8 lessons I learned while leading the Alliance

Cathy Eddy, Health Plan Alliance

11/07/2016

 

On Wednesday, October 19, 2016 we gathered at the Monterey Aquarium for the Health Plan Alliance 20th Anniversary Gala. It was an incredibly fun night; complete with a walk down memory lane which included reflections from several past and current leaders: 

John Koster, M.D., Founding Board Member
Garry Maisel, 2016-2017 Chair
Mark Brown, 2016-2017 Vice Chair
Sheila Jenkins, 2014-2015 Chair
Lance Hunsinger, 2006-2007 Chair
Jack Randolph, 2004-2005 Chair
Jack Friedman, 2002-2003 Chair
Michael Dudley, 1998-1999 Chair

It was a special evening with special friends, reminding me of how far we have come as an organization. During my comments, I shared some lessons I learned while leading the Alliance over the last 20 years:

• Ask key people for a new opportunity – you never know where a conversation can lead. I got the opportunity and honor to start a national company. 

• Hire when you can afford it. The Alliance has been profitable since our second year of operations and this advice was key to making a margin. 

• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – sage advice, since six of the CEOs of our original eight health plan members turned over within two years and one plan turned over twice. We value the many touch points we have among a wide variety of people at our member health plans and their willingness to share with one another. 

• Professional friendships are special – there was a lot of good ribbing among our past chairs who made comments at the Gala. You could tell that the organization provided them with a forum to build trusting relationships. 

• Family is important and you include them when you can. Over the years, we’ve asked many folks to spend time away from their families to attend our meetings. Often we have members bring along their spouses, children or friends to our meetings and we always enjoy having them join us for the dinners. The Gala was no exception – we really appreciated all of the guests who came along with our members to enjoy the evening with us. I had a couple of spouses tell me how much fun they had listening to the program without knowing the company – what a compliment. 

• The power of asking the customer what they want is a fundamental key to the Alliance’s success. The members have been incredibly open with sharing their needs, challenges, expertise and successes. One of our 11 high priority areas 20 years ago was getting better reinsurance coverage – four CFOs and two CEOs worked with the Alliance to identify a reinsurer that could bring greater value to all health plans than they could get individually. That was our first GPO contract and we are still working with the reinsurer who helped us develop it. Our product portfolio now includes several companies that provide value to the Alliance members and contribute to our ability to provide shareholder and product distributions. 

• When you enjoy what you do, it can be very rewarding – I like to connect people with people and people with information. The Alliance has given me the chance to leverage my strengths in a special way. The past 20 years have gone by quickly and have been a great fit. I really appreciate how much our members are willing to share with one another. Our Value Visits were initiated in 2002 as a way to go more in depth on topics of interest with the people who could apply the information directly in their jobs. Ever since they started our Value Visits have been the most popular activity we have done. 

• No one can be successful without a great team. We’ve built one at the Alliance with lots of talent and tenure. I want to thank these special folks who have supported our members over the years and let you know when they joined our team: 

1998 Donna Dixon, Membership Specialist 
2001 Keri Bloomer, Program Specialist
2001 Patrice Snowden, Program Specialist 
2005 Dennis Bolin, Chief Marketing Officer and Membership
2005 Sara Neese, COO and Programming 
2012 Roe Carson, Business Specialist 
2014 Jaime Gonzalez, CFO and Business Development
2014 Kristin Rodriguez, Chief Knowledge Officer/Knowledge Management and Communications 
2016 Nicole Terranella, Director of Marketing and Communications 

It’s not too late to celebrate our 20th Anniversary with us. I encourage you to visit our 20th Anniversary Hub, watch the 20th Anniversary video and read what our members value most about the Alliance.

My sincere thanks to everyone who has contributed to the success of the Health Plan Alliance and has shared their time, talent and experience with one another. 

- Cathy Eddy, Health Plan Alliance President

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