Healthcare Private Equity Update with Holly Buckley of McGuireWoods LLP 3-20-26

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast

Episode: Healthcare Private Equity Update with Holly Buckley of McGuireWoods LLP (3-20-26)

Date: March 20, 2026
Host: Scott Becker
Guest: Holly Buckley, Chair of Healthcare Department, McGuireWoods LLP

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Overview

In this episode, Scott Becker hosts Holly Buckley, a leading healthcare lawyer and Chair of the Healthcare Department at McGuireWoods LLP. The conversation centers on recent trends in healthcare private equity, the evolving deal landscape, Holly’s priorities for 2026, strategies for building a thriving law practice, and highlights of the upcoming McGuireWoods Healthcare Private Equity and Finance Conference.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Holly Buckley’s Focus Areas for 2026

(01:37–03:26)

• Busy with Deals: The department is actively engaged with a strong pipeline of deals, reflecting heightened market activity.
  • “It’s great to be busy and great to see some big fun deals getting done and people active in the market.” (02:08 – Holly)
• Annual Healthcare Private Equity & Finance Conference:
  • The flagship event is scheduled for April 29-30, 2026, at the Ritz in Chicago, anticipated to be a fantastic gathering with two days of sessions, a special event at the Museum of Monat, and prominent speakers.
  • “We have two days of sessions... great speakers, great fireside chats, and it's looking like it's going to be a fantastic event.” (02:47 – Holly)
• Department Expansion & Recruitment:
  • Team is growing, notably bringing on Greg Farsham, an expert in lab and health system work.
  • “Just last week we had Greg Farsham, a partner in Chicago, come over and join us... also continuing to deepen our ranks in the life sciences space.” (03:16 – Holly)

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2. Building Culture and Recruiting Top Talent

(03:28–05:42)

• Culture’s Role in Recruiting:

  • McGuireWoods attracts both lifelong members and lateral recruits, which creates a welcoming and high-performing atmosphere.
  • “We have a really good balance of people who have been here for their whole careers... and also having a good pool of people who have chosen to make this their home and have laterally recruited.” (03:58 – Holly)

• Defining Features:

  • The firm emphasizes collaboration, shared credit, and group success, differentiating it from competitors.
  • “Group success contributes to individual success and vice versa... some dynamics that are a key part of how we operate... not existing in other firms.” (04:54, 05:07 – Holly)
  • Firm culture is aligned with compensation and infrastructure.

• Scott’s Perspective:

  • As a veteran with over 30 years at the firm, Scott echoes the sentiment of McGuireWoods being a “wonderful, gracious, great place to practice law and to take care of clients and take care of people.” (05:42 – Scott)

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3. The Current Deal Environment in Healthcare Private Equity

(06:47–08:42)

• Disciplined but Active Market:
  • Activity levels in 2025 were strong, with 2026 on track to be solid, though more selective and disciplined than the frothy 2021-2022 period.
  • “I think 2025 was a really good solid year and I think 2026 is looking really pretty good as well… It's a lot more disciplined, so more selective, more sophisticated.” (06:50, 06:57 – Holly)
• Sector Focus:
  • Growth in tech-enabled healthcare, behavioral health, healthcare IT, and revenue cycle management.
  • Less enthusiasm for specialty physician practice management (PPM), with only experienced groups pursuing such deals.
  • “We're seeing focus on tech enabled healthcare... behavioral health... healthcare IT... cycle management... less focus on... specialty PPM.” (07:34–07:55 – Holly)
• Hold Periods & Exits:
  • Many firms are bringing assets to market after longer-than-planned hold periods, anticipating notable exits.
  • Some deals may pull back, extending hold times, but overall deal quality is high.
  • “Funds who have held assets for longer than they probably initially planned are kind of bringing them to market this year. And so I think we'll see some good exits this year as well.” (08:16 – Holly)

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4. 2026 McGuireWoods Healthcare Private Equity & Finance Conference

(09:09–09:50)

• Event Details:

  • April 29-30, 2026, Ritz, Chicago.
  • Keynotes from Michael Lewis (“Moneyball”) and Abigail Wan (AI speaker/author).
  • Over 1,000 participants including private equity funds, deal professionals, and leaders.
  • “We have keynotes by Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, and Abigail Wan, who’s a prominent AI speaker and also an author.” (09:17 – Holly)

• Contact Information:

  • Holly invites listeners to reach out to her ([e-mail]), Business Development Director Harry ([e-mail]), or via LinkedIn.
  • A few speaker slots remain; agenda is available on the website.
  • “If you do come to the conference, would love to meet with you. Feel free to shoot me a text and would love to carve out some time and make introductions.” (10:02 – Holly)

• Scott’s Note:

  • He will be interviewing Christopher Kersey of Haven Crest Healthcare at the event, promising another highlight for attendees. (10:05 – Scott)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Firm Culture:
  • “It creates an environment where group success contributes to individual success and vice versa.” (04:54 – Holly Buckley)
• On the Disciplined Deal Market:
  • “It’s a lot more disciplined, so more selective, more sophisticated... people are looking to execute on very well and really being very thorough in their plans pre deal during the whole period and heading into exit.” (06:57 – Holly Buckley)
• On Sector Shifts:
  • “People are getting pretty gun shy around [specialty PPM]… it’s tending to be more by people who really know the space and know how they can be successful.” (07:55 – Holly Buckley)
• On Conference Networking:
  • “Would love to see folks there and if you do come to the conference, would love to meet with you.” (09:55 – Holly Buckley)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment/Topic | |------------|---------------------------------------------------| | 01:37–03:26| Holly's top priorities for 2026 | | 03:28–05:42| Recruiting and culture at McGuireWoods | | 06:47–08:42| Healthcare private equity deal market analysis | | 09:09–09:50| Conference details and how to connect/attend |

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Tone and Language

The conversation is collegial, informed, and optimistic, reflecting both the strategic acumen and genuine enthusiasm of Holly Buckley and host Scott Becker. Practical insights are interwoven with professional camaraderie, offering listeners valuable takeaways whether they are investors, advisors, or legal professionals in the healthcare PE space.

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Transcript

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[Scott Becker]

This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and the Becker Business Podcast. I am thrilled today to be joined by an extraordinary leader. We're joined today by Holly Buckley. Holly chairs the healthcare department at Maguire Woods. She has a fascinating practice. She works at the intersection of healthcare and private equity with lots of private equity funds and invest almost exclusively in healthcare. She she also does some magnificent work for hospitals and health systems, for large hospitals and health systems and their projects, their joint ventures and really across the board on the legal needs for large health systems. Holly, can you take a moment to introduce yourself? Then after that we'll talk about really two subjects today. First, what are you most focused on and excited about as we get to the second half of this year or moving into the web the second part of 2020 26? I guess really we're through the first quarter, but through the rest of the year. And then second, what are you seeing in the deal market currently, whether in the private equity space or in the healthcare space? What are some of your observations? Holly, can you take a second and just introduce yourself?

[Holly Buckley]

Yeah.

Thank you, Scott. So as you mentioned, I chair the healthcare practice at McGuire woods is one

of the oldest, most established healthcare legal

practices in the country. And Scott was formerly the chair of the group. Two chairs back and so honored to be in this seat. In terms of what I am focused on right now, I'd say there's probably kind of three things that immediately spring to mind.

One, we are happily busy with some

really great deals and we'll talk more about the deal market. But it's great to be busy and great to see some big fun deals getting done and people active in the market. I would say the

next thing is we have our annual healthcare Private Equity

and finance conference coming up in Chicago on April 29th and 30th at the Ritz. It's looking like it's going to be another great event.

We have two days of sessions.

We'll have another event at the Museum of Monat and we have some great

speakers, great fireside chats, and it's Looking

like it's going to be a fantastic event. So very excited about that.

And the third thing I'd say is

on the kind of department side and that's just continued expansion and deepening of our group's expertise. Just last week we had Greg Farsham, a partner in Chicago, come over and join us from another big established health law group. Greg has expertise in the, in the, the lab space and does a lot of work with hospitals and health systems

and also continuing to deepen our ranks

in the life sciences space. And we're just having some tremendous success on the, on the recruiting front. So that takes a lot of time,

but it's something I'm super excited about.

[Scott Becker]

Thank you. And talk about the recruiting front or because this is, this is common not just in law, but in other areas. What's working well in the recruiting space? Why is the culture that you've built with your team been so attractive for recruiting people to come to McGuire Woods?

[Holly Buckley]

You know, I think it's an interesting mix of culture which I'll talk about in a minute. But I think we have a really

good balance of people who have been here for their whole careers, their lifers that kind of demonstrate that this is a place that people want to be in and are willing to stay at for a long time and make it a home.

And then also having a good pool

of people who have chosen to make this their home and have laterally recruited.

And so having those success stories of

people who have come over here and

have been doing very well along with

the people who have been here for a long time who have welcomed them, I think is part of it. But I think from a culture perspective,

as I go out and I meet

with a lot of people at other

firms, we just have certain characteristics about

our culture that is a constant surprise to people that we're meeting with. And some of that is around how we work with each other, how we share credit and how we approach things.

It creates an environment where group success contributes to individual success and vice versa. And it's very interesting to me as

I learn more about other firms culture as I meet with people that some

of the dynamics that are a key

part of how we operate every day and not apparent and not visible and

not existing in other firms. And so I know that sounds very

vague and high level. I don't want to get into too

many specifics, but it really is a

difference in how we view the world and then how we've embedded our culture

into our compensation systems and other, other infrastructure.

And so it's, it's fascinating to learn about how others do it and I think we, we do a lot right here.

[Scott Becker]

No, I think that's exactly right. And just, you know, from my own perspective, of course, I'm largely a lifer at the firm, been there for 30 plus years, including the firm that we were at before that merged into McGuire Woods 20 plus years ago. And just a wonderful, gracious, great place to practice law and to take care of clients and take care of people, which is what it all comes down to. Can you practice a lot of really high level and take care of clients at a really nice level and work with really good people? So I think you, you hit it really right in terms of some of the attractiveness of McGuire Woods. Let me move on to talk to you a little bit about, you know, the, the deal environment today and what you're seeing. You know, famously private equity still sitting on a ton of exits and a ton of private, ton of dry powder money to spend. You've got both a ton of exits that want to get done, a ton of money that wants to get to get to work and still people having trouble crossing that delta or crossing that chasm to hit that right in between. What do you see out there in the deal world? What's going on in the ped world?

[Holly Buckley]

Yeah, So I think 2025 was a

really good solid year and I think

2026 is looking really pretty good as well.

And I think it's clearly slower than things were in 2021, 2022, but it's a lot more disciplined, so more selective, more sophisticated. And I think we're seeing deals get done and the deals that are getting done, people are looking to execute on very well and really being very thorough in their plans pre deal during the whole period and heading into exit. So I think just in general we're seeing a lot more discipline. I think we're seeing a big focus on uncertain sectors.

We're seeing focus on tech enabled healthcare, we're seeing focus on behavioral health, we're

seeing focus on, on healthcare IT revenue

cycle management and we're seeing less focus

on certain areas like I'd say specialty

PPM kind of really ppm people are

getting pretty gun shy around. There's still deals getting done but it's tending to be more by people who really know the space and know how they can be successful.

And then I'd say we're also seeing

a fair amount of longer hold periods

looking to come to an end.

So funds who have held assets for

longer than they probably initially planned are

kind of bringing them to market this year.

And so I think we'll see some

good exits this year as well. I'm sure we'll also see some exits

that end up pulling back and not

going all the way through and maybe extending the whole periods a little bit longer. But I think we're going to see a fair amount of high quality good deals getting done this year.

[Scott Becker]

That's fantastic, Holly. Fantastic. What you're doing. Tell US Again, the McGuire Woods Healthcare Private Equity Conference is when exactly and who could they get in touch with to learn more about the Healthcare Private Equity conference? I know typically that's in the 22nd or 23rd year, attracts 1,000 plus healthcare private equity funds, deal professionals, leaders, et cetera, et cetera. Tell us again when that is and who people can get in touch with.

[Holly Buckley]

Yeah, so it's April 29th and 30th

at the Ritz in Chicago.

We have keynotes by Michael Lewis, author

of Moneyball, and Abigail Wan, who's a

prominent AI speaker and also an author. If anyone has questions, they're always welcome

to get hold of [e-mail] they're also welcome to email Business Development Director Harry@hbizus

h a m b I z a

s mcguirewoods.com or you can message me on LinkedIn if you don't catch my email address and happy to provide any details. We still have a couple of speaker slots, but the agenda is pretty well baked.

The the agenda is actually live on the website currently and so yeah, I

would love to see folks there and if you do come to the conference, would love to meet with you. Feel free to to shoot me a text and would love to carve out

some time and make introductions.

[Scott Becker]

Fantastic. I know. I'm thrilled to get a chance to interview Private Equity founder leader of Haven Crest Funds, Haven Crest Healthcare Christopher Kersey at the meeting as well and should be a fantastic event. Holly Buckley, again, thank you for joining us on the Becker Private Equity and the Becker Business podcast. Again, just fantastic and great leadership from Holly Buckley every day. Thank you.

[Holly Buckley]

Thank you.

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