Executive Director, Member and Volunteer Services-NCAL Market

The Executive Director will serve as a strategic leader and visionary for Member Services and Volunteer Services across NCAL, driving operational excellence, innovation, and transformative service experiences. This role is accountable for shaping and executing a forward-looking operating strategy that integrates technological advancements and best practices to elevate the consumer experience and operational performance focused on key measures of success.

With a focus on enterprise-wide consistency and quality, the Executive Director will lead the development and implementation of standardized service frameworks aligned with national benchmarks. This includes defining service standards that ensure a seamless, high-quality experience for members and volunteers.

In close partnership with NCAL Service Area executive teams, the Executive Director will proactively identify and address member and non-member pain points, championing continuous improvement initiatives that reduce complaints and grievances while enhancing satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. This role will also foster strong regional and local collaborations to ensure alignment and responsiveness to community needs.

As a strategic steward of the organization-s mission, the Executive Director will oversee long-term planning, stakeholder engagement, and innovation initiatives. This includes leadership of Person and Family Care Councils to ensure that member and family voices are central to service design and delivery, ultimately enriching the overall consumer experience.

Through A culture of service, NCAL Volunteer Services and NCAL Member Services improve the member, customer, and business partner experience, at every touch point by:

Providing seamless, consistent, and personalized experience.

Ensure strategic alignment and collaboration with Southern California and enterprise Consumer Experience teams to deliver consistent, high-quality service standards and drive unified member and volunteer experiences across all regions.

Partner with The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) to conduct root cause analysis of member complaints and grievances, collaboratively identifying solutions and implementing targeted improvements to reduce future occurrences.

Leveraging new innovations to enhance and transform the member experience.

Delivering expertise in business processes, technology, and project management to guide projects, programs, and initiatives, thereby enhancing business quality and overall performance for our consumers and customers.

Taking time and cost out of our processes while remaining compliant and improving service and satisfaction for the members and our employees.

Assessing and evaluating end-to-end performance metrics to address evolving member requirements and employee expectations.

Rewarding and developing customer-centric future leaders.

Champion a culture of service excellence for all employees, promoting empowerment, recognition, and continuous skill development to foster an environment where every team member contributes to superior consumer and member experiences.

Advance the Ambassador Program, cultivating employee ambassadors who serve as role models of service values and engage others to uphold best practices, inspire pride, and build a network of advocates for member and volunteer satisfaction across the region.

Advance person and family centered care programs to ensure the voices of members and their families are actively integrated into organizational systems, service design, and improvement efforts, fostering a truly responsive and inclusive experience.

• Direct and provide strategic and operational leadership for Member Services and Volunteer Services across Northern California.
• Facilitate the provision of health plan services for members and prospective members through face-to-face contact. This includes addressing member inquiries, requests for assistance, complaints and grievances related to services and clinical care received, claims, sales, enrollments, as well as general billing and eligibility questions.
• Provide strategic direction and input to establish and implement national standards of performance for customer service delivery and quality, and to ensure mechanisms are in place to exceed member, purchaser and regulator expectations. Interface with executives within Volunteer Services and Member Services across all regions to understand the current standards and reach agreement on optimal, legal and contract compliant standards of performance around customer service delivery and quality. Secondly, through direct reports ensure that the operational infrastructure is in place to meet these standards.
• Collaborate and partner with regional leadership including Physician in Chief, Medical Group Administrators, Area Managers, Area Compliance, Area Quality Leaders, Revenue Cycle leaders to support Regional Member Experience and process improvement initiatives, leveraging the Volunteer Services and Member Services organizations and national leadership teams.
• Partner across functional areas and Regions to enhance customer service, operational excellence, workforce and culture development, performance metrics and goal setting.
• Educate and engage with regional medical group administrators from different service lines to influence, demonstrate value and achieve buy in for service and process improvement opportunities identified from Member Patient Satisfaction scores, Complaints and Grievance reports, Voice of the Member data, Member Concern Committee-s and Operational Leadership Feedback to streamline operations, enhance the member experience and reduce costs
• Provide strategic guidance and leadership in negotiating, drafting, and managing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that establish operating agreements/procedures with internal and external stakeholders and customers. Internal SLAs are negotiated with other MS&PI ED-s and VP-s, through determining perspectives and opportunities and agreeing on standards to set boundaries. External SLAs are with vendors, for example, customer service feedback survey vendors and are determined through setting parameters and determining contract specifications. Effectively monitor SLAs to ensure performance standards are met.
• Promote an environment focused on creating value for Kaiser members and patients. Partner with leaders and stakeholders across the enterprise to create/execute strategies and service improvement initiatives aimed at delivering the optimal member experience.
• Providing leadership to director led teams to establish and optimize overall service, quality and timeliness metrics and address issues proactively. Utilize survey data to establish baselines and improvement standards.
• Interact with purchasers such as employee purchaser groups to provide them with information about KP-s member service program. Provide similar information for use of Regulator liaisons.
• Educate and actively partner with staff and stakeholders including the Medical Groups, Health Plan and Hospital Executive/Leadership teams, on member issues and trends, and opportunities to increase member satisfaction.
• Create and deliver presentations around Volunteer and Member Services- operations, regional and local trends and opportunities, and Member Services- vision and objectives to staff and customers, including Senior Executives locally and regionally.
• Develop and adhere to budgetary plans (forecasting impact to budget, managing against actuals, reporting out on variances, etc.). Manage to service and quality goals within established regional budgets while ensuring operational alignment with KP affordability strategy
• Develop service plans through goal setting process and adhere to quality plans provided by CAMS Quality and Risk.
• Manage service and quality goals within established regional budgets while ensuring operational alignment with KP affordability strategy. Identify opportunities for cost reductions; initiate actions to realize these opportunities
• Ensure that performance management and staff development programs are in place and that succession plans are developed. Oversee the work of the Directors to help them identify, plan and develop strategies and activities to support current and future departmental competencies. Develop recommendations that support these requirements, prioritize initiatives and assign resources to ensure implementation.
• Drive the decision-making change and implementation of Member Service improvements with national impact, in partnership and collaboration with other regional leaders.
• Lead efforts to optimize members- experience through initiatives, customer service and advocacy.
• Identify, recommend and implement national strategies for standardization and efficiency.
• Lead, facilitate and contribute to regional committees/sub-committees/forums that address member satisfaction and service delivery; member due process with the functional areas of complaints, grievances and/or appeals; action plans and initiatives across the region to improve the member experience
• Ensure appropriate staffing levels and contingency plans for business operations continuity, including necessary hiring/recruiting and workforce planning across all levels.