Senior Vice President, Health Plan & Payer Services Practice Lead – Jarrard Inc.

About Jarrard Inc.

Jarrard Inc. is a U.S. Top 10 strategic communications consulting firm focused exclusively on healthcare and the unique opportunities and challenges inherent in this sector.  Founded in 2006, the firm has worked with more than 1,500 clients across 48 states and has led communications and political strategy on $75+ billion in announced M&A and partnership transactions. Jarrard partners with healthcare leaders in high stakes moments of growth, innovation, change and reputational/public affairs challenges. 

In 2020, Jarrard Inc. joined Chartis, one of the nation’s leading healthcare advisory firms, and operates as a division under an independent brand. Chartis is a comprehensive advisory firm dedicated to transforming healthcare. With an unparalleled depth of expertise in strategic, clinical, financial, and digital transformation Chartis helps leading academic medical centers, hospitals and health systems, integrated delivery networks, children's hospitals, physician enterprises, payers, and healthcare service organizations achieve transformative results.

Across both Jarrard and Chartis, we are fortunate to have extraordinarily talented people working in our firm – all brought together around our unifying mission “to improve healthcare”, a shared dedication to our core values, and the emphasis we place on creating an environment that enriches the experiences of our clients, our colleagues, and our communities.

Jarrard has offices in Nashville, TN and as part of Chartis has offices in Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Boston. Remote work is allowed.

For more information, visit jarrardinc.com and chartis.com.

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced leader to launch and lead our Health Plan & Payer Services Practice, building upon the work we do today in this space.  This practice specializes in work with payers and health plans seeking strategic transformational change in response to market dynamics. 

Our Practice Leads play a pivotal role in understanding their market area, aligning services and offerings accordingly, growing the business, advising clients, and developing and leading firm talent.  Our work centers on advising c-suite leaders on high-stakes matters related to growth, change and challenge and leveraging the power of communications to support goals in these areas.  The SVP will lead and inspire teams of talented colleagues, eagerly help to set the strategy and actively grow their business, and, in turn, the firm.

Table stakes for this position are a deep understanding of the health plan and payer market segment, how it intersects with the broader healthcare ecosystem, and experience helping these entities evolve and thrive.  Strong written and verbal communications skills, entrepreneurial thinking, project management to include fiscal responsibility, and executive presence.  Additionally, this role will be an important part of the internal practice leadership ensuring profitability of engagements, productivity, skillset development, and coaching of team members.

Responsibilities

CLIENT SERVICE / TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Develop trusted advisor relationships with clients and prospects
• Position the firm to our advantage in engagement conversations
• Confidently lead and collaborate with clients to understand their business objectives
• Manage project teams to deliver successful client deliverables
• Ensure client satisfaction with quality work that is on time and on budget
• Leverage internal and external strategic communications to help companies evolve and navigate marketplace challenges
• Lead and manage client teams to build strategies and programs for clients
• Assemble the right team for client projects, assess team member skills/contribution and coach individuals and teams as needed to assure positive client experience
• Manage project fiscal outcomes through hands-on oversight of budget and team productivity within context of pricing

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

• Identify client service (growth) avenues based on the market environment
• Drive the growth of the practice through relationships with buyers, outbound engagement with health plans and payers, networking, speaking engagements, and thought leadership
• Represent the firm and the Health Plan & Payer Services Practice at networking events and conferences in order to raise firm brand awareness, identify complementary partners, and develop pipeline
• Leverage your professional network to create pipeline for the Health Plan & Payer Services Practice, work in partnership with practice and firm leadership to identify and pursue new business opportunities
• Manage an ongoing set of prospective client targets and engage them in key offerings pertinent to their business or investment portfolio
• Collaborate with the business development team to develop proposals, pitch, and win new business
• Ensure clients are aware of our full set of high-value services where appropriate

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP AND INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE

• Participate in and contribute ideas for firm thought leadership activities
• Stay abreast of the latest trends and developments in the payer sector
• Leverage your deep industry expertise to provide strategic guidance to clients and develop thought leadership content, including whitepapers, articles, and presentations

FIRM MANAGEMENT

• Model and teach best practices in key client and project management
• Actively participate in appropriate firm management meetings and/or discussions
• Accomplish billable goals and help ensure your direct reports do as well
• Contribute ideas for Jarrard University, the firm’s professional development program, based on growth and development needs of your team

TEAM LEADERSHIP AND PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT

• Demonstrate and support Jarrard’s Mission, Vision and Values
• Lead teams of communications professionals, providing mentorship, guidance, and support
• Foster a collaborative work environment, promote professional growth, and ensure the team consistently delivers high-quality work within established budgets and timelines
• Mentor the colleagues who report to you, guide career development using our talent development platform, dedicated team, and resources as the foundation
• Actively help the firm recruit and retain the best colleagues
• Participate in professional development and encourage the participation of people who report to you

Qualifications and Desired Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Communications, Public Relations, Marketing, or a related field
• A Master’s degree preferred
• Minimum of 15 years of experience in strategic communications, public relations, public affairs, government affairs or related roles
• Direct payer or health plan experience is necessary as our clients value our dedication to healthcare with no learning curve on the industry overall
• Experience leading teams and managing projects
• Experience managing a P&L and/or delivering work within a defined budget
• Agency or relevant consulting background experience will be helpful as you navigate the art of client service, competing priorities and team collaboration
• Effective written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex concepts in a clear and concise manner, with writing samples and assignments requested
• Demonstrate problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision-making abilities
• Ability to build and maintain strong client relationships, with a focus on client satisfaction and business growth
• Demonstrated leadership and management experience, including leading teams and driving results in a fast-paced and deadline-driven environment
• Open to occasional firm gatherings, industry conferences, and client projects travel

What you can expect from us

• High stakes work that makes healthcare better
• A collegial, team-oriented and inclusive workplace with understanding co-workers who care as much as you do about participating in meaningful, high quality work
• Encouragement to ask probing questions and openness to new ideas
• Creative problem solving alongside clients who see you as a partner, not a vendor
• Investment in your growth and development via our competency-based talent development platform
• Jarrard has primary offices in Chicago and Nashville with a remote work model in place. Open to candidates from nationwide geography.
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Salary range: $260,000-$275,000 with an annual discretionary bonus depending on firm and personal performance. The salary range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skills, experience, training, licensure and certifications, practice area, and other business and organizational needs. In addition, Jarrard offers many benefits including medical, dental, vision, HSA, FSA, disability insurance, life insurance, 401(k) match, paid time off, wellness stipend, and additional voluntary benefits.

At Jarrard and Chartis, we pride ourselves on having a diverse workforce. We value and celebrate the uniqueness of individuals and the different perspectives the provide. We offer equal opportunity employment regardless of race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability status, age, marital status, or protected veteran status.