Hall of Fame Mentor - Aaron Byzak - The Matt Balaker Podcast

Aaron Byzak is a mentor and body boarder. He’s received numerous accolades for his work in health care and advocacy, including 4 Emmys. He was on the San Diego Business Journal's 500 Most Influential list 3 times. And he’s an inductee to the Carlsbad High Hall of Fame.

MORE ABOUT AARON BYZAK
Aaron Byzak joined Tri-City Medical Center as the Chief External Affairs Officer in May 2018. In this role, Aaron is responsible for the medical center and healthcare district’s marketing, communications, government affairs, community engagement and patient transportation. Aaron also serves as Senior Consultant for Galvanized Strategies, a public affairs consulting firm, and provides strategic business support for Byzak Custom Surfboards and Pure Fun Surfboards, his family's business of more than 50 years.

For more than two decades, Aaron has served in positions of progressive leadership in Emergency Medical Services, health policy, healthcare management and consulting. A well-known advocate in the areas of health policy, mental health reform, assisted living reform and alcohol and drug prevention policy and practices, Aaron is passionately committed to helping those from at-risk backgrounds. He is a prolific mentor who prides himself on assisting others in achieving their dreams. Aaron has taught Strategic Career Planning: A 10-Step Guide to Realizing Your Potential, a program he created, live and virtually to more than 3,000 individuals including college students, healthcare executives, individuals experiencing homelessness and the formerly incarcerated, among others.

Aaron is also founder and chief advocate of Hazel’s Army, a community advocacy and education group that in 2014 helped pass the most comprehensive assisted living reform agenda in California’s history. Hazel's Army's educational program, GreatGen2.0, has worked with educators throughout Southern California to promote intergenerational education through engaging storytelling. Aaron's presentation, The Amazing Life of Wilfred H. Mensching: A True Story from the Greatest Generation, teaches about major events and themes from United States and world history as seen through the eyes of a United States Marine World War II veteran, Prisoner of War and local community leader. That program, initially launched at Carlsbad High School, Aaron's alma mater, in 2015, has impacted more than 7,000 students. In 2019, Hazel's Army published Mental Health Policy and Practice Reform: A Local, State and Federal Perspective, a 42-page white paper outlining 30 needed behavioral health reforms at all levels of government.

He has received numerous best practice awards and national and regional recognitions for his leadership and work in healthcare, public health, advocacy and communications, including four Emmy Awards. Aaron was recognized by the Health Care Communicators of San Diego County with the Communicator of the Year Award in 2017, received the Business Community Impact Award from the NAACP in 2019 and was chosen for the San Diego Business Journal's 500 Most Influential list in 2019, 2020 and 2021, among other recognitions. In 2022, Aaron received the Outstanding Social Responsibility Executive of the Year Award from the San Diego Business Journal and was inducted into the Carlsbad High School Hall of Fame.

He earned his Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Management and Policy from UC Irvine’s Merage School of Business, a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science from Chapman University and an Associate's degree in History from MiraCosta College. Additionally, Aaron earned certificates in executive leadership from Cornell University and hospital and health system leadership from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. He is Board Certified in Healthcare Management as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE). Aaron resides in Vista with his family.