Chief Academic Officer jobs in Norfolk, NE

The CEO will report directly to the Board of Directors, which as a Federally Qualified Health Center is required to
have a minimum 51 percent of SCHC patients as members.

Responsibilities
▪ The successful Chief Executive Officer candidate will be committed to SCHC's mission. They will become the
voice and face of the organization internally to the physicians and staff, as well as externally to the
community, local or federal officials and other key influencers or funders where building solid relationships is
essential. The CEO must be a visible and approachable leader, someone that leads by walking around and
getting to know the employees and providers at all levels. Collaborates with other health care and not for profit
agencies in the community to address patients’ social determinants of health.
▪ Will serve as the ultimate guardian of the organization's fiscal health. Considerable experience preparing an
annual operating plan, forecasting, managing balance sheets, budgeting, establishing financial controls, and
mitigating risks. Communicating current and projected performance in a proactive and transparent manner
with leadership and the Board will also be a key responsibility. Responsible for overall organization
performance in achieving the mission of Siouxland Community Health Center in the Siouxland community and
surrounding service area. Ensures that the annual operating and capital budget is met/exceeded without
compromising patient access to needed health care services.
▪ Communicate a clear, concise vision and strategy for the organization, so that all staff, providers and non-providers,
trustees, and donors embrace the vision and feel a sense of ownership. Develop mechanisms to
allow feedback in both directions across all levels of the organization. Together with the board, responsible for
setting the strategic direction of the health center and positioning the organization strategically and financially
for success.
▪ Display disciplined and effective financial and operating management. Programs must be built with the dual
focus of financial sustainability and community needs. They must continually seek new sources of revenues to
pay for existing programs and enable the launch and continued support of new programs or services that can
better serve the community. This includes grants, strategic alliances, corporate partnerships, sponsorships,
and fundraising at all levels. If not already familiar, they must quickly learn FQHC reimbursement and
payment/rates.
▪ The CEO will play a key role in concert with the Board and leadership team in developing short- and long-term
strategic plans, including measurable objectives, plus implementing those plans with fiscal responsibility and
accountability. The CEO will focus on overall operational excellence across all facilities, including delegating
responsibilities appropriately to eliminate bottlenecks and speed decision-making. They should continually
strive to improve the quality of care to the community and most importantly, work to attain the goal that
anyone in the service area who seeks care can receive it, quickly and with respect.
▪ Strengthen and forge new alliances with health care partners throughout the region, creating a more
collaborative approach to providing care to the population and making patients the ultimate focus. Continually
review the scope of the practice, especially in regard to the needs of the community. Expand offerings
strategically.
▪ Gain an understanding of LEAN Management initiatives in place and their impact on operations. Display
strong change management leadership.
▪ Lead the organization to reinforce the culture, which has at its core the highest level of commitment to high
quality health care to anyone in need. Creates and develops a culture that is focused on patient-centered
care, teamwork, transparency, and overall organizational excellence. Bring solid experience in furthering
diversity, equity, and inclusion. The CEO and the leadership team will guide the health center and related
programs and services to achieve operational excellence and sustainable financial performance.
▪ Building a strong relationship and effective lines of communication with all Board members will be a crucial
requirement. The CEO must be willing to listen, demonstrate a strong drive to transform ideas into action, and
know how to drive changes developed in conjunction with the Board.
▪ Develop a strong working relationship with providers, making sure there are effective lines of communication,
their concerns are heard, and paying special attention to removing the barriers to providing care in the manner
the providers know is essential, while also alleviating the pressures that lead to burn-out among providers.
The CEO and leadership team must engage the physicians and all care providers in clinical and operational
excellence. They will lead with integrity and transparency, building strong and trusted professional
relationships with all internal and external business partners.
▪ Operate with transparency and create effective and responsive lines of communication up and down the
ladder. Encouraging greater collaboration and communication across functions will be essential. It will be the
CEO’s responsibility to effectively delegate initiatives to the leadership team and create feedback loops to
make sure proper attention is paid and issues are successfully resolved.
▪ Place a high emphasis on staff training, career development, and retention. The CEO must understand they
are inheriting a talented and high-performing team. Investing the time upfront to understand their needs,
hopes, and ideas must be a priority.
▪ The next CEO must rely on data to make key decisions, creating an environment where the collection and
evaluation of key performance metrics is the norm. Transparency in how decisions are made and healthy
debate on direction should be equally important to SCHP's continued success. Assures overall responsibility
for organizational compliance with all legal and regulatory agencies including the Health Resources and
Services Administration (HRSA) and the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC).
▪ Represent SCHC at local, state, and national levels (i.e., IA PCA {Iowa Primary Care Association}, and
NACHC {National Association of Community Health Centers}), and serve on local, state and/or national
boards, organizations, and committees.
▪ Utilize lean management and process improvement methodologies to achieve the “quadruple aim” in health
care quality. Establishes quality improvement priorities and ensure maintenance of an on-going total quality
management program to obtain the following outcomes:
‒ Improve overall quality of patient care and service delivery.
‒ Increase provider productivity.
‒ Increase patient volume.
‒ Demonstrate operating efficiency.
‒ Positively impact patient satisfaction.
▪ Pay close attention to changing payment and reimbursement models, especially value-based payments, and
Medicare. Have the foresight to track quality of care metrics, working with care providers to impress upon
them the importance of timely and accurate reporting of information. Serve as a fearless advocate at the local,
state, and federal levels to make sure SCHC is getting correct reimbursements.

Candidate Qualifications
Education/Certification
▪ Graduate degree in business administration, health care administration, management, or related field.
Knowledge and Work Experience
▪ Minimum of five years of progressive leadership in a complex, multi-site, multi-functional, mission-oriented
organization with a diverse portfolio. Senior-level experience in an FQHC or community health center highly
preferred. Candidate should have in depth understanding of the challenges facing the typical patient
population of an FQHC and a commitment to achieving health equity for all. Experience in a primary care
facility, not-for-profit healthcare, or human services organization will also be considered.”
▪ Has served as the ultimate guardian of the organization's fiscal health. Considerable experience preparing an
annual operating plan, forecasting, managing balance sheets, budgeting, establishing financial controls, and
mitigating risks. Communicating current and projected performance in a proactive and transparent manner
with leadership and the Board will also be a key responsibility/measurable.
▪ Service-minded with a passion for impacting underserved communities. Recognizes the 24/7 nature of the
role and has displayed the need to be a visible and approachable partner in the community, as well as an
advocate who can raise the visibility and awareness of SCHC's services. A working knowledge and
understanding of current trends, challenges, and issues with health centers, health care, and human service
delivery is important.
▪ Outstanding experience building relationships. Build strong relationships with diverse stakeholders in the
community. Experience in collaborating with health care and community leaders. Identify opportunities to
collaborate and increase engagement with other community organizations to always better serve the needs of
the community.
▪ Strong appreciation for philanthropy and a record of accomplishment of raising philanthropic dollars.
Experience with obtaining and managing federal and state grants is important. Seeks new donors, finds the
capital, and identifies collaborative efforts to enable sustainable programs and services. Nurtures donor
relationships and has demonstrated ability to tell the “story” to a wide range of audiences, creating greater
visibility and awareness at multiple levels.
▪ Strong provider relations with the ability to build confidence, trust, support, and alignment with the provider
partners. An executive that accomplishes provider partnerships through relationship building and not leverage.
Values and respects contributions made by all caregivers.
▪ Track record of developing staff, creating collaborative teams, fostering a culture that embraces service
excellence and innovation, and recognizes and celebrates staff successes. Has created a culture of
empowerment, service, and accountability, plus an environment where employees feel their contributions and
ideas are welcome and can see their impact on the mission.
▪ Stellar communication and presentation skills; diplomatic, with a commitment to transparency. Delivers
appropriate information to all stakeholders in an ongoing, timely fashion and maintains productive
collaborative relationships with all internal and external customers. Creates greater clarity on duties,
expectations, and deliverables.
▪ Success prioritizing strategic initiatives and driving them through to completion in a collaborative fashion. Sets
goals, communicates plans and keeps all on the right path.
▪ Experience with Boards and/or Board committees is strongly preferred – someone who can introduce best
practices in governance and effectively manage Board relationships and support the Board in fulfilling their
governance responsibilities.
▪ A proponent of and demonstrated competency in employing technology to enhance efficiencies,
communications, reporting, advocacy, fundraising, etc. Understands the trends in electronic medical records,
can make information technology work for the organization vs. being led by it.
▪ Served as the voice/face of an organization, displaying gravitas and comfort as the primary spokesperson.
Has committed a significant portion of time to connecting with the community (communications, fundraising,
advocacy). Display empathy for the unique challenges patients face, especially among immigrants and
economically challenged communities. Track record of serving a highly visible role and strengthening the
brand and awareness for an organization.
▪ Knowledge of the healthcare environment in the region and national trends, identifying opportunities and
potential future challenges for which SCHC should be prepared. Nurtures and cultivates relationships with
local hospitals and other care partners in the region.
▪ Knowledge and connection to Iowa would be of great value. Willingness to make a long-term commitment to
the community, live in and become an active participant in community activities would be expected. Should
have the gift of meeting people where they are, not imposing their own values.
▪ Effectively delegates work to staff; clearly sets expectations, trusts individuals to do their jobs and holds staff
accountable for their performance.
▪ Highly competent using data-driven decision-making. Encouraged efforts to strategically track, analyze,
interpret, and communicate program performance metrics. Uses data to highlight efficiencies, improve cross-team
collaboration, and allow the team to devote more attention to providing care or delivering program
services.
▪ Continually focus on board development, engaging thought leaders and functional expertise to strengthen the
board and provide greater strategic, problem-solving and relationship building resources for the CEO.

Full leadership profile available at WittKieffer.com