essential oil diffuser. Someone gifted it to me a couple of years ago. I thought I’d never use it, but I set it up and now I like it. Maybe it’s a placebo effect, but I feel it calms me.

MGAC: What’s your go-to weekday lunch?

JL: Ramen bowls from the local Asian market.

MGAC: Name an industry trend you love right now?

JL: AI. It’s controversial in a lot of ways, and in some cases has negatives, but I’d argue healthcare is the most positive application of AI, and probably always will be.

MGAC: What are you known for around the office?

JL: Probably being a jokester. I’m not very serious; I’m always giving people nicknames and joking around.

MGAC: What’s something your colleagues don’t know about you?

JL: I knew all the presidents when I was 5 years old. I had these little figurines of each and who they were. I don’t know why, but I just memorized them. My parents would show me off when we were out in public! Not sure I can still rattle them all off!

MGAC: When you’re not at work, where would we find you?

JL: Getting outdoors. Skiing, snowshoeing, hiking and backpacking, getting out on the water with friends who have boats, surfing when I’m in California.

MGAC: What’s your dream project?

JL: It wouldn’t have to be in healthcare, but an MGAC project that has every team involved. T-Mobile was like this. A large, integrated MGAC team project. It’s so fun to work with counterparts and literally see how the company operates as one amazing unit.