Executive Director for the West Coast Health Alliance

The Public Health Institute (PHI) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being, and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. As one of the largest and most comprehensive public health organizations in the nation, we are at the forefront of research and innovations to improve the efficacy of public health statewide, nationally, and internationally.

PHI was distinguished as one of the top 50 "Best Non-Profit Organizations to Work For" by the Non-Profit Times in a national search.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Executive Director of the West Coast Health Alliance Project Management Office (PMO), housed at the Public Health Institute (PHI), leads the operational infrastructure for a groundbreaking regional public health collaboration across western states. This position requires a unique combination of public health expertise, collaborative leadership skills, relationship-building ability, and implementation focus. The Executive Director must navigate diverse political contexts while maintaining rigorous scientific standards, synthesize complex inputs into actionable plans, and build trust with state health leaders who operate under different constraints and priorities.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who gets things done. The Executive Director must quickly establish credibility with state health officials across red, blue, and purple states, translate shared concerns into concrete regional initiatives, and demonstrate measurable impact. This position reports to the President & CEO of PHI and is accountable to state health officials from participating states.

This is a remote full-time position that is expected to conduct some travel to participating states. This is a time-limited, one-year position with a possibility of extension based on funding availability.

Full salary range for this position: $147,452 to $230,245 per year. The anticipated hiring range for this position is from $200,000 to $225,000, based on 100% FTE. The starting salary is determined using a variety of factors, such as the candidate's knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as internal equity consideration and budget availability.

Employment Type: Full Time

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following:

Strategic Leadership and Alliance Management

• Lead the PMO in coordinating operations across participating western states (initially California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii; potentially expanding to include Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and potentially British Columbia and U.S. Pacific territories)
• Oversee and support state working groups on priority topics
• Develop and execute strategic plans that turn state-identified needs into regional initiatives with demonstrated impact
• Maintain Alliance governance structures, ensuring transparent decision-making and accountability

Operational Management

• Supervise the PMO team including a staff member and consultants
• Manage project budgets, timelines, and deliverables
• Lead planning and execution of regional convenings and summits
• Ensure documentation of Alliance activities, decisions, and outcomes
• Develop and implement fund development plan to resource the work of the Alliance and build a sustainability plan

Relationship Building and State Engagement

• Build and maintain strong, trusted relationships with state health officials, thought leaders, and funders across diverse political and operational contexts
• Conduct one-on-one listening sessions and ongoing engagement with state health department leadership and other key state and local health leaders to understand priorities, constraints, and opportunities for collaboration
• Create and implement tailored engagement plans that meet states where they are and provide multiple pathways for participation
• Serve as liaison between the Alliance and state leadership, translating discussions into action and demonstrating follow-through

Synthesis and Implementation

• Synthesize diverse perspectives, priorities, and approaches from participating states into coherent regional strategies
• Transform ideas and needs identified by states into actionable work plans with clear deliverables, timelines, and accountability
• Partnering with Alliance subject matter experts, support, ensure and help development of position statements, policy briefs, technical memos, and unified guidance documents
• Drive measurable outcomes-not just convening and discussion, but actual improvements in public health practice and policy regionally

Coordination and Communication

• Staff state health official meetings and working groups, managing follow-up and ensuring momentum
• Coordinate Alliance activities with other regional public health collaboratives (Governor's Public Health Alliance, Northeast Public Health Collaborative, ASTHO, STAT Network) to reduce duplication and increase efficiency
• Oversee development of communication strategies and materials that maintain public trust and counter misinformation
• Maintain resource libraries and knowledge management systems

Other

• Perform other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Minimum Qualifications

• 10 years of experience working in governmental public health including experience preferably at the state level or a combination of local, state and federal levels or partnering with state health departments.
• 7 years as a manager.
• Master's degree in public health, public policy, public administration, or other related field; or substitute with a bachelor's degree plus two additional years of related experience.

Other Required Qualifications

Public Health Experience and Credibility

• Significant experience working in governmental public health preferably at the state level or a combination of local, state and federal levels or extensive work closely partnering with state health departments
• Demonstrated understanding of how governmental public health systems at the state, federal and local levels operate, including governance structures, funding mechanisms, and decision-making processes
• Experience working in or closely with federal public health agencies
• Established credibility in the public health field as a leader who gets things done to strengthen public health systems, practice and infrastructure to improve public health outcomes
• Deep understanding of the practice of public health and public health policy

Collaborative Leadership and Coalition Building

• Proven track record of standing up new multi-jurisdictional initiatives or coalitions and driving them to measurable impact
• Experience convening diverse partners or groups of leaders to create new ways of working together
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across different political contexts and maintain focus on public health outcomes
• Skilled at building consensus among stakeholders with competing priorities while maintaining focus on shared goals
• Experience facilitating difficult conversations and navigating politically sensitive topics with diplomacy and strategic focus

Implementation and Execution Skills

• Action-oriented leader with a strong track record of translating complex ideas into executable plans and delivering results in multi-stakeholder environments
• Skilled at managing projects end-to-end, balancing competing priorities, and maintaining momentum across key initiatives

Relationships and Influence Skills

• Strong ability to build trust with senior public health leaders and work effectively across organizational boundaries through influence rather than formal authority
• Highly skilled in navigating political and organizational contexts, managing different needs and points of view, maintaining productive relationships and a focus on evidence-based public health practice

Analytical, Synthesis, and Communication Skills

• Exceptional ability to synthesize complex information, assess policy options, identify patterns across state approaches, and translate evidence into clear, actionable strategies
• Skilled at balancing broad strategic thinking with attention to operational detail, including capability and demonstrated track record to develop novel approaches
• Highly effective written and verbal communicator, producing concise policy and technical materials and presenting complex public health concepts clearly to senior leaders and diverse audiences, including during emergencies or sensitive situations

• Direct experience with multi-state public health collaborations or regional networks
• Experience working on potential key priority content areas for the Alliance such as public health communications, data and data sharing, infectious disease prevention, or emergency response
• Familiarity with strategies and frameworks for advancing public health across a range of settings and populations such as rural, Indigenous, or underserved populations
• Experience with data-sharing initiatives or health information exchange
• Established relationships with state health officials in the western United States
• Experience managing or working within virtual teams and distributed collaborations

FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT (FLSA) STATUS

This position is classified as exempt based on the job duties. However, based on the FTE, salary level of the employee, or federal/state/local laws, the employee may be classified as nonexempt.

APPLICATION INFORMATION

• Interested applicants please attach the following to your application:
• Updated resume/CV
• Cover letter describing relevant experience and approach to leading multi-state collaborations.
• Three professional references (including relationships with you and contact information)
• Please submit your application by 5:00 PM PT on Thursday, February 19, 2026.

The Public Health Institute is committed to a policy that provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and to make all employment decisions so as to further this principle of equal employment opportunity. To this end, the PHI will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are offered employment and employees are treated during employment without regard to these characteristics.

For further information regarding Equal Employment Opportunity, copy and paste the following URL into your web browser: http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf

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We're so pleased the Public Health Institute is an organization you would like to work with. Do you have questions about this opportunity? If so, email our recruitment team at Recruitment@phi.org.

Additional information about PHI's benefits and compensation offerings can be found here.

The Public Health Institute is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Recruitment Team at least 48 hours in advance at Recruitment@phi.org.