The National Governors Association (NGA) and the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) today announced that six Medicaid directors have been chosen to participate in the 2016 class of the Medicaid Leadership Institute. The Medicaid Leadership Institute, an initiative of NGA in partnership with CHCS, offers a unique opportunity for health care leaders from across the political spectrum to participate in an intensive knowledge and leadership development program.

Medicaid directors competitively selected to participate in the Class of 2016 are:

  • Margaret Brodie, Alaska
  • Kate McEvoy, Connecticut
  • Dave Richard, North Carolina
  • Nancy Smith-Leslie, New Mexico
  • Marta Jensen, Nevada
  • Leesa Allen, Pennsylvania

This one-year leadership program focuses on Medicaid directors, who will be joined by other senior agency staff members. Participants may include other health care leaders such as governors’ health policy advisors, budget directors, state health officers and mental health directors.

For the past five years, the Institute, coordinated through CHCS, has trained 30 Medicaid directors and numerous state staff in 27 states plus the District of Columbia, serving more than 50 million Medicaid beneficiaries. The curriculum is designed to help state leadership cultivate the skills necessary to transform Medicaid into a national leader in providing high-quality, cost-effective care.

NGA’s Medicaid Leadership Institute builds on the original leadership training effort established by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which supported the program from 2009-2015. For more information, visit www.chcs.org/medicaidleaders.