A mission of growth at North Shore-LIJ

As the head of the country's second-largest nonprofit secular health care system, with 13 hospitals, Michael Dowling, chief executive of North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, has aggressively sought to expand his business in good times and bad.

"We decided a long time ago that if we wanted to have a health care system with long-term sustainability and we want to be as good as we can be, we have to invest in people, we have to invest in technology and information, and we have to invest in bricks and mortar," he said.

And invest they have. Close to $1.3 billion of new construction on Long Island is North Shore-LIJ's, and the health system hires 76 people a week. In fact, North Shore-LIJ is the Island's biggest employer, with 29,480 employees. It has also joined with Hofstra University to open a medical school next year.