Professional Opportunities

Administration

Position: Vice President of Marketing and Communications

The University of Louisville Physicians (ULP) d/b/a University Physicians Associates (UPA) has a new Chief Executive Officer: Michael W. Bukosky, formerly of the Carle Clinic and Scott & White. He has a charter to re-organize and re-energize the entire organization and is utilizing the executive search assistance of Peter A. Rabinowitz, President of P.A.R. Associates, Inc. UPA is the clinical practice association of the University of Louisville School of Medicine supporting more than 460 faculty members, representing approximately 25 specialties and subspecialties, 600 residents and fellows, 600 plus medical students, and 1100 in support roles; all responsible for the operations of the teaching clinics and primary care sites, as well as the hospital. Axiomatically, the UPA mission is to facilitate and coordinate the clinical practices of the School of Medicine faculty in order to provide comprehensive and fiscally conservative patient care delivery systems that harmonize with the patients' needs, those of third-party payors, and the academic agendas. Additionally, UPA's mission includes fostering research and teaching programs and providing a structure for the clinical departments to jointly participate in managed care and other professional service contracts.

Mike's agenda is to transition the present for-profit entity (UPA) into a not-for-profit organization: ULP, and manage the integration of the professional service corporations (PSCs) into a unified, collaborative, and effective faculty practice group. Doing this will require developing new organizational, management, and operational structures while building the processes and support infrastructure necessary for a truly integrated practice group. The selected Vice President of Marketing and Communications will step into a de novo role where s/he will be accountable for serving as the organization's lead marketing and communications executive responsible for:

Providing counsel and strategic direction for all aspects of marketing and communications, internally and externally
Establishing and reinforcing brand guidelines and logo applications throughout the organization
Developing and implementing marketing plans that attract and retain patients, organization-wide as well as site specific.
Defining and directing all aspects of the marketing operations function
Defining market communications plans and managing their execution
Overseeing and directing all advertising programs to assure a positive view of UPA. This will include managing the relationships with advertising agencies as well as other vendors/clients, internally as well as externally. This is the individual who sets the tone for UPA's creative direction and output and is at the center for all media strategies.
Overseeing the development and execution of all public relations strategies as well as internal strategic communications
Developing crisis communications plans
Designing (with appropriate collaboration) UPA's web strategy
Determining market research activities and metrics to support business decision-making

Because this is a new organization, the premium is on finding an individual with demonstrated ability to develop sustained, productive relationships at all levels of an organization, and who is an agent of constructive change in a culture that values both innovation and service.

Specific qualifications sought include: A Bachelor's degree in business, health service administration, and/or marketing with an advanced degree, specifically in the marketing area considered an added plus. Pragmatically speaking, the selected candidate will be able to show many years of effective marketing success in a healthcare setting, preferably oriented toward the outpatient environment (if from a hospital system). The key element here is familiarity with the nuances and demands of physician-driven environments and the markets they serve: ones dominated by HMOs and capitated insurance plans. Examples of these include: multi-specialty group practices, faculty practices, IPAs, or other ambulatory care settings. This individual will recognize and appreciate that UPA is a large and complex environment and thus be enthusiastic about working in an atmosphere which necessarily calls for managing ambiguity yet effective in getting things done where there is a competition for resources.

This is a marketing job, not a sales role. As such, the selected individual must manifest a balanced manner: be a good listener, calm, mature, thoughtful and articulate, and able to manage "up" and down with grace, tact, diplomacy and authority. Knowing how to sell ideas and how to motivate audiences as diverse as physicians, management, academics, the "general public," etc. is clearly important, also. Needless to say, because of the nature of this environment, a premium will be placed upon being a "shirt sleever," personal flexibility, an innate demanding work ethic, and a sense of humor.

For further information and consideration, please send your resume with compensation requirements, in confidence, to:

April Reilly
Assistant to the CEO
arreilly@upalouisville.org

Posted: 25 June 2010

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