University of Virginia

Virginia Commonwealth University College of Health Professionals

VP, Workforce Health Strategy and Innovation

Consulting practice specializing in fractional leadership and interim staffing solutions for large self-insured, self-administered employers seeking to improve the health of their workforce.

Henderson Workforce Health Consulting, LLC

President/Consultant 

Led highly matrixed teams to oversee workforce health programs for UPMC’s 100,000+ employees. Responsibilities included strategy and innovation for healthcare/plan design, disability and absence management, workers’ compensation, return-to-work programs, EAP, FMLA/ADAAA compliance, clinical case management, wellness/health promotion, onsite clinics, telehealth, integration with safety programs and advanced data analytics.

In 2023, our team implemented an award-winning behavioral health telehealth program for employees that provided free 1–2-day access through our existing network of onsite clinics.

UPMC

VP, Workforce Health Strategy and Innovation 

In my dual role as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Innovation Officer, I had the unique opportunity to harness our founder’s vision to drastically improve the occupational health market place by taking innovative new ideas through the strategic customer engagement process to sustainable scalable delivery models. I leveraged my experience leading programs internally with employers to create a living-lab approach to product innovation. 

My core operational responsibilities included oversight of the company’s four departments: Medical Exams & Testing, Onsite Services, Telephonic Triage, and Disability and Leave Clinical Support. I had additional responsibilities of companywide analytics, quality assurance, account management, and human resources.    

WorkCare serves over 1 million client employees across the U.S and abroad with integrated employee health management solutions that include Incident Intervention™ 24/7 telephonic injury triage and return-to-work follow-up; On-site Services; Medical Exams & Travel program management; Consulting Occupational Physicians; Leave & Disability Clinical Support; and preventive interventions including wellness education, industrial athlete/athletic trainer programs, non-invasive massage and bio-ergonomic assessments.

WorkCare, Inc.

Chief Innovation Officer/Chief Operating Officer  

Provided consulting and fractional leadership to employers, insurance carriers and third-party administrators to improve employee health and productivity. Key projects included an onsite clinic assessment and market strategy plan for Kaiser Permanente, advanced analytic support for WorkCare to develop new product lines and self-insured employer market research for One Medical and UPMC Workpartners.

Workforce Health Solutions, LLC

President/CEO, National Practice Leader

Sr. Director, Workforce Health, Pacific Gas & Electric, San Francisco        			  May 2010 – Jun 2016

Led the strategies and development of effective workforce health programs across a company with 23,000+ employees. Team included 8 direct reports and 110 employees with top engagement scores across three primary departments: 

•	Benefits: Design and delivery of 14 plans covering >100,000 employees, retirees and dependents. Responsible for $1B companywide budget and 22 vendor/consultant contracts.
 
•	Disability Management: Design and delivery of  Workers' Compensation, 17 time-off, leave of absence and disability policies & programs. Managed $300M budget and 18 vendor/consultant contracts. 

•	Wellness: Built the portfolio to include 17 programs that integrated with the benefits offerings to encompass  physical, emotional and financial health. 

Sr. Director, Safety and Health (Interim)		Dec 2011 - Apr 2012 & Oct 2015 - Jun 2016 

Asked to take on leadership for both the workforce health and safety organizations during search for safety leadership replacements. Managed combined departments of over 200 individuals and 14 direct reports. Led an organizational redesign that improved collaboration with operations.  

Sr. Director, HR Business Operations (Interim)	Apr 2014 - Sep 2015 

Asked to build a centralized team to govern, standardize and optimize functions across entire HR department including a Project/Portfolio Management Office (PMO) and implement continuous improvement programs. Designed the organization, recruited the staff and after reaching operational stability, transitioned to another director. 

Highlight:

•	Completely redesigned health care & retirement platform, and established a joint educational committee with the unions. Achieved high engagement rates in health improvement programs and $1B in savings from 2012-2020. Received 2014 Integrated Benefits Institute Health and Business Performance Award for innovative value-based health plan.

Pacific Gas and Electric

Sr. Director, Workforce Health

Founder and CEO of a Denver- based firm with associates in Atlanta, Boston and Minneapolis that provided consulting and data analytic services to employers, insurance carriers, third party administrators and other organizations that sought to control health and disability costs and improve employee health and productivity. 

•	Managed all aspects of the business for the Health and Productivity practice nationally. Specialty areas included vendor management and comprehensive RFP services for vendor selection. 

•	Key project included a 2 year Fractional Leadership role to build a large scale integrated operations unit which expanded an existing workers’ compensation claim/clinical operations group into an integrated disability management operations center that included nurse triage, STD/LTD/FMLA with referrals to EAP, Case Management and onsite clinics within the group health plan. 

•	Other projects on the vendor side included augmenting the client’s product marketing capability, performing research, monitoring market place trends and gathering intel for Voice of the Customer product marketing.

•	Employer-based projects focused on developing programs, policies and training for client teams, assisting in-house staff prepare roadmaps and strategic plans to seek budget from senior leaders and vendor management and comprehensive RFP services for vendor selection. 

•	Client list included:  Ascension Health, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Miller Coors, The Hartford, Portland General Electric, City of Portland, Prudential Financial, McKesson Health Solutions, AON, and many others.

Health and Disability Management Solutions, Inc.

Founder and CEO

Provided strategic oversight of disability and absence management programs for a telecommunications company with over 48,000 employees, concentrated in 14 states. 
•	Managed workers’ compensation, disability pension, short/long term disability, employee assistance, and substance abuse programs 
o	Team included a staff of nurses, licensed clinical social workers and an industrial psychologist 
•	Successfully managed a complex infrastructure redesign that included Request for Proposals for new EAP and STD/LTD/FMLA/data analytic vendors 
-	Saved over $5 MM in administrative costs while increasing the level of service to employees
-	Redesigned payroll and claim approval processes, resulting in $2.7 MM reduction in overpayments
-	Reduced ERISA litigation by over 60% 
•	Centralized FMLA administration, including managing the design of the system interfaces for Peoplesoft and payroll
•	Chaired the disability sub-committee of the joint union Health and Wellness Committee
-	Significantly improved union relations and reduced complaints to the CEO
-	Successfully lead early negotiations of benefit design changes prior to formal bargaining 
•	Partnered with human resources, safety and operational management to create “disability profiles” and metrics to focus absence management activities in areas such as the call centers
•	Developed and executed Supervisor Training: “Navigating Medical Issues in the Workplace”

Qwest Communciations

Director, Disability and Workplace Interventions

Directed disability and absence management initiatives for manufacturing division of GE, with over 120 manufacturing sites and 40,000 employees worldwide.  
•	Managed workers’ compensation, short/long term disability, disability pension, employee assistance, and workplace violence programs 
•	Worked with Environmental Health and Safety to integrate health and safety programs, created shared scorecards and implemented manager and employee training to enhance injury management 
•	Served on RFP team for GE Corporate to select vendors and enhance the integrated benefits process
•	Implemented a Transitional Work Program that improved the return-to-work efforts of the (42) occupational health nurses staffed at the on-site medical clinics globally
-	US population achieved best in class across GE for disability durations
-	Puerto Rico reduced LTD costs by 20%
•	Partnered with legal for policy and training development for FMLA/ ADA compliance  
-	Developed web-based FMLA training for human resources across all of GE and received training excellence recognition award from Corporate 
•	Designed scorecards and budget allocation process to create local accountability at the manufacturing sites

General Electric

Global Disability Lead

Two-year assignment to manage the implementation and evaluation of one of the Nation’s most comprehensive Return-To-Work Programs covering over 123,000 employees in 95 state agencies.  Unique aspects of the program included using an innovative employer-based team approach to manage disability in the workplace in a politically complex geographically decentralized environment. Completed assignment and transitioned work to internal staff.   

First year: statewide reduction in lost time of 9.42% and over $2 million in premium savings.  Second year: dramatic reductions in lost time highlighted by the largest agency, Department of Human Resources, realizing a 53% decrease per claim average.
•	Recruited, hired, trained, and supervised (3) Regional Return-To-Work Coordinators
•	Trained human resource and safety professionals, administrators, and direct line supervisors. Personally trained over 4,400 personnel across the entire state 
•	Expanded training material to incorporate non-occupational disability management
•	Designed Return-To-Work Web Site and Employee Benefit Brochure
•	Produced/edited First Year Feedback video for training and public relations
•	Developed Supervisor’s Manual and corresponding training module
•	Created statewide policy and procedure template and customized for individual agencies

State of Georgia, Department of Administrative Services Risk Management

Statewide Return-To-Work Coordinator

•	Owned and operated a consulting practice which employed 10+ professionals who provided case management and vocational rehabilitation to physically/psychologically impaired clients within various litigated disability systems, specializing in catastrophic workers’ compensation cases involving traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries.   
•	Services included: vocational evaluation, job analysis, vocational counseling, job modification, expert testimony, job placement, catastrophic case management, Life Care Planning and consultation to employers regarding ADA compliance, Return-To-Work programs and disability/injury prevention systems

Maria Henderson