The Executive On Learning To Ask For It, After A 30-Year Career! - Lori Prestesater

The Executive On Learning To Ask For It, After A 30-Year Career! - Lori Prestesater

July 21, 2026 · 31 min

About this episode

Lori Prestesater discusses her career journey and the challenges of leading cultural change in a traditional organization.

LORI PRESTESATER SPENT HER CAREER BUILDING COMPANIES AND RUNNING P&LS. THEN SHE JOINED A 175-YEAR-OLD INSTITUTION AND ASKED WHAT IT COULD BECOME. Laurie McGraw sits down with Lori Prestesater, former Senior Vice President of Health Solutions at the American Medical Association, on the eight years she calls the pinnacle of her career, and the transition out of it. Most people would not describe the AMA as a high-growth opportunity. Lori came from payers, provider groups, and high-growth technology, and took on the work of turning a traditional publishing organization — one that put out books, codes, and data formats — into a data organization. She is candid that the hard part was never the technology. It was culture, change management, and leading by influence rather than authority, including with the physician volunteers who sit nowhere on an org chart. The conversation also goes where most leadership interviews do not: what happens when a woman who worked seven days a week and put herself last finally has to decide what she wants next. In this episode: - Why a high-growth executive chose a 175-year-old association, and what surprised her when she arrived - The CPT code set as…

People in this episode

Host: Laurie McGraw

Guest: Lori Prestesater

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Organizations: American Medical Association, CPT Intelligence

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