The 2023 Rising Stars of the Profession: Sarah Brandt

Sarah Brandt, Divurgent Vice President of Delivery, is a digital transformation leader with over 14 years of experience partnering with organizations to rethink their approaches to consumer and employee experience. She has partnered with integrated health systems, data analytics and digital technology providers, and clients to structure and execute strategic initiatives that drive measurable improvement in health, well-being, and business outcomes. She is passionate about helping cross-functional teams standardize and scale operations using data, technology, human capital, automation, and process re-engineering. Motivated by equipping talented teams with the tools, ways of working, and resources that empower them to transform at scale, she is dedicated to helping healthcare organizations reimagine how they deliver personalized, engaging experiences that impact the well-being of their communities.

What would you say has been the biggest factor in your success so far?

It is important to continue to possess a willingness to learn when working closely with clients to deliver on digital strategies. My natural curiosity and desire to be a lifelong learner are aspect have contributed to my success. As a consultant, I have been fortunate to work in a diverse set of industries; with various projects; and among thousands of stakeholders all of which has contributed to endless learning opportunities.

What do you enjoy most about your career in the consulting industry?

Health care consulting provides endless opportunity to address complex problems, partner with diverse teams, and challenge oneself to develop professionally. Health systems are faced with reimagining operating models and defining the ecosystem that enables greater emphasis on well-being while simultaneously addressing financial strain, labor shortages, clinician burnout, and the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a strategic advisor, I enjoy helping organizations navigate this complexity and guide how they define their opportunities and solutions that make the most sense for them and their goals. This means fostering dialogue and inclusive ways of working among clinicians, operations and technical colleagues. With increasing emphasis on consumerism in health care, the opportunity to shape organizational culture to incorporate the voice of the customer and adapt to the fast pace of digital technology is fulfilling.

Moreso, I am energized trying to remain up-to-date with thought leaders and emerging products in my areas of focus. I am challenged daily to strengthen my own viewpoints and facilitate connections among my network that collectively guide the future of health care. The deep and richly collaborative relationships developed with customers during my career have mutually helped us develop professionally and inform how I think about new service offerings.

Though some medical procedures and technologies are cutting edge, many aspects of health care operations and consumer experience lag – even post pandemic. I have welcomed the opportunity to bring my non-healthcare and digital transformation consulting experiences to transform the delivery of care and impact the communities that my clients serve.

What is your proudest achievement to date?

As a senior leader at a startup, managed services firm, we defined a new way to deliver onshore, socially responsible alternatives to business process outsourcing. We transformed the way executives engaged with the outsourcing industry, revolutionized career paths for military spouses and veterans, and advanced digital transformation initiatives across industries, including financial services; consumer brands and retailers; media and information services; government agencies; and libraries, museums and archives.

In my role, I defined, launched, and scaled a new service line for a new client that had no prior history of outsourcing their work or how it would work for them. They believed in our social impact mission and were eager work to define a model for their unique business. The team scaled quickly to 50+ full-time positions for underserved and underemployed military spouses and veterans.

The client was open to innovation and highly collaborative which helped us agilely implement and iterate using new tools and nontraditional data sources for financial modeling and investment decision-making. Through shared success, our strategic partnership grew, and the client decided to acquire the firm.

Having a front row seat from our initial conceptual discussion that resulted in generating immediate value and acquisition of the firm was exciting. Moreso, witnessing military veterans find new passions and pathways in civilian careers while showing our client the value of our social impact mission was deeply rewarding.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

I am fortunate to have attended the High-Impact Leadership program at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. This course explored the power of storytelling to support strong leadership and communication skills as the foundation for building business relationships.

Through talented faculty and world-class theater techniques, I was pushed outside of my comfort zone. One of our exercises included mapping our personal and professional journeys alongside one another. When I was able to see the ebbs and flows – successes, failures and resilience – in my personal life and professional experiences they crafted a unique, authentic story that highlighted how new opportunities present themselves more frequently than we may think and always at the right time.

With emphasis in the course on establishing my authentic voice, presence and talents, I grew more confident in my ability to bring "my whole self" to my work, team and clients – no longer separating my professional and personal traits. The characteristic of authenticity is valued in consulting – our clients have real-world problems and need real-world solutions. They want to know that we understand their pain points and that we are committed to helping them reach a solution or recommend a partner who can. I believe that fostering organizational cultures and experiences in health care that allow people to feel authentically heard and cared for will allow us to shape measurable health outcomes. I advocate for designing health care experiences that allow for patients, clinicians, caregivers, and support staff to provide input.

What does this recognition mean to you?

This recognition is a testament to the impact one can have within consulting – not only supporting clients with resolving challenging problems, but also demonstrating ability to develop new products and solutions based on anticipation of client needs. Having started my career in consulting and navigating to industry and back, I have been fortunate to build on my collective experience to hone my skills and understanding. Coupled with my supportive professional network and where I realized I could make the most impact, my last career decision allowed me to make a purposeful decision to come back to consulting with specific focus back in health care and digital technologies to shape the health care consumer and clinical experience. This recognition helps to validate my decision and acknowledge how one's career path can help bring together a variety of experiences that build one's expertise.