Dr. Marion Bergman and Stanley Bergman offer a moving reflection on their journey spanning over 50 years. They emphasize the power of steadfast support and collaboration in their personal and professional endeavors.
Marion and Stanley: More than 50 years ago, we met as students at The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa. In those five decades, we finished our undergraduate education, married, left our home country for the United Kingdom, resettled in the United States, raised two sons, welcomed two terrific daughters-in-law and their families who in turn expanded our family with five grandchildren, and along the way built two satisfying professional careers. Navigating the paths of our lives was only possible through a strong allyship and partnership that encouraged and supported our individual and shared dreams.
Marion: My life began in Johannesburg at a time when the government’s policies treated people differently, and women’s roles within society were narrowly viewed. Though I was raised in a Jewish home, I attended an all-girls Catholic school where humility was drilled into us. We were not encouraged to speak up or to speak out – only to listen. I listened when my teachers spoke but did not necessarily agree with their advice. My family always encouraged me to question what I heard, to do my best, and follow my dreams. I was fortunate to have been empowered by my parents, particularly my father. My early experiences taught me that we must create our own journey. Each person knows what is best for us individually, and we should follow what we know in our heart is right. People will try to tell us what we should or should not do, or what we can and cannot be – especially if one is a woman.
I had no perfect female role model, but I idolized my father and a male cousin who was a medical student, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. I told my father that, if I were a boy, I would apply to medical school. Without hesitating, my father encouraged me to apply. My father believed in my sister and me and motivated us to strive for any goals without restriction. He was confident in my potential and proud of my academic achievements.
With my family’s support, I applied to medical school and was awaiting news of my admission when my father suddenly passed away. Friends and family came over to our house for the week of mourning with us, and it was during that week when I received notification of my acceptance to medical school.
News circulated through the mourning gathering about my medical school admission. A family acquaintance, whom I had never met, told me not to go to medical school because I would be taking the spot of a man who could be a “real doctor.” But with the encouragement of my extended family, I ignored this unsolicited advice, attended medical school, and graduated from the University of Witwatersrand Medical School in 1974.
Stanley: I first saw allyship demonstrated in my parents’ small department store, Eric Stores, in the South End neighborhood of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. South End traced its roots back over a century and a half with people arriving from all over the former British empire and elsewhere. My parents were refugees from Nazi Germany and were welcomed with open arms to South End. No one cared about our family’s background.
My mother and father were a model of allyship and equal partners in ensuring the success of Eric Stores. My father and mother both participated in running the store. My mother was a physically petite woman with a towering personality and key to the fabric of the store, and I learned many lessons from her. One of her most important lessons was, “It’s all about people.” My father was a visionary and community leader. By the late 1960s, South End was one of the few remaining racially integrated communities in apartheid South Africa. Then, apartheid destroyed the vibrant harmony of South End. Neighbors were forced apart, and my parents, friends, and hundreds of small business owners had to relocate to segregated neighborhoods.
My early experiences watching my parents in Eric Stores underscored a second model of allyship in our community, exemplified by the richness of diversity and the fact that one’s life is enhanced by spending time with people of different backgrounds. At a place and time where it would have been easy to follow the well-worn path of white male dominance, I was fortunate to have my parents modeling a more supportive and successful way of life.
Marion and Stanley: We met in 1970, got married in 1972, and decided that although we loved our country, we did not want to build our lives under an apartheid regime. We made the difficult decision to leave our families and everything that was familiar to us, eventually settling in New York in 1976.
Marion: In the United States, I specialized in Internal Medicine followed by a fellowship in Pulmonary Diseases. Our first son, Paul, was born at the end of my internal medicine residency. Two years later, after completing a pulmonary diseases fellowship, I joined a Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care private practice and gave birth to our second son, Eddie.
I considered taking time off to be with our children, but I also wanted to continue pursuing my own career. Stanley encouraged me to not give up on the fantastic opportunities in front of me, and together we committed to doing what was needed to support our family and careers. Although it was not always easy to balance, we made it work because we knew that our lives would be richer by pursuing these dual paths. We learned the importance of leaning into allies and partners who encourage and support each other’s aspirations, including Linda Greenidge, who helped take care of Paul and Eddie, and later Stan’s parents and Lorena Bloom and the Henry Schein team.
Stanley: At every stage of my professional career, Marion has been there to support and encourage me. And I rely on Marion’s counsel as much as any of my professional mentors over the years.
Marion supported me when I decided to leave a successful consulting practice that was part of a national accounting firm to join Henry Schein, which was then primarily a domestic mail-order dental products distributor. When my mentor, Jay Schein, passed away suddenly in 1989, Marion encouraged me to step in and accept the massive responsibility of becoming its next Chief Executive Officer. Marion shared my vision for what Henry Schein could become and encouraged my passion to take on this role. And although she has never been an official Team Schein Member, Marion’s enthusiasm, commitment, and strong support for my goals and Team Schein’s mission have been instrumental in making Henry Schein the global leader that it is today.
Similarly, when Paul and Eddie were born, I knew Marion’s professional dreams and talents as well as she knew mine. I would never have asked her to sacrifice her career goals and dreams, as I believe that in a healthy relationship, each partner helps to facilitate the other’s vision. Following the partnership path that my parents demonstrated, we found a way to make it all work, together.
Marion: As Stanley and I built our careers, we tried to model allyship to our sons. We instilled core values that we had been taught by our parents and mentors, including hard work, mutual respect, and enduring support as we all pursue our dreams and strive for excellence. Our sons have each followed unique educational and professional paths, but both absorbed those early lessons on allyship and are applying those lessons in their lives today. The shared strength that we see between Paul, Eddie, and their spouses, who have had great success in their professional careers, brings us great joy. Even more gratifying is knowing that the allyship model that our sons and daughters-in-law are setting for our grandchildren will carry on for generations to come.
Stanley: I also have seen strong allyship at Henry Schein and have tried to champion this model. Our company was founded in 1932 by Henry and Esther Schein as a pharmacy in Queens. Although the company is only named for Henry, he strongly supported Esther’s leadership position, and the company would never have been the success it is without her. Esther served as “bookkeeper” for the company in an era before computers and worked hard for nearly five decades. Although this may be hyperbole, with only her Waterman pen and on-the-job acquired knowledge of the business, Esther did the work of what would eventually become a team of 20 accountants – including Jim Breslawski, a 44-year Team Schein veteran and now President of Henry Schein, Inc. – and $5 million in computer hardware.
The founders passed the reins of leadership to their sons, Marvin and Jay. We formalized these tenets in the early 1990s as our Team Schein Values.
TEAM SHEIN VALUES
EACH PERSON IS AS
IMPORTANT AS THE NEXT
PEOPLE ARE
OUR GREATEST ASSET
ADVANCE DIVERSITY
AND INCLUSION
RECOGNIZE AND
ENCOURAGE CREATIVITY
COMMUNICATE
OPENLY
ACT ETHICALLY
BEHAVE AS A RESPONSIBLE
CORPORATE CITIZIN
BEHAVE AS A RESPONSIBLE
CORPORATE CITIZIN
These values underscore the strong allyship model within Team Schein and the partnership we feel with our core constituencies – our customers, supplier partners, investors, and society.
At Henry Schein, we have gone even further to establish a strong foundation for support, mentorship, and allyship. In 2017, we launched several Employee Resource Groups, the first of which was our Women’s Leadership Network (WLN). WLN encourages the professional development of women throughout Henry Schein, giving Team Schein Members the opportunity to network, share perspectives, provide mentorship, and develop a new generation of female leaders at our company. WLN membership is not limited to women; in fact, Chris Pendergast, our Chief Technology Officer, serves as an adviser to WLN and has been a member of the Girl Scouts. Chris, the father of one daughter and one son, is eager to be an ally and help women at Henry Schein enhance their professional skills.
Team Schein Members can easily find professional role models who are women on our Board of Directors, our Executive Management Committee, and throughout our senior leadership around the world. We also have a strong mentorship program at Henry Schein, and it is my privilege to have mentored two rising Team Schein stars – Yvonne Smith (Vice President of Global Manufacturing) and Nicole Richards (Vice President of our Global Project Management Office). And we are strong supporters of professional organizations that advance leadership opportunities for women in the dental and medical fields. The road the latest generation of female health care professionals is traveling has been paved by pioneers like Marion and so many others who followed their dreams despite the challenges. Marion has also participated in many WLN meetings.
Marion: As an action-oriented and pragmatic person, leadership to me means understanding what the needs are in various situations, how I might best contribute, and being ready to play a variety of roles to get the job done. Throughout my career, I have played various roles that enabled me to contribute where I saw a need. A modern career path in health care or any other field often resembles a winding road rather than a straight highway. Playing multiple roles makes us better-rounded individuals, builds confidence, and makes life more interesting. We can have many careers within our lifetime if we remain flexible.
With this context, after practicing medicine for 25 years, I wanted to shift career focus from treating individual patients to improving public health in underserved communities on a global scale. After earning my master’s degree in public administration in 2006, I moved into the non-profit field in 2013 on a full-time voluntary basis. I now sit on several boards, including the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and Physicians for Human Rights, and I direct Global Healthcare projects for MCW Global, an NGO co-founded by our son Eddie in 1999. MCW’s work includes leadership training and helping to improve the state of oral health by building the capacity of oral health providers in underserved areas. We primarily do our oral health care work in Tanzania, a country of 55 million people with only one dentist for every 125,000 people. By comparison, in the United States, there are 60 dentists for every 100,000 people. It is especially fulfilling to be involved in this important work with my family and colleagues. And on a personal level, it is wonderful to see that the allyship Eddie provides at home is mirrored throughout MCW. Over the span of my career, it has been heartening to see more and more women taking leadership roles in all aspects of health care, including medicine, dentistry, academia, government, and industry. Women in health care share bonds as women and as members of the healthcare field. We are using our expertise and talents to make important contributions. Whatever path we choose, we should connect, partner, and work together to achieve more than any of us could achieve alone. And we should find strong allies and partners – as I found in Stanley – to support each other’s dreams because that is essential on the path to success.
Dr. Marion Bergman was born and educated in South Africa and practiced Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care in Patchogue, New York for 33 years. During this time, she directed Brookhaven Memorial Hospital’s Respiratory Care Services and served a term as Medical Staff President. In addition, Marion regularly mentored medical and international students and, along with her family, provided scholarship support for South African Health professionals from underprivileged backgrounds. As an advocate for rural health and development in the developing world, Marion now directs Global Healthcare projects for MCW Global. In this capacity, Marion has played a leadership role in improving the state of oral health and building the capacity of health professionals in Tanzania.
Since 1989, Stanley M. Bergman has been Chairman of the Board and CEO of Henry Schein, Inc., a Fortune 500® company and the world’s largest provider of health care products and services
to office-based dental and medical practitioners, with more than 25,000 Team Schein Members worldwide and operations or affiliates in 33 countries and territories. Henry Schein is a member of the S&P 500® index. In 2023, the Company’s sales reached $12.3 billion. Henry Schein has earned a top score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index since 2015. Stanley
is the recipient of Honorary Doctorates from The University of the Witwatersrand, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Western University of Health Sciences, Hofstra University, A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, Case Western Reserve University, and Farmingdale State College (SUNY); Honorary Fellowships from King’s College London – Dental Institute and the International College of Dentists; and an Honorary Member of ADA. Stanley is a graduate of The University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, and is a South African Chartered Accountant and a NYS Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Marion, Stanley, and their family are active supporters of organizations fostering the arts, higher education, cultural diversity and grassroots health care and sustainable entrepreneurial economic development initiatives in the United States, Africa and other developing regions of the world.
