Payer leaders need a flexible mindset, data know-how and big-picture thinking to succeed in 2025, according to more than a dozen executives.
Becker’s reached out to 17 executives to learn what underrated skills set the best leaders apart.
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Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What’s the most underrated skill payer leaders need right now?
Abdou Bah. Chief Health Equity Officer at EmblemHealth: One of the most underrated leadership skills for payer leaders today is big thinking. Every step in an individual’s health journey is an opportunity to prevent disease and foster wellness, prevention and better health. That requires leaders to continue to reassess what works, what doesn’t, and why. For example, our community diabetes wellness program was designed to address disproportionately high rates of diabetes in the Bronx. We offer free A1C screenings, prevention and management programs, and ongoing wellness classes. As this program rolled out, we learned firsthand that a major barrier to diabetes improvement was food insecurity. That caused us to step back, partner with community-based organizations, and try to address this problem. It also caused us to increase the program’s emphasis on food, meal planning, and reducing stress. Our role as a community-focused plan is to understand the environments that our members work in and take action to support them. Enlarging the aperture of focus is the key to true population health management.
Hillary Galyean. Chief Growth Officer at St. Luke’s Health Plan: One of the most underrated skills payer leaders need right now is systems thinking — the ability to see how decisions ripple across the entire healthcare ecosystem.
At St. Luke’s, as an integrated health system, this is especially critical. Every payer decision impacts care delivery, provider workflows, and ultimately, patient outcomes. But because so many of us have worked in fragmented environments, this mindset isn’t always second nature.
To succeed in integrated models, we have to think beyond our silo — aligning incentives, anticipating downstream effects, and designing solutions that work across the full continuum. It’s not just strategic; it’s essential for delivering sustainable value.
Chris Gay. CEO at Evry Health: Change management. We need more honest and hard conversations with the public. Investments and innovation will fail under public scrutiny if leaders can’t communicate to everyday citizens how and why it improves patient outcomes and population health. Payers must focus on transforming decades-old business models while rebuilding the trust many have lost as a direct result of years spent underserving. It’s time to move from cost-shifting to care-investing, while having honest and hard conversations with the public.
Bethany Irvin. Senior Director, Pharmacy Partnerships and Transformation at Blue Shield of California: With the ever-changing healthcare landscape, it’s essential that health plans exercise agile mindsets and stay attentive to market dynamics. At Blue Shield of California, we continue to drive towards our goals through innovative approaches in providing members with affordable access to prescription drugs. In order to do this, being able to pivot in near-real time is critical, as the pharmacy supply chain is constantly evolving — and leading your teams to move forward with that flexibility and creativity is key.
Melanie Fernando. Chief Operating Officer at Aetna Better Health of Illinois: One of the most underrated, yet essential skills for today’s payer leaders is the ability to think systemically while staying grounded in execution. In Medicaid, where health equity, fiscal responsibility, and member trust intersect daily, leaders must connect dots across data, policy, and human experience. That means pairing analytical fluency with emotional intelligence, not just to understand complex ecosystems, but to navigate them with clarity and compassion. At Aetna Better Health of Illinois, we prioritize adaptive thinking, data driven problem solving, and a relentless focus on outcomes that matter most to the communities we serve. The leaders who thrive in 2025 and beyond won’t just react to change, they’ll architect it.
Todd May, MD. Vice President and Medical Director at Health Net, Centene: In today’s shifting healthcare landscape, leadership takes more than steadiness — it takes heart and agility. Health plans were once like ocean liners: steady and built for the long haul. But now, we’re learning to move more like speedboats — nimble, responsive and driven by innovation. While the future brings uncertainty, one thing remains true: those who adapt with purpose and lead with creativity will be best equipped to serve their members and uplift their communities. Together, we’re steering toward that future with clarity, courage and care.
Ramon Jacobs-Shaw, MD. President, Belong Medical Group; Chief Clinical Officer, Belong Health: The ability to distinguish between vendors and true strategic partners — and then develop those partnerships effectively — is the most underrated skill payer leaders need today. Too many executives get caught in the cycle of managing numerous short-term transactional vendor relationships without ever building the deeper, strategically aligned collaborative partnerships that drive real transformation. Developing these partnerships requires patience, vision, and the ability to align incentives across organizations, but the payoff is immense. When done right, strategic partnerships become force multipliers that enhance innovation, improve outcomes, and create adaptable ecosystems with sustainable competitive advantages that vendor management alone never achieves.
Daniel Knecht, MD. Chief Medical Officer at EmblemHealth: One of the most underrated leadership skills is the art of data-driven storytelling. It’s the ability to synthesize clinical and population health data into compelling narratives that motivate action across an organization. The most enduring stories balance data with the human condition. When leaders connect trend lines to real-world care delivery and gaps in care, we are able to identify meaningful opportunities for action. Data becomes a bridge to clinical interventions, public health strategies and addressing healthcare disparities.
Sam Melamed. CEO at NCD: The current vibes in the healthcare ecosystem are decidedly negative at a time when we desperately need smart young people to choose to work in healthcare. The top skill that payers need right now is a clear story on why your company is different. A clear story on why they can truly believe that joining the team will not just pay well, that the work will feel good and meaningful and they will be proud to say they work there.
Harlon Pickett. President at Eagle Care Health Solutions: The most underrated skill payer leaders need right now is courage. Not the kind that fills a conference stage or fuels a bold headline, but the quiet, disciplined courage to tell hard truths, question entrenched practices, and challenge the systems that no longer serve members, or the long-term stability of the industry. For too long, payers have been complicit in preserving a status quo that’s bloated, opaque, and increasingly unsustainable. We’ve accepted rising costs as inevitable and distracted ourselves with “innovative” solutions that often just shift cost burdens without fixing root problems. Real change won’t come from another point solution or benefit tweak. It will require leaders to take uncomfortable positions. Pushing back on outdated pricing models, demanding transparency from vendor partners, and holding their organizations accountable. We must educate both plan members and the public at large about smarter ways to purchase care, even when doing so disrupts traditional revenue streams. Courage in this context means being willing to sacrifice short-term gains for long-term credibility. It means having the integrity to say, “This isn’t working,” and the vision to help build something better. Payer leaders who embrace that kind of bravery won’t just adapt to the future of healthcare, they’ll shape it.
Patrick Quigley. CEO at Sidecar Health: Healthcare needs more leaders with a builder’s mindset. That means being curious, open, and unafraid to rethink systems that no longer serve people well. We don’t have to accept legacy constraints as inevitable. The skill is in seeing both what is — and what could be — and then building the bridge between the two. Payers have a unique opportunity to lead a meaningful transformation if we’re willing to think differently.
Jeff Russell. President and CEO at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska: Adaptability. As an industry, we’re navigating through multiple areas of uncertainty. The regulatory and market landscapes are constantly shifting. Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau once said, “The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow again.” It isn’t only that we must adapt to a faster change of pace. We also need to be nimble — able to quickly pivot priorities and adjust tactics as needed — all while staying true to our mission. It’s a challenging operating environment, but our ability to adapt to these challenges presents us with opportunities to make a significant difference in the health and well-being of our members and the communities we serve.
Dorothy Seleski. Medi-Cal President at Health Net, a Centene Corporation company: To succeed in integrated models, we have to think beyond our silo — aligning incentives, anticipating downstream effects, and designing solutions that work across the full continuum. It’s not just strategic; it’s essential for delivering sustainable value.
Jennifer St. Thomas. Senior Vice President, Commercial and Medicare Markets at Mass General Brigham Health Plan: In the healthcare industry, an understanding of change management is critical for effective leadership. It’s essential for health plan leaders to remain flexible and adaptable to change to reach our goals. While I’ve experienced rapid change throughout my career, it’s important today more than ever to stay focused on supporting and communicating these changes to our employees and our members. Being able to respond to change requires focus, and also presents exciting opportunities to deepen the ways we support all our members across their healthcare journeys.
Ty Wang. Co-Founder and CEO, Angle Health: One of the most underrated skills payer leaders need today is technological literacy — specifically, a deep understanding of emerging technologies like AI and how to adopt them responsibly. As the pace of innovation accelerates, leaders who can’t evaluate and integrate AI tools risk falling behind more agile competitors. It’s not about chasing trends; it’s about aligning technology with operational goals, compliance frameworks, and member needs to create a real strategic edge. An organization is ultimately a reflection of its leadership, so it is incumbent upon its leaders to learn, use, and be the biggest advocates for adopting new technologies before they can expect their organizations to embrace them.
Andrea Willis, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee: Empathy. In a world driven by data, policy, and the increasing cost of care, we must never lose sight of the human experience behind every decision we make about coverage. Empathy allows us to contribute to a system that honors the dignity and complexity of people’s health journeys – from disease prevention in the face of social risk factors to the treatment of illness and diseases. When we lead with empathy, we can build trust and deliver on our purpose: providing access to quality, affordable care when people need it.
Krischa Winright. President, Medicare Advantage at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan: My answer would be “wisdom.” The Medicare Advantage market shift continues to be rapid, as is reaction and the need for response. As the speed of business increases, enabled by AI and other technologies, using wisdom to lead and adjust, balancing near- and long-term priorities is absolutely critical.
