Sharon Carlson
Minneapolis,MN
Summary
Persistent leader eager to design and deliver an equitable healthcare experience for all. Skilled in strategic planning, problem-solving, and communication with good understanding of business principles, project management and team leadership. Collaborative with relentless work ethic.
Overview
19
19
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Associate Director
UnitedHealth Group
08.2021 - Current
- Collaboration with project teams to implement new procedures and critical thinking to mitigate risks that deliver organizational readiness for critical National / Key Account Spotlight client relationships and impacting the healthcare experience of millions of members
- Readiness leadership for customer service migration of 200 agents through an end-to-end system expansion across three distinct member service functions: 1)inbound call delivery, 2) live chat, and 3) new CRM deployment
- Proactively addressing user testing, training, operational readiness, and system migrations to deliver without impact to member experience and ensure service-ready for anticipated member growth
- Product Owner of ECHO (Endpoint Computer Health Operations) which is a technical capability to actively validate employee computer performance, particularly through heavy peak season call volumes
- In 2023, this resulted in a 90% YOY reduction in computers over reboot threshold, 48% YOY reduction in computers issues requiring technical support tickets, 18% YOY reduction in computers with poor wi-fi signal strength, all driving improvement to member service call handle time, reducing frustrations of employees and negative member impact from dropped calls as shown through improved NPS
- Area Product Owner of Customer Trust, $6M capability which ensures benefit accuracy and improved member experience by simulating and automating validation tools to detect and resolve issues prior to any member encountering an error
- Collaboration with the Scrum Team to create analytical frameworks, data models, and relevant insights to validate member impact through machine learning and artificial intelligence tools
- Delivered weekly peak season executive reporting on prioritized strategic initiatives surrounding readiness which covers all aspects of organizational risk and mitigation strategies
- Developing the executive writing skills in others through collaborative coaching.
Business Process Consultant
UnitedHealth Group
06.2012 - 08.2021
- Market engagement with health plan CEOs to analyze Part C and D Star ratings impact, initiate remediation projects, and develop solutions which improved member experience for Medicare / Medicaid beneficiaries
- Analysis of STARs performance from Complaints to Medicare, developed custom automated data visualization tool to improve data accuracy and speed to delivery which enabled repurpose of 1 FTE and capacity to single-handedly serve all 16 Medicare plan markets and keep 91.2% in 4+ STAR plans
- Mentored Culture Ambassador, Diversity & Inclusion, and Learning & Development teams which produced a year's worth of content to deliver development and inclusion goals for the team of sixty employees.
Continuous Improvement Manager
Medtronic
10.2007 - 06.2012
- DMAIC project leadership with high customer and $250K fiscal impact across pre-clinical research / surgical environment
- Trained 200 employees and mentored 9 Green Belts in DMAIC/continuous improvement efforts to reduce costs and implement systematic problem solving, collectively saved over $100K annually
- Collaboratively wrote and edited 235 SOPs within regulatory requirements ensuring compliance with FDA, USDA, IACUC, and GLP regulations, including ISO 13485, 21 CFR Part 11.
Human Resources Manager
YWCA Of Minneapolis
01.2006 - 10.2007
- Leadership to achieve compliance with organizational policies, supplying clarified organizational or regulatory intent and recommending necessary changes
- Created and delivered organizational development and training strategies to produce impactful results in employee growth of 700 employees
- Developed full-cycle, organization-wide recruiting strategy and end-to-end applicant tracking system for improved sourcing, screening, and selection processes.
Education
MA - Organizational Leadership
University of Northwestern
St Paul, MN01.2007
BS - Management
Cardinal Stritch University
Edina, MN01.2005
Skills
- Strategic Planning
- Business Planning
- Program Management
- Change Management
Certification
- Six Sigma Black Belt / Master Black Belt, Medtronic (2012)
- Certified Quality Auditor, ASQ (2012)
- Change Acceleration Process / Facilitator, Medtronic (2011)
Timeline
Associate Director
UnitedHealth Group
08.2021 - Current
Business Process Consultant
UnitedHealth Group
06.2012 - 08.2021
Continuous Improvement Manager
Medtronic
10.2007 - 06.2012
Human Resources Manager
YWCA Of Minneapolis
01.2006 - 10.2007
MA - Organizational Leadership
University of Northwestern
BS - Management
Cardinal Stritch University