It is the honor of my life to be able to say – In May, I celebrate my 5th anniversary at HPSJ!

I have had the privilege to be part of and help lead amazing, innovating organizations during my career. But none has so completely woven together, as Health Plan of San Joaquin, my personal passions, organizational mission, and the overwhelming sense of community commitment.

At the heart of everything, I really do believe that it takes a village. As the eldest immigrant daughter of a Korean family, it was the love and support of my entire family, together with the California public education system, and the friends and mentors who lifted me up all along the way, that made it possible for me to be here. My family story is the American Story. The dedicated people who work here are also part of the American Story. Everyone of us who touches and is touched by HPSJ has been lifted up by the coming together of this diverse, locally rooted village.

Since 1997, HPSJ had been growing at a fairly calm, steady rate as the federal and state government expanded access to Medi-Cal Managed Care to increasing numbers. With passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a door was opened to a major expansion of health care access that held the promise of lifting our entire local region’s health, health care infrastructure, and even economic well-being.

When I first started here, we were gearing up for that ACA expansion. During my first three years, membership grew by over 50 percent. One of our governing Commissioners described it as “building a plane while flying.” He was right. But we did it, we did it well, and we did it together, from HPSJ employees and governing Commissioners, to providers and practitioners, to community partners and public policy and civic leaders, and especially our members. Today, we serve almost 350,000 members who mostly are working families and children, as well as seniors and persons with disabilities.

Now that we’ve assembled the plane, I see us on an upward flight path that builds on that know-how, leading to even more convening and partnerships to take on some of our most urgent community-wide challenges – from homelessness, to literacy, to food insecurity, and the opioids crisis. These are the challenges that, ultimately, affect us all. 

That it will take a village, and we are committed to doing it, is not the surprise. What is the most gratifying discovery, on the eve of my 5th anniversary, is the overwhelming number of good people throughout our two counties who truly want to do good things for our entire village. Fasten your seat belts, and we’re off!