Vice President, Public Affairs - Southern California

This role will support the Southern California Market

Job Summary:

The Vice President, Market Public Affairs serves as the senior-most Public Affairs leader within the market and is responsible for advancing and protecting Kaiser Permanente's reputation, mission, strategic priorities, and business objectives through integrated communications, media relations, community affairs, stakeholder engagement, local government relations, executive positioning, and issues management.
Reporting directly to the Chief Public Affairs Officer and maintaining a dotted-line relationship to the Regional President, the Vice President serves as the primary Public Affairs advisor to market leadership and operates at the intersection of enterprise strategy and market execution.
This leader is accountable for ensuring enterprise Public Affairs priorities are effectively translated into market strategies, stakeholder engagement efforts, campaigns, communications programs, and community activities while ensuring local market realities inform enterprise decision-making.
The Vice President serves as a member of both the Chief Public Affairs Leadership Table and the Regional Presidents leadership team, reinforcing the enterprise nature of the role while helping shape enterprise strategy and ensuring the market speaks and acts with One KP Voice.
The Vice President serves as the primary Public Affairs point of contact for the Regional President and market leadership team and works in close partnership with medical group leadership and health plan leadership.
While certain Public Affairs functions, including State Affairs and Federal Government Relations, maintain direct reporting relationships to enterprise leaders, the Vice President is responsible for ensuring all Public Affairs activities within the market are coordinated, aligned, and executed through a unified One KP approach.
The role provides a single point of integration for market leadership, ensuring enterprise capabilities are effectively leveraged and market needs are effectively represented across the Public Affairs function.
The Vice President leads a market-based Public Affairs team responsible for communications, media relations, community affairs, stakeholder engagement, local government relations, executive positioning, reputation management, and issues management.
The role works in close partnership with enterprise centers of excellence across External Communications, State Affairs, Federal Affairs, Internal Communications & Engagement, Community Affairs & Engagement, Advocacy, Marketing, Legal, Policy & Regulatory Affairs, and Community Health.
Internal communications will be more tightly connected between enterprise and markets, with enterprise teams providing shared platforms, strategies, and support while market teams lead execution for market-specific priorities.
That work includes everything from day-to-day workforce communications to sustained change management campaigns tied directly to how a market competes, including quality measure improvement, care delivery transformation, and operational shifts that require employees to work differently.
These are not enterprise storytelling exercises; they are operational necessities that require local knowledge, local relationships, and dedicated market capacity, delivered with enterprise awareness and alignment.
As the senior Public Affairs leader in the market, the Vice President serves as a trusted advisor to the Regional President and market leadership team, a visible executive presence across the market, and a key relationship builder across Kaiser Permanentes care delivery system.
This leader helps cultivate market network relationships across the health care delivery system and ensures Kaiser Permanente maintains strong relationships with local media, community leaders, employers, labor leaders, nonprofit organizations, civic organizations, chambers of commerce, local elected officials, business groups, and other influential stakeholders while advancing enterprise priorities and preserving local trust and credibility.
Success in this role requires balancing enterprise consistency with local relevance, operating as both a strategic counselor and operational leader, and ensuring Kaiser Permanente maintains a coordinated, visible, and trusted presence throughout the communities it serves.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership & Executive Counsel
• Serve as the senior Public Affairs advisor to the Regional President and market leadership team.
• Serve as a member of both the Chief Public Affairs Leadership Table and the Regional Presidents leadership team, ensuring enterprise priorities, market perspectives, and cross-enterprise alignment are represented in organizational decision-making.
• Help shape enterprise Public Affairs strategies and priorities by providing market insights, stakeholder perspectives, competitive intelligence, community intelligence, and business context.
• Advise leaders on communications, stakeholder engagement, reputation management, labor dynamics, public policy implications, and emerging issues that may affect market performance.
• Support executive decision-making through strategic counsel, risk assessment, stakeholder insights, and communications planning.
• Public Affairs Leadership & Coordination
• Serve as the primary Public Affairs leader and point of contact for the Regional President, market leadership team, medical group leadership, and health plan leadership.
• Coordinate Public Affairs activities across Communications, Media Relations, Community Affairs, Stakeholder Engagement, Local Government Relations, State Affairs, Federal Government Relations, Advocacy, and enterprise centers of excellence to ensure alignment and effective execution of enterprise and market priorities.
• Ensure market leadership has a clear, coordinated, and integrated Public Affairs strategy that reflects the full capabilities of the Public Affairs organization.
• Convene and lead regular market Public Affairs planning, prioritization, and coordination efforts to ensure alignment across functions and eliminate duplication.
• Represent market priorities, stakeholder insights, emerging issues, and reputational considerations within enterprise Public Affairs planning and governance processes.
• Market Reputation & Communications Leadership
• Lead market communications and reputation strategies in alignment with enterprise priorities and business objectives, including partnership and execution on program communications with leaders across Internal Communications & Engagement and External Communications in Kaiser Permanentes largest market.
• Serve as the senior leader accountable for market reputation management, stakeholder trust, and coordinated execution of enterprise Public Affairs priorities.
• Develop and implement market communications strategies that strengthen Kaiser Permanentes reputation and support organizational goals.
• Lead market workforce communications and change management efforts tied to operational priorities, including quality improvement, care delivery transformation, and shifts in how work is performed across the market.
• Ensure enterprise narratives are effectively localized and executed within the market while maintaining consistency with One KP priorities.
• Identify, elevate, and amplify market innovations, care delivery successes, community partnerships, thought leadership opportunities, and organizational achievements that strengthen Kaiser Permanentes reputation.
• Media Relations & External Visibility
• Oversee market media relations and earned media strategies in partnership with enterprise communications teams.
• Serve as a spokesperson and representative of Kaiser Permanente within the market, including participation in media interviews, public forums, community events, industry conferences, stakeholder meetings, and executive engagements.
• Support and prepare executives, physicians, and subject matter experts for media interviews, public‑facing engagements, speaking opportunities, and stakeholder meetings.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with local, regional, and industry media.
• Ensure market media activities align with enterprise priorities and support a One KP Voice.
• Community Affairs, Stakeholder Engagement & Local Government Relations
• Lead market community affairs, stakeholder engagement, and local government relations strategies.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with community leaders, nonprofit organizations, employers, chambers of commerce, labor leaders, civic organizations, local elected officials, business groups, and other influential stakeholders.
• Cultivate and strengthen market network relationships across the health care delivery system, including partnerships with care delivery leaders, physicians, operational leaders, community stakeholders, and other key influencers who shape market performance and reputation.
• Partner with Community Health leaders to align community engagement, mission delivery, stakeholder engagement, and community investment activities in support of enterprise and market priorities.
• Partner with Marketing, Sales, Customer Experience, and Government Relations leaders to strengthen Kaiser Permanentes visibility, mission impact, customer engagement, and stakeholder relationships.
• Support implementation of enterprise community engagement strategies, sponsorship activations, volunteerism programs, and mission‑focused initiatives.
• Ensure Kaiser Permanente maintains a visible, trusted, and credible presence within the communities it serves.
• Enterprise & Market Integration
• Translate enterprise Public Affairs strategies, campaigns, and priorities into effective market execution.
• Partner closely with State Affairs and Federal Government Relations leaders to ensure alignment of stakeholder engagement, advocacy priorities, legislative activities, reputation strategies, and market execution while respecting enterprise reporting relationships and responsibilities.
• Establish market operating rhythms and governance that bring together market Public Affairs teams and enterprise centers of excellence to support a coordinated One KP approach.
• Ensure market teams leverage enterprise capabilities, tools, content, campaigns, reporting, and expertise effectively.
• Foster collaboration and information sharing across enterprise and market Public Affairs teams.
• Issues Management & Market Intelligence
• Lead market preparedness, response, and coordination related to reputational issues, emerging concerns, and stakeholder challenges.
• Maintain visibility into emerging market issues, stakeholder concerns, community sentiment, labor developments, competitive dynamics, and reputational risks, ensuring timely escalation and coordination with enterprise leaders.
• Provide enterprise leaders with regular intelligence regarding stakeholder relationships, community dynamics, media trends, local government developments, and market conditions that may influence organizational priorities.
• Partner with enterprise Communications, Government Relations, Legal, and Issues Management leaders to support coordinated responses to complex situations.
• Team Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness
• Lead, develop, and inspire a high‑performing market Public Affairs team.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, inclusion, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Align resources, priorities, and capabilities to support both market and enterprise objectives.
• Support development of future Public Affairs leaders and strengthen organizational capabilities across the market.

Basic Qualifications:

Experience

• Minimum fifteen (15) years of progressively responsible leadership experience in public affairs, communications, community affairs, media relations, government relations, stakeholder engagement, or related disciplines.

Education

• Bachelors degree required

License, Certification, Registration

• N/A

Additional Requirements:

• Significant experience advising senior executives and leading through complex reputational, political, regulatory, labor, and business environments.
• Demonstrated success leading integrated Public Affairs, Communications, Community Affairs, or stakeholder engagement functions within large, complex organizations.
• Demonstrated understanding of healthcare delivery systems, health plans, provider organizations, community health, and the stakeholder environments that influence healthcare organizations.
• Experience operating within highly matrixed organizations and leading through influence.
• Proven ability to build trusted relationships with executives, media, community leaders, elected officials, labor leaders, business organizations, and other external stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working in highly regulated industries required; healthcare experience strongly preferred.
• Experience working in represented labor environments and willingness to operate effectively in a Labor Management Partnership environment strongly preferred.
• Advanced degree preferred.