MHA alum Denise Bowen reflects on the thorny challenges she’s taken on during her 10-year career at Providence, as well as the lasting impact of her dual MHA-MBA degree.
Denise Bowen (MHA/MBA, 2013), Group Vice President of People Strategy & Solutions at Providence Health & Services, is fond of the John Wooden quote, “Never mistake activity for achievement.”
She often applies it to her own work, whether she’s leading teams in human resources, strategy, or transformation.
“A good strategy is one that you can execute, is built on data, and balances both aspirations and practical, tangible results,” she reflected.
In her ten years at Providence, Denise has overseen multi-billion projects, dealt with the blows of the pandemic, and executed a successful flexible work policy. She was recently honored with Puget Sound Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 award for business leaders in healthcare, named a Becker’s Rising Star last year, and served as an honorary coach for the Seattle Storm’s July 1 game.
Denise began her career at Providence as an administrative fellow before quickly accepting a permanent role to cofound an internal consulting team. She recalled, “We were spending millions of dollars externally on consultants and we thought we could do it better, faster, and cheaper, internally. We built out a small consulting team, and we just took on the big, hairy, audacious goals the organization had.”
Bowen and her teams have driven many of Providence’s transformation efforts over the years, ranging from confidential partnerships to efforts to deconstruct the health system while improving quadruple aim outcomes. Through this work, she learned how to execute a data-driven strategy involving diverse stakeholders.
“If you take just one person’s vision, you’re not going to get the best strategy. People don’t buy into what they don’t help create,” she reflected.
She moved from strategy to human resources around the start of the pandemic, which brought a wave of challenges, including acute staffing shortages across the health care sector. Attracting talented health care practitioners is a key priority for Providence, and Bowen realized that a robust flexible work model could help. She cites the development and continued evolution of Providence’s flexible work model, informed by “external research and surveys and focus groups with 35,000 of our caregivers,” as one of Providence’s key talent strategies.
Bowen notes the importance of competing for healthcare talent in support of caring for our communities, “We have significant supply-demand challenges, so competing for talent is really important. As we think about flexibility, that’s a key part of the value proposition to make sure we have the biggest hearts and brightest minds helping us to care for our communities.”
The Impact of her MHA-MBA Degree
Before starting at Providence, Bowen pursued UW’s fast-tracked, dual-degree MHA-MBA program, which allowed her to graduate in just two years and one quarter. Her jam-packed schedule required her to constantly shuttle between opposite ends of campus–and she finished the program one week before giving birth to her son.
She reflected, “I was able to get incredible opportunities, both inside and outside of the classroom, to develop personally and professionally. I love that at UW you’re able to get a very high-caliber education with a culture of collaboration and not just competition.”
She also took advantage of networking opportunities, meeting every Friday with people affiliated with the MHA or MBA programs. These meetings allowed her to test the waters, learn about different career paths, and build out her personal network in Seattle.
Today, Bowen has landed on a career path that allows her to think big-picture and make decisions with a tangible impact.
“I love strategy. I love having variety in my work. And I really love collaborating on meaningful work that supports our caregivers on the frontline.”