Kevin Rudd Jr. almost never made it to Recovery Centers of America, where he serves as chief of staff and has been instrumental in the organization’s growth and success. Instead, he thought he was headed to what seemed to be his dream job in Austin, Texas.
Rudd Jr. left a lucrative job at PNC and accepted an offer to be a trader focused on tech assets on the secondary market. “The job had everything I wanted: autonomy to run my own book, cool living environment in Austin, Texas, and opportunities for significant compensation,” Rudd said.
Then he visited the team he would be working with and hung out with them outside the office. He declined to detail exactly what happened, so as not to embarrass another organization, he said, but he rescinded his acceptance and spent the next three months unemployed, living off what remained of his savings.
“Every day I saw my savings dwindle, until I was one week away from having to accept any job to just cover my living expenses,” Rudd Jr. said. “However, I remained determined to find the right company that I truly believed in, and eventually found RCA. If it had not been for the risk of leaving a role because I didn’t agree with the environment, I would not be where I am today. It was incredibly nerve-racking and something I will never forget, but I stuck with what I believed was the right career decision and did not let the allure of financial compensation deter me from my beliefs.”
In 2016, Rudd Jr. joined Recovery Centers of America (RCA), a provider of behavioral health facilities, specializing in substance use disorder and mental health treatment. In his early years with RCA, Rudd Jr. worked closely with the founding team, contributing to numerous corporate and real estate acquisitions, strategic partnerships and capital raises, raising over $300 million to finance the expansion of RCA’s mission.
“During the pandemic, Rudd Jr. played a pivotal role in RCA’s response to COVID-19 by scaling Genetworx, a diagnostic lab under RCA, into a national powerhouse,” the company said. Genetworx rapidly expanded its capacity, sales and reach, providing millions of patients with diagnostic services and securing long-term partnerships with Fortune 50 companies, governments and leading universities.
Rudd Jr.’s track record of success and leadership led to him being chosen as the interim CEO of RCA’s Indianapolis location, where he guided the facility through a restructuring process, realigning its cost structure and turning it from a loss to profitability. As chief of staff to the CEO, Rudd Jr. is responsible for driving strategic initiatives, analyzing new business segments and expanding RCA’s healthcare portfolio.
