I agree it is a nice to have industry experience, but absolutly not necessary.

Further I think single industry experience is a detrement. For example in healthcare (At least in the federal and state hospitals I work in), we are so far behind other industries, that if your scope is so narrow as to only include healthcare, you are missing out. And people with only healthcare experience tend to put blinders on and not think outside the healthcare box. I believe this is the main reason that MUMPS and Cache are still kicking in the healthcare industry (and retarding our data analysis and research efforts!).

Now if only I can get the directors to understand this concept - unfortunatly they to have been trapped in 1 industry so they don't see any issues.

I've worked in several industries and I see the same mistakes made over and over and solutions that could easily be adapted are dismissed as not relevant.

Expand your horizons, look to other industries for solutions and start thinking outside the box!