VICTORIA ASHWORTH
Houston,TX
Summary
Award-winning healthcare marketing and communications executive with more than 30 years of experience building integrated marketing strategies to consistently grow market share. Innovative thought leader known for challenging the status quo and advocating for leading-edge operational and marketing approaches to remain competitive in an ever-changing market. Experience with strong brand development, union avoidance strategies, and launching of new ventures. Visionary leader with entrepreneurial spirit and success in developing strong collaborative relationships with key stakeholder groups and a consistent record of building and inspiring strong teams to drive results, increasing utilization, enhancing engagement, and increasing revenue.
Overview
32
32
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Director, Marketing & Communications
Memorial Hermann Health System
Houston, TX
07.2015 - Current
- Developed and executed comprehensive marketing strategies aligning with business objectives.
- Designed and executed targeted marketing initiatives aimed at enhancing online presence and attracting new patients.
- Directed online reputation management strategies for health system, enhancing star ratings and search rankings. Oversaw initiatives that significantly increased new patient conversions for employed physicians. Achieved a 90% rise in physician review volume post-launch of review requests, with 87% of new reviews stemming from these efforts and 95% rated 5 stars.
- Designed and implemented a comprehensive strategy for direct-to-employer marketing and communication to foster relationships and drive engagement with aligned employers in the region.
- Collaborated with digital team to launch strategies for paid search, paid social and digital display to effectively reach target markets and grow volumes to deliver maximum ROI.
- Provided oversight and direction for the development of a digital engagement campaign utilizing physician experts on health and wellness topics that in the first six months generated 466 new patients and 1,404 patient encounters with a contribution margin of $594,426 to the system.
- Directed cross-functional teams to implement innovative campaigns, driving patient acquisition and retention.
- Collaborated with clinical leadership to align marketing initiatives with organizational goals and improve service offerings.
- Managed budget allocation for marketing initiatives, ensuring effective use of resources for maximum impact.
- Mentored junior staff in best practices for digital marketing, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
- Established key performance indicators to measure campaign effectiveness, facilitating data-driven adjustments to strategies.
- Developed comprehensive marketing plans in alignment with overall business goals and objectives.
- Optimized digital marketing efforts for increased online presence and customer engagement.
Founder & President
Moonlight Gourmet, Inc. (dba Texas Moon Gourmet Toffee)
Tyler/Houston, TX
10.1999 - Current
- Founded the company and designed the launch of the product, which included name and brand development, trademark protection, package design, nutrition labeling, manufacturing, distribution, and effective wholesale and retail sales strategies. Currently operated as a seasonal business to maximize sales while minimizing overhead.
- Successful entrepreneurial venture to create a gourmet candy company to package a family recipe of award-winning chocolate-covered pecan toffee to be marketed and distributed through upscale retailers and website sales. Feature stories on the company have been included in Texas Monthly and Southern Living magazines.
- In its largest year, the company exceeded 10,000 pounds in production and was distributed through upscale and gourmet retailers nationally including notable specialty stores like Stanley Korshak, Central Market, Bering’s, Texas State Capitol Gift Shop and the Bob Bullock Museum.
- Utilizing targeted sales and marketing strategies, the business continues to show 15 percent year over year growth in sales and revenue.
- Awarded 3rd place in Best Candy category at the National Fancy Food Show held in San Francisco, CA.
Managing Director & Founder
Ashworth & Associates
Tyler/Houston, TX
03.2014 - 07.2015
- Strategic Communications and Advertising consulting business designed to offer innovative and effective communications, marketing and advertising services to clients in various industries including healthcare, financial/wealth management and healthcare consulting.
- Led client collaborations to design customized communication strategies and marketing materials that elevated brand visibility and fostered business expansion. Oversaw comprehensive marketing efforts, including branding, creative development, and media placement across various platforms.
- Successfully established new logos/brands for clients in Home Care, Healthcare Consulting and Financial/Wealth Management.
- Effectively provided direction to design and develop new company websites and social media presence, including new company pages on Facebook and LinkedIn with a social media content management plan.
- Directed creative design of marketing materials and advertising placement of print, electronic and digital marketing platforms to grow each client’s business while staying within approved budgets.
Executive Director, System Marketing & Public Relations
Good Shepherd Health System
Longview, TX
01.2004 - 02.2014
- System chief marketing and communications officer reporting to the CEO with oversight of a $3.5 million department budget and 13 FTEs. Responsible for the System brand image, strategic planning, advertising creative development and placement, internal and external communications, media relations and marketing research.
- Introduced an improved branding strategy that hard-wired brand integrity across all Health System entities, ultimately increasing market share from 62 percent to 68 percent to become the dominant market leader.
- Designed and directed an enterprise-wide service excellence initiative that shifted the organizational culture, propelling the System’s patient satisfaction scores from the 76th to the 90th percentile nationwide.
- Envisioned and successfully launched an in-house call center staffed 24 hours a day to provide nurse triage, physician referral, class registration, health information, after-hours scheduling, hospital transfer center, physician office answering service and a disease management program. Through these programs the organization achieved enhanced consumer loyalty with improved consumer perception scores, reduced hospital readmissions of congestive heart failure (CHF) patients by 20 percent and redirected approximately 350 emergency visits annually to lower-cost settings for care.
- Developed and managed communication strategies designed to increase leadership visibility and open lines of communication between leadership and front-line staff that successfully prevented a labor union within the organization.
- Directed the launch of the region’s first medically integrated wellness center, exceeding its first-year membership goal of 1,500 memberships by the second month of operations. The communications and marketing strategy led to enrollment of more than 12,000 members in the first full year, exceeding all projections.
- Managed the System’s internal and external messaging strategy during local, regional, and national media coverage, working with representatives from the Associated Press, ABC Radio New York, Good Morning America, Wall Street Journal, and the Dallas Morning News. Effectively managed and directed crisis communication plans during weather events and system incidents that garnered national media coverage.
- Developed and directed a communications strategy garnering continuity and erected critical support to successfully combat a hostile takeover attempt from a competing for-profit hospital.
- Provided strategy, direction and leadership for the development of award-winning multi-media campaign materials to drive volume to meet service line growth objectives.
- Effectively directed the management of a senior membership program designed to build relationships with the retired members of the community around health and wellness, with more than 2,500 members.
Director, System Marketing
Trinity Mother Frances Health System
Tyler, TX
07.1994 - 06.2002
- Directed marketing and communications strategy for the organization, which included strategic planning for service lines, advertising and broadcast campaign development, media relations, consumer research, event planning and coordination and budget management of a $5 million annual department budget.
- Directed the news conference and marketing strategy to announce the merger between Mother Frances Hospital and Trinity Clinic in 1995, which formed the area’s first integrated delivery system, an innovative model in the healthcare industry at that time. This strategy included directing the award-winning multi-media advertising campaign immediately following the announcement.
- Developed and directed the name/brand design (including ambulances, uniforms and logo) publicity and marketing of a regional EMS system owned by three health systems (Trinity Mother Frances Health System, Tyler; Good Shepherd Health System, Longview; and Memorial Health System of East Texas, Lufkin).
- Directed the communications and marketing strategy including the design of a series of special events and news coverage to celebrate the organization’s 65th anniversary in collaboration with the anniversary of the New London school explosion, which caused the hospital to open a day before schedule in 1937 to care for its victims.
- Executed targeted marketing initiatives to reinforce hospital's position as the area's preferred healthcare provider.
Education
Bachelor of Business Administration - Marketing
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX12-1988
Skills
- Brand development and positioning
- Marketing strategy development
- Campaign development
- Creative and innovative
- Social media strategy
- Strategic marketing
Timeline
Senior Director, Marketing & Communications
Memorial Hermann Health System
07.2015 - Current
Managing Director & Founder
Ashworth & Associates
03.2014 - 07.2015
Executive Director, System Marketing & Public Relations
Good Shepherd Health System
01.2004 - 02.2014
Founder & President
Moonlight Gourmet, Inc. (dba Texas Moon Gourmet Toffee)
10.1999 - Current
Director, System Marketing
Trinity Mother Frances Health System
07.1994 - 06.2002
Bachelor of Business Administration - Marketing
Texas A&M University
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development, Member (2005-2025); National Conference Presenter (2006)
- American Marketing Association, Houston Chapter
- American College of Healthcare Executives, Member
- Houston A&M Club, Member
- Bell Heights Homeowner’s Association Board Member (2019-2020), Houston Greater Heights
- American Heart Association Board of Directors, Smith County Chapter, Communications Chairman
- American Cancer Society Board of Directors, Smith County Chapter, Communications Chairman
- Cattle Barons Gala Committee, Communications Chairman
- Longview Partnership Advisory Board Member
- Executive Media Training & Issues Management
- Crisis & Risk Communications Training
- Studer Group Service Excellence Training
- Ritz Carlton Service Excellence Training