Don Mcdaniel - Biography

Don McDaniel engages with pioneering healthcare firms across the industry, all striving to win in the new health economy. A true market- maker, he focuses on advancing innovation, elevating market positions, and connecting complementary players to disrupt and reshape the industry.

An industry leader and serial entrepreneur with more than 25 years’ experience, Don has experienced healthcare’s dysfunction from many seats. He has launched several healthcare businesses, is a former hospital, health services, technology, and insurance industry executive, and an operating partner for a venture capital firm focused on turning around distressed health plans. Consistent across his diverse background is helping disruptive healthcare companies of all sizes and at various stages succeed.

Don is a seasoned board member, executive advisor, and investor. He is a recognized thought leader and health economist, and a dynamic, entertaining, sought-after speaker, writer, and facilitator. He has delivered hundreds of speeches across the industry, including offering keynote addresses for some of the most relevant industry groups.

Prior to founding Canton & Company, Don was the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Sage Growth Partners, Vice Chairman and CEO of Continuum Health, SVP and General Manager, Consulting of Northrop Grumman Health IT; he was an Operating Partner of Venture Health Partnership Group, and Vice President, Business Strategy with the Bon Secours Health System. He started his career as the founder of a physician practice management company and a partner in a healthcare strategy and information technology consulting firm.

A longtime advocate for education, Don was named the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the Jefferson University College of Population Health, and just recently as the inaugural Health Executive in Residence at the new UCL Global School for Health. He taught health economics and graduate business courses at numerous universities, including an almost 20-year engagement at Carey Business School and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, both part of The Johns Hopkins University.



He loves helping entrepreneurs and leaders innovate with their companies, is an unabashed Clayton Christensen and Milton Friedman devotee, a convicted believer in the power of markets, and committed to disrupting the old order to reshape the healthcare industry.