Chief Strategy Officer

Versant Health

17h

About The Position

Versant Health is seeking a visionary, results-oriented Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) to join its Executive Leadership Team. Reporting directly to the CEO, the CSO will lead the development and execution of the organization’s long-term strategic vision, growth agenda, and enterprise transformation initiatives. The CSO will advise the CEO and Board of Directors on market trends, growth opportunities, competitive dynamics, strategic investments, partnerships, and emerging healthcare innovations, translating strategic ideas into measurable business results. The role leads enterprise strategy and planning, growth and portfolio strategy, corporate development and strategic partnerships, market intelligence, strategic execution, and enterprise performance. It also provides executive and Board-level counsel, leads a high-performing strategy function, and develops strategic planning capabilities across the organization. The position calls for a leader with strong strategic, analytical, financial, communication, and executive presentation skills and a strong understanding of healthcare, insurance, specialty benefits, or healthcare services.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, Finance, Healthcare Administration, Economics, or a related field.
15+ years of progressive leadership experience in corporate strategy, management consulting, healthcare, insurance, corporate development, or a related field.
Demonstrated success leading enterprise strategy, growth initiatives, and organizational transformation.
Strong understanding of healthcare, health insurance, specialty benefits, or healthcare services.
Experience evaluating strategic investments, partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions.
Exceptional analytical, financial, communication, and executive presentation skills.
Proven ability to influence senior executives, Boards of Directors, and cross-functional stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

MBA or advanced degree.

Responsibilities

Lead development, execution, and ongoing refinement of the organization’s three-to-five-year enterprise strategy with the CEO and Executive Leadership Team.
Maintain a fact base covering market dynamics, competitors, customer needs, regulation, healthcare delivery transformation, emerging technologies, and industry economics.
Assess strategic opportunities and risks, develop recommendations, and present decision-ready alternatives to executive leadership and the Board of Directors.
Direct the annual enterprise strategic planning process and adapt priorities to changing market conditions and business needs.
Partner with Finance to align strategic priorities with financial plans, capital allocation, and long-term investment strategies.
Develop and drive growth strategies across customer segments, products, service lines, markets, geographies, and adjacent opportunities.
Collaborate with business leaders to identify, assess, and prioritize organic and inorganic growth opportunities.
Evaluate opportunities in commercial and government-sponsored healthcare markets, specialty benefits, healthcare services, digital health, value-based care, care navigation, and alternative funding models.
Establish and oversee a framework for deciding when to build, buy, partner, invest, or divest, and maintain an enterprise portfolio perspective on capital and resource allocation.
Develop and manage a pipeline of potential acquisitions, investments, joint ventures, and strategic partnerships.
Lead strategic assessments, business case development, due diligence support, and transaction evaluations with Finance, Legal, and operational leaders.
Identify external capabilities, technologies, and partnerships that accelerate growth, expand market access, or strengthen competitive differentiation.
Support integration planning, synergy realization, and value capture for acquisitions and strategic partnerships.
Build and lead an enterprise market intelligence capability focused on competitors, customers, healthcare trends, regulation, providers, technology disruption, and evolving business models.
Conduct market analyses and scenario planning, and deliver actionable insights to inform strategy, investment decisions, and risk mitigation.
Provide forward-looking assessments of market opportunities, competitive threats, and strategic implications to the CEO and Executive Leadership Team.
Translate enterprise strategy into strategic priorities with defined outcomes, milestones, executive accountability, and financial targets.
Establish governance and strategy review mechanisms to monitor progress and maintain enterprise alignment.
Evaluate strategic initiative performance and recommend course corrections, acceleration, investment adjustments, or discontinuation.
Lead complex, cross-functional strategic initiatives sponsored by the CEO and Executive Leadership Team, promoting collaboration while maintaining leaders’ accountability for execution and results.
Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO, provide objective analysis, challenge assumptions constructively, and clarify strategic choices and trade-offs.
Partner with the CEO on strategic content for Board meetings, executive presentations, and governance discussions; present analyses, market insights, growth opportunities, and investment recommendations to the Board.
Foster alignment across the Executive Leadership Team on enterprise priorities and transformational initiatives.
Build and lead a high-performing strategy function focused on innovation, analytical rigor, and business impact.
Develop strategic planning capabilities across the organization, promote enterprise thinking, influence stakeholders, and champion data-driven strategic decision-making and organizational transformation.