Organizational Restructure and Promotions 

CPCA is pleased to announce a new and exciting leadership restructuring within the organization, as well as recent staff promotions. We are restructuring the organization at the top in a way that will maximize and evolve the contributions of our current leaders and also create new leadership opportunities. CPCA has a long history of bringing talented staff into the organization, mentoring them, and challenging them with interesting work. It is through our process of continual coaching and promotion that we have “grown our own” at CPCA and we are working to lead by example. To that end, we are delighted to announce the following promotions and changes within the leadership team at CPCA that took effect on April 1, 2019:

Robert Beaudry

Robert Beaudry is transitioning to the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). In this role, he will focus on business development and external relationships including with vendors, members, the consortia, and other partners including our PCA colleagues. Robert started at CPCA in 2007 as the Chief Operations Officer to oversee the internal operations of the organization. Throughout his tenure, Robert has worked directly with me to diversify CPCA’s revenue streams and helped to increase our total budget to where we are today.

Val Sheehan

Val Sheehan was promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Program Officer. In this role, Val will play a key role in the overall development, strategic planning, service delivery, fundraising, and management of the organization across multiple departments. Val started at CPCA in November 2009 as a Senior Training Coordinator and soon transitioned into higher levels of management and leadership. She moved her way up in the organization going from Senior Coordinator to Assistant Director of Programs, then to Deputy Director of Development and External Relations, and finally, Director of Development and External Relations in 2013. As a Director, Val played a key role in fundraising for major initiatives, led other revenue growth efforts, including membership expansion, and worked closely with executive leadership on organizational positioning and strategy.

Ginger Smith

Ginger Smith was promoted to Vice President of Health Center Operations. In this role, Ginger will continue to play a leadership role in advancing the priorities of CPCA’s members and continue to forge effective relationships with state and federal leaders, provide content expertise on payment and operations issues, and inform CPCA’s policy work. In addition, Ginger will begin to provide more high-touch and proactive engagement with members and partners, will play a more visible role on business opportunity development, and will focus more on cultivating leaders inside and outside of CPCA. Ginger started at CPCA in January 2012 as the Director of Health Center Operations and brought with her 17 years of experience of working in a FQHC, bringing expertise that supports health centers in strengthening their operational efficiencies and transformations. Ginger single-handedly worked with the Medi-Cal intermediary to enact solutions that triggered millions of dollars back to members, enabling many of them to continue operations and not decrease important services or access to patients, and she has been instrumental in advancing the Association’s work around the Prospective Payment System (PPS).

Sandy Birkman

Sandy Birkman was promoted to Vice President of Finance. In this role, Sandy will continue to be responsible for the financial health of the organization by working closely with leadership to ensure that the organization has the necessary resources to meet the goals of our strategic goals. Sandy has been with CPCA for more than 20 years, helping to grow this organization – both in size and budget – as well as consistently delivering a clean audit. Her institutional knowledge and pragmatic approach are appreciated by the membership, our partners, and every employee at CPCA.

Andie Martinez Patterson

Andie Martinez Patterson was promoted to Vice President of Government Affairs. In this role, Andie will continue to heighten the influence our 501(c)4, examine the feasibility of a Political Action Committee, expand her work on priority strategic objectives - including the development of a strong working relationship with the Newsom Administration - and work on the advancement of payment reform in California. Andie started at CPCA in January 2008 as a Senior Policy Analyst for Special Populations and has been promoted six (6) times over her 11-year tenure here. She was instrumental in the development of CPCA’s payment reform work and securing the Governor’s signature on the APM pilot in 2016, and she also oversaw the development and launch of CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates, our (c)4 advocacy organization.

Kearsten Shepherd

Kearsten Shepherd was promoted to Director of Development and External Relations. In this role, Kearsten will be responsible for the work of the Development and External Relations team, including communications, marketing, branding, events, sponsorship, training, grants, and other development efforts. Kearsten will continue to play a strategic role in communications, ensuring that all communication channels across CPCA and CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates are aligned and effective, as well as working closely with leadership on external relations work. Kearsten started at CPCA in May 2012 as the Associate Director of Communications in the Government Affairs department and joined the Development and External Relations team in 2013, taking on oversight of CPCA’s marketing and communications efforts. Throughout the nearly seven (7) years she’s been at CPCA, Kearsten has worked directly with our CEO, Carmela Castellano-Garcia, on external relations efforts and strategically aligning communications.

Andrea Chavez

Andrea Chavez was promoted to Associate Director of Public Affairs and Communications. Andrea joined CPCA in February of 2017 as the Senior Coordinator of Public Affairs working directly with the Government Affairs team and supporting the communications work of CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates. In this capacity, Andrea was responsible for developing and executing communications to including weekly updates, e-newsletters, the annual report, talking points, fact sheets, as well as advocacy alerts. Soon after starting at CPCA, Andrea also stepped in to take over the media relations work for both CPCA and CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates. As the Associate Director of Public Affairs and Communications, Andrea will continue to support the communications needs of CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates, as well as provide communications expertise to the entire organization.

Nataly Diaz

Nataly Diaz was promoted to Associate Director of Workforce.  For the last few years, Nataly has done a tremendous job leading our workforce efforts and has quickly become a subject matter expert in a variety of specific workforce topic areas.  Many external partners have come to rely on her expertise and support, such as the Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development (OSHPD); the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU); our state and regional AHEC partners; academic stakeholders such as UCD, UCSF and our community college partners; not to mention the many member health centers that call on her daily.  This year, Nataly has stepped up to lead her first grant effort by developing the Residency Training and Technical Assistance program, which, in her new role, will be her primary focus.

Shadi Kanaan

Shadi Kanaan was promoted to Associate Director of HOD, Business Development & Clinical Affairs. Shadi joined CPCA in January 2017 in the role of Senior Coordinator of Project Management and Workforce.  Since that time, his role and responsibilities have evolved significantly. Over his past two years he has transitioned to project lead on important organizational initiatives including business development and clinical affairs. Shadi now has a leadership role in regards to the Western Clinician Network, the Clinical Affairs Team and Primary Care Network. Additionally, under Chief Strategy Officer, Shadi coordinates business development opportunities with CPCA strategic partners and contracts management. 

Liz Oseguera

Liz Oseguera was promoted to Associate Director of Policy. Liz started as Senior Policy Analyst with CPCA in June 2016. She commenced her policy career with health centers with a focus on behavioral health including helping us go deeper on the Mental Health Services Act, and broadening our work on promotoras. She quickly picked up special populations, specifically migrant and seasonal farmworkers, and this ultimately led to her leadership on the area on immigration.  Liz’s passion for immigration has been a driving force for the success CPCA has had in this area. Her expertise and commitment is recognized nationally.  Aside from being smart and committed, Liz is a great team player, pitching in and always being willing to go the extra mile. This is evident in her role on 340B and learning a complicated, highly charged issue quickly. As the Associate Director of Policy, Liz will continue to work on immigration, 340B, special populations, behavioral health, and take a greater leadership role in policy and advocacy.

Tiffany Ruvalcaba

Tiffany Ruvalcaba was promoted to Associate Director of e-Learning. Over the past six years, Tiffany has dramatically increased her expertise, skills, and leadership ability transitioning from a Senior Administrative Assistant to the role of Senior Training Coordinator. In April of 2018, Tiffany’s title changed to Senior Multimedia Developer to reflect her growing expertise and leadership related to CPCA’s video production efforts. Tiffany has demonstrated significant self-motivation and initiative to further develop her skills and leadership in a number of ways including joining the HealthManagement+ Alumni by graduating as part of Cohort 9. In this new role, Tiffany will have the opportunity to utilize all of her skills, passion, and creativity to help lead our technology-based training and education offerings into new directions.

Emily Shipman

Emily Shipman was promoted to Associate Director of Health Center Operations. Emily has been with CPCA for 5 years and has made significant contributions to this organization and our member health centers. Emily consistently demonstrates her ability to learn new knowledge and skills as our lead content expert in HRSA compliance, licensing, and enrollment, among other areas.  She seeks out roles and responsibilities which are often more complex than previous work and yet she remains flexible, nimble and motivated as her role and the needs of members evolve. 2019 is already starting off strong for Emily as she begins leading an in depth licensing research project and for the first time, navigating the complicated world of legislative bill conceptualization with her partners on the Government Affairs team.