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SHARON THOMSON

North Bend, WA 98045


808-554-3388 cell
sharonthom@gmail.com


Senior Executive who is passionate about developing and leading high-performance teams to reach sustained levels
of success. Proven track record for development of strategic plans, operational improvements, sales, communications
& marketing campaigns that build brand awareness, enhance revenues, and reinforce operational excellence.


Team Priorities, Inc., Seattle, WA
Principal and Senior Consultant Present
Owner of consultant firm that helps companies create the ability and agility for work teams to thrive in todays
turbulent marketplace. The firm focuses on helping leaders hone their skills through team development workshops
and consulting services using process improvement methods to improve key operational areas. Areas of consulting
services include team development workshops, brand management and marketing, internal communications,
marketing communications, strategy and planning, workflow analysis and improvement.
www.teampriorities.com

Kaiser Permanente, Honolulu, HI
Vice-President, Brand Communications 2010 Nov 2013
The senior executive responsible for the development, protection and promotion of Kaisers brand and reputation
with internal and external stakeholders. Developed an award-winning team for public relations, multi-media
communications, strategic communications, event marketing, community relations, advertising, customer
communications and market research.
Vastly improved brand perceptions for both the health plan and medical group in 13 out of 14 measures.
Perceptions of the physicians and quality of care are at an all time high for members (90% for excellent care
with 96% intent to renew, 90% rate KP as a leader in online access). Quality scores are the highest in the state
for hospital, outpatient care and as a health plan in Medicare, Medicaid and group business lines.
Developed strategic plans and promotion which ensured successful realignment of the product portfolio
resulting in improved membership mix with significantly improved margin results with 30% increase in
business accounts in two years.
Streamlined and revamped all communication tools in support of 6 business lines and 10 medical services.
Led the market research agenda and influenced the entire Kaiser Permanente enterprise to adopt new metrics
for competitive analysis and brand strength monitoring.
Led the executive team to develop Lean principles for process improvements. Developed workflow/project
management custom software system increasing productivity for the division by 30%. Partnered with the
medical group as executive sponsor for clinical improvement initiatives in primary care, pharmacy, inpatient
and ancillary services.
Developed a collaborative team approach across the division, resulting in employee engagement and
effectiveness moving from worst to first in the company in my first year, with continued improvement with
the largest gain in the company in the second and third year. By year end 2013, the division was 19 points
above the company average and among the top 10% of all health care organizations nationwide on 23 of 26
metrics in the Tower Watson employee survey.


Group Health Cooperative, Seattle, WA
Executive Director, Advertising & Marketing Communications 2001 2010
Led strategic development and execution of marketing and multi-media advertising initiatives for the corporate brand
image for one of the states largest health care systems. Developed an award-winning in-house creative team that
produced multi-media advertising and promotions for broadcast, online, print, direct mail, transit, outdoor, and
marketing collateral for B2B and B2C audiences. Directed the performance of external advertising agencies.
Revolutionized brand perceptions of the organization and the medical group elevating it from lowest to one
of the highest quality ratings in the state, resulting in company receiving the J.D. Power award in 2008 and
2010 for health plans in the Northwest, and 2009 top HMO in the country by Consumer Reports.
Tripled awareness of the companys distinctive features to a market-leading 38 percentage points above all
tracked competitors. This includes the move to electronic medical records, one of the first in the country to
seize the early adopter advantage by marketing the benefits of online access to health care and medical
records, resulting in a strong improvements in consumer and provider satisfaction.
Developed the companys first brand report card and ad tracking survey to measure brand improvement and
advertising campaign results against established benchmarks.
Revamped all recruiting materials for HR to be consistent with the companys brand image. More than
doubled the success rate of recruitment of renowned physicians to the medical group.
Collaborated on establishment of brand facility standards and served as senior executive for the brand image
in the design of new and existing medical centers and new headquarters to ensure brand consistency.
Created integrated community relations program by refocusing activities to fewer but higher-impact events,
garnering numerous commendations from civic leaders for social marketing that benefits the community.
Responsible for development of custom work flow/project management system which doubled productivity.
Member of executive oversight team for product development and management for all business lines, and
sponsored numerous operational improvements in outpatient care dramatically raising customer satisfaction.

Project Director and Director of Sales, 1987-2001
Responsible for new sales to business accounts. Hired and trained all new sales and account management staff,
creating job profiles, training programs, sales tools, sales and account metrics. As Project Director, led multi-million
dollar business initiatives to advance organizational performance.
Transformed sales team from lowest-performing team to the highest sales generators in one year.
Achieved 120% of sales target and delivered highest volume of sales in one year by creating and utilizing the
first set of customer-segmented collateral materials for team use.
Integrated 3 separate corporate marketing and sales divisions into one organization with new structure and
led training for 8 new sales directors and 135 account management team members.

Education
Master of Science, High Honors, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Bachelor of Arts, High Honors, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

Professional Affiliations, Past and Present
Board Member of Hawaii YWCA Board Member of Hawaii Chapter of American Lung Association Marketing
Communications Executives International Seattle Chamber of Commerce Downtown Seattle Marketing
Association Puget Sound Marketing Association Bellevue Community College Foundation Marketing Committee
Seattle YMCA Board Marketing Committee Group Health Community Foundation

Advertising Awards
2004 to 2010 National & Northwest Gold and Silver Addys 2005 D&AD In-book status 2005 Clio Award
2005 Cannes Lions Festival finalist 2005 Gold in The Seattle Show 2004 London International Advertising &
Design Awards Finalist 2003 Telly Awards Silver and Bronze.

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