Director, Board Governance & Executive Initiatives

It's more than a career, it's a calling.

Worker Type:

Job Highlights:

Named 150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare 2025 - Becker's Healthcare

Named One of the World’s Happiest Workplace 2025 – WorkL

Named One of America's Best In-State Employers 2025 - Forbes

Named One of America's Greatest Workplaces for Women 2025 – Newsweek

Named One of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Culture, Belonging & Community 2026 – Newsweek

SSM Health is a Catholic, not-for-profit health system serving the comprehensive health needs of communities across the Midwest through a robust and fully integrated health care delivery system. The organization’s 40,000 team members and more than 13,900+ providers are committed to providing exceptional health care services and revealing God’s healing presence to everyone they serve.​​​​​​​

With care delivery sites in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, SSM Health includes 23 hospitals, more than 300 physician offices and other outpatient and virtual care services, 12 post-acute facilities, comprehensive home care and hospice services, a pharmacy benefit company, a health insurance company and an accountable care organization. It is one of the largest employers in every community it serves.

Job Summary:

Job Responsibilities and Requirements:

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Stewards, directs and coordinates governance activities supporting the Board of Directors, board committees, and executive leadership teams. Serves as a strategic liaison, facilitating between board members, chief officers, executive leadership, and key stakeholders.
• Provides comprehensive support to leaders for meetings and events, including managing leadership team cadence, coordinating materials, documenting key outcomes, and ensuring deliverables are tracked through completion.
• Manages timelines and deliverables for enterprise-level projects and strategic initiatives and works to improve existing processes for maximum clarity, efficiency, and success. Provides project management methodologies, reporting, and status updates for initiatives. Identifies risks, dependencies, and escalation needs affecting executive and board priorities.
• Supports board leadership and executive management in carrying out governance responsibilities and strategic priorities. Manages internal and external communications. Writes an initial draft of documents for presentations, emails, and other communication pieces and sees revisions through completion of final documents.
• Develops and maintains governance calendars, annual work plans, meeting schedules, and milestone tracking systems. Tracks board actions, follow-up items, executive assignments, and key decisions to ensure timely completion.
• Ensures accurate documentation and timely preparation of meeting minutes, official records of board business. Coordinates preparation, review, distribution, and archiving of board and committee meeting materials. Maintains governance records, resolutions, committee documents, and historical archives.
• Coordinates logistics and communications for board members, executive leaders, guest presenters, and external participants. Oversees agenda development and meeting planning in collaboration with executive sponsors and board leadership. Develops and implements process improvements that enhance governance effectiveness, meeting efficiency, and executive communication.
• Develops, coordinates, and maintains comprehensive board member orientation programs and materials. Conducts assessments to identify continuing education needs of board members. Designs, coordinates, and administers governance education programs, workshops, and learning opportunities, partnering with internal and external resources as needed.
• Monitors compliance with governance requirements, bylaws, policies, and applicable regulations affecting board operations. Collaborates with Legal, Compliance, Human Resources, Communications,outside vendors and others as needed to support governance needs.
• Recruits, engages, develops, leads, and manages assigned staff. 
• Performs other duties as assigned.

EDUCATION

• Bachelor's degree

EXPERIENCE

• Seven years' experience, with five years in leadership

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Frequent lifting/carrying and pushing/pulling objects weighing 0-25 lbs.

• Frequent sitting, standing, walking, reaching and repetitive foot/leg and hand/arm movements.

• Frequent use of vision and depth perception for distances near (20 inches or less) and far (20 feet or more) and to identify and distinguish colors.

• Frequent use of hearing and speech to share information through oral communication. Ability to hear alarms, malfunctioning machinery, etc.

• Frequent keyboard use/data entry.

• Occasional bending, stooping, kneeling, squatting, twisting and gripping.

• Occasional lifting/carrying and pushing/pulling objects weighing 25-50 lbs.

• Rare climbing.

REQUIRED PROFESSIONAL LICENSE AND/OR CERTIFICATIONS 

• None

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Work Shift:

Scheduled Weekly Hours:

SSM Health is an Equal Opportunity Employer. SSM Health provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.Click here to learn more.