With more than 30 years of organizational leadership experience, Robert Palussek brings a wealth of experience to Legacy. Robert is known to be a high-integrity leader during times of transition and change, whether serving in health care organization operations, finance or business development. By setting high standards in terms of the customer experience and organizational excellence, Robert brings both a human-focused and a data-driven approach to his work.  To Robert, managing profit and loss statements and ensuring revenue growth go hand in hand with fostering talent and strategic relationships outside of Legacy.

Robert left a promising career in banking in Germany, to undertake a career-defining pivot to public health upon moving to Florida in 2004. He has worked for the Monroe and Highlands County Health Departments, rising from a management analyst to finance director to COO. His transition to COO for the Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida led him to Houston as the COO of Avenue360. Since coming to Legacy in 2023, Robert has been responsible for operations in our 24 multi-disciplinary clinics as well as 37 school-based health clinics. During his tenure he saw a rise in patients from 200K to over 315K a year, and a landmark electronic medical records transition to the EPIC system. 

Robert has extensive experience with resilience and disaster relief efforts. In 2012, Robert was proud to receive the “Florida Image Award” from the Florida Surgeon General. In addition, he served as Section Chief and Incident Commander during multiple tropical storms and hurricanes in Florida. At Legacy, Robert has proven invaluable in helping manage risk, ensure profitability and provide superior service to patients and partners both internally and externally. Robert believes in advancing organizational culture through the mentoring and coaching of health care leaders throughout their management journeys.

Robert earned his Graduate in Business Administration in Germany, followed by his Master of Business Administration from the State University of New York. Robert lives with his wife, their daughter and their two dogs.