Executive Director AI Transformation Technology

The Executive Director of AI and Transformational Technology is Beacon Health System's system-level AI executive responsible for setting enterprise direction, establishing standards, and delivering measurable outcomes for artificial intelligence and transformational technology. This role owns the full lifecycle of AI across Beacon-from governance and ethics frameworks to deployment, workforce enablement, and sustained performance measurement-and serves as the executive point of accountability for where AI is applied, at what pace, and with what controls.

Operating at the intersection of clinical operations, executive leadership, and information technology, the Executive Director provides system-wide executive leadership across all hospitals and business units, driving alignment where teams may not report directly to this role. The role leads a dedicated department of AI and automation specialists and is accountable for building a durable internal capability that reduces vendor dependency, accelerates time-to-value, and positions Beacon as a regional leader in responsible AI adoption. The Executive Director also stewards an enterprise AI portfolio-prioritizing investments, governing deployment gates, and tracking benefits realization in partnership with Finance and operational leaders.

The Executive Director holds a standing seat in Beacon's senior leadership forums and is expected to function as a system-level executive-co-authoring organizational strategy and accountable for enterprise outcomes enabled by AI. This role establishes the enterprise AI operating model, secures organizational commitment, and is accountable for system-wide value realization, risk posture, and adoption performance across all hospitals, service lines, and corporate functions.

MISSION, VALUES and SERVICE GOALS

• MISSION : We deliver outstanding care, inspire health, and connect with heart.
• VALUES : Trust. Respect. Integrity. Compassion.
• SERVICE GOALS : Personally connect. Keep everyone informed. Be on their team.

Strategic Leadership & Vision

• The Executive Director engages the CMO, CNO, CFO, COO, Hospital Presidents, and Physician Group leaders as a peer executive, co-owning decisions about how AI investments will be designed, deployed, and measured across clinical and operational domains.
• Partner with the CIDEO as a strategic co-author of Beacon's AI vision, co-developing the investment thesis, executive roadmap sequencing, and governance posture that will be presented to the Board of Directors.
• Articulate to the Board, C-suite, and leaders, how digital and AI maturity translates directly into organizational performance.
• Develop and maintain a multi-year AI strategy roadmap aligned to clinical, operational, and financial priorities-covering near-term deployments, mid-term integration with digital transformation initiatives, and long-term enterprise AI maturity.
• Represent Beacon at external conferences, industry coalitions, and peer health system forums to elevate the organization's AI profile and import best practices.
• Define success metrics for the AI & Transformational Technology function and report outcomes to executive leadership on a regular cadence.
• Maintain a standing Board reporting relationship, presenting AI strategy, portfolio performance, and risk posture on a regular cadence.

Executive Accountability & Decision Rights (System-Level)

• Holds enterprise decision rights for AI governance approvals and deployment gates, including the authority to pause, remediate, or retire AI solutions that do not meet Beacon's standards for safety, privacy, security, regulatory compliance, or performance.
• Establishes and enforces the enterprise AI operating model (intake, prioritization, build/buy decisions, validation, implementation, monitoring, and decommissioning) used across all hospitals and corporate functions.
• Serves as the system executive accountable for AI portfolio value realization-setting portfolio KPIs, tracking benefits against commitments, and driving corrective action when adoption or outcomes fall short.
• Owns system-level AI risk posture and executive escalation, ensuring timely communication to the CIDEO, senior leadership, and Board regarding material risks, incidents, or control gaps.
• Leads system-wide alignment across clinical, operational, financial, and technology leaders, arbitrating prioritization conflicts and standardizing approaches across sites and service lines.

AI Governance & Compliance

• Own and continuously mature Beacon's enterprise AI governance framework, including policy development, risk tiering, agentic AI oversight requirements, human-in-the-loop protocols, and audit logging standards.
• Lead the AI Governance Committee and AI Council, facilitating structured intake, evaluation, and approval processes for all AI deployments across the organization, and enforcing standardized deployment gates.
• Ensure all AI solutions-whether vendor-procured or internally built-are evaluated and documented against Beacon's governance framework prior to deployment, with appropriate BAAs, data privacy reviews, and compliance sign-offs.
• Maintain alignment with applicable regulatory frameworks including HIPAA/HITECH, CMS AI Strategy, HHS HAIP, NIST AI RMF, Joint Commission standards, HTI-1/ONC requirements, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023.
• Partner with Legal, Compliance, Privacy, and Risk Management to proactively address emerging AI regulatory requirements and build defensible governance infrastructure.
• Maintain vendor-neutral governance policy language and ensure documentation remains durable across vendor changes and technology evolution.

Microsoft 365 & Internal Automation Capability

• Lead the development and scaling of Beacon's internal Microsoft 365 AI automation capability, encompassing Microsoft Copilot (Word, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, Excel), Copilot Studio agent development, Power Automate workflow design, SharePoint solutions, and Teams Premium intelligent features.
• Oversee the build-out of internal automation workflows that reduce manual effort, accelerate administrative processes, and decrease dependency on external vendors for routine automation needs.
• Direct the Copilot Studio agent ecosystem including intern and staff-led agent development programs, establishing standards for agent design, testing, governance, and lifecycle management.
• Partner with IT Infrastructure to ensure Microsoft 365 automation capabilities are architected for scalability, security, and long-term maintainability.
• Track and report on automation ROI, including FTE hours saved, process cycle time reduction, and cost avoidance attributable to internally built solutions.

Vendor AI Solution Oversight

• Serve as the system-level executive owner for all vendor-procured AI solutions across clinical, operational, and administrative domains-rationalizing the portfolio, standardizing contracts and controls where appropriate, and managing full solution lifecycles from evaluation through renewal or retirement.
• Lead structured vendor evaluation processes using a defined intake and scoring methodology, including cross-functional stakeholder participation and documented justification for all procurement decisions.
• Oversee contract negotiation, performance accountability, and ROI measurement for all active AI vendor relationships, ensuring contracted outcomes are achieved and documented.
• Maintain a vendor performance dashboard and present findings to executive leadership and the AI Governance Committee on a defined cadence.
• Build and manage a vendor pipeline-tracking emerging solutions, conducting ongoing market assessments, and recommending strategic investments that align with Beacon's priorities.

AI Literacy & Organizational Enablement

• Sponsor and provide strategic direction to Beacon's enterprise AI literacy program, ensuring all clinical, administrative, and operational staff develop a foundational and role-appropriate understanding of AI tools and responsible use principles.
• Design and deliver executive-level AI education experiences including all-hands events, C-suite briefings, Board presentations, and departmental workshops.
• Develop self-service AI resources-including prompt libraries, use case guides, workflow templates, and governance documentation-that enable staff to use AI tools independently and responsibly.
• Oversee facilitator training and breakout education programs, ensuring consistency in content delivery and discussion quality across all Beacon sites.
• Champion a culture of continuous learning and responsible experimentation, creating safe pathways for frontline staff to surface AI ideas and participate in pilot programs.

Financial & Business Case Development

• Develop and maintain ROI proformas for all major AI investments, using conservative, finance-validated assumptions and clear separation between hard ROI and pending Finance quantification.
• Frame AI investment business cases for C-suite and Board audiences, emphasizing floor/ceiling ROI modeling, payback periods, and risk mitigation structures.
• Collaborate with Finance to validate revenue, cost avoidance, and labor savings figures embedded in vendor business cases and internal automation proposals.
• Track and report realized financial value of deployed AI solutions against projected returns on a defined schedule.

• Develop and maintain ROI proformas for all major AI investments, using conservative, finance-validated assumptions and clear separation between hard ROI and pending Finance quantification.
• Frame AI investment business cases for C-suite and Board audiences, emphasizing floor/ceiling ROI modeling, payback periods, and risk mitigation structures.
• In partnership with Finance, steward the enterprise AI portfolio investment plan by recommending prioritization, sequencing, and funding approaches that align to Beacon's annual and multi-year financial plans.
• Collaborate with Finance to validate revenue, cost avoidance, and labor savings figures embedded in vendor business cases and internal automation proposals.
• Own benefits realization tracking for the AI portfolio-reporting realized value versus commitments, driving corrective action plans with operational leaders, and escalating material variance to senior leadership.

Cross-Functional Bridge & Stakeholder Leadership

• Serve as the primary liaison between clinical operations leadership, executive/C-suite stakeholders, IT leadership, and the vendor community-translating clinical workflow needs into technology requirements and technology capabilities into operational value.
• Facilitate alignment between the AI & Transformational Technology function and Beacon's service line leaders, nursing leadership, and operational directors to identify high-value AI use cases grounded in frontline reality.
• Present AI strategy, governance updates, and deployment outcomes to Beacon's Board of Directors and senior leadership team in executive-appropriate formats.
• Collaborate with the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and operational VPs to ensure AI investments align with clinical quality, patient safety, and financial stewardship objectives.
• Build and sustain a culture of trust and transparency around AI by maintaining open communication with all organizational stakeholders about AI's capabilities, limitations, and governance safeguards.

ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Associate complies with the following organizational requirements:

• Attends and participates in department meetings and is accountable for all information shared.
• Completes mandatory education, annual competencies and department specific education within established timeframes.
• Completes annual employee health requirements within established timeframes.
• Maintains license/certification, registration in good standing throughout fiscal year.
• Direct patient care providers are required to maintain current BCLS (CPR) and other certifications as required by position/department.
• Consistently utilizes appropriate universal precautions, protective equipment, and ergonomic techniques to protect patient and self.
• Adheres to regulatory agency requirements, survey process and compliance.
• Complies with established organization and department policies.
• Available to work overtime in addition to working additional or other shifts and schedules when required.

Commitment to Beacon's six-point Operating System, referred to as The Beacon Way:

• Leverage innovation everywhere.
• Cultivate human talent.
• Embrace performance improvement.
• Build greatness through accountability.
• Use information to improve and advance.
• Communicate clearly and continuously.

Education & Experience

• Master's degree in Healthcare Administration, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field required; clinical graduate degree (MD, DNP, PharmD) with technology leadership experience considered.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive leadership experience in digital transformation, AI strategy, or technology innovation within a complex healthcare or health system environment.
• Demonstrated track record of leading enterprise-wide AI, automation, or platform modernization initiatives from concept through sustained operational value.
• Experience presenting to and influencing Board-level and C-suite audiences on technology investment and strategy.
• Experience building, managing, and developing high-performing multidisciplinary teams.
• Demonstrated experience developing financial business cases and ROI models for technology investments.

Skills & Competencies

• Deep fluency in AI technologies: large language models, agentic AI, robotic process automation, predictive analytics, and clinical decision support.
• Expert-level knowledge of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem including Microsoft Copilot, Copilot Studio, Power Automate, Power Platform, SharePoint, Teams, and Azure OpenAI services.
• Thorough understanding of AI governance principles including risk tiering, human-in-the-loop design, audit logging, and policy framework development.
• Strong command of healthcare regulatory and compliance landscape as it relates to AI: HIPAA/HITECH, CMS AI Strategy, HHS HAIP, NIST AI RMF, Joint Commission, HTI-1/ONC, ISO/IEC 42001:2023.
• Exceptional executive communication and presentation skills; ability to translate technical complexity into strategic, audience-appropriate narratives.
• Strategic financial acumen: ROI modeling, business case development, and investment prioritization.
• Strong vendor management skills: evaluation frameworks, contract negotiation, performance accountability, and lifecycle management.
• Proven ability to lead change and build organizational buy-in for transformational technology initiatives.
• Experience with Lean, Six Sigma, or other process improvement methodologies preferred.

Preferred Attributes

• Demonstrated experience owning a health system's digital technology strategy at the enterprise level, including platform decisions, vendor ecosystem management, and multi-year capital planning for digital infrastructure.
• Demonstrated experience presenting to and fielding questions from a governing Board or Board-level committee in a formal accountability relationship.
• Clinical background or significant experience in healthcare delivery environments, with an understanding of clinical workflows and care delivery models.
• Familiarity with major healthcare data standards including HL7, FHIR, HEDIS, and NCQA quality frameworks.
• Experience developing and delivering AI literacy programs at scale within a healthcare workforce.
• Track record of managing AI governance committees or cross-functional technology steering bodies.
• Experience with intern or emerging talent programs focused on AI and automation skill development.

Working Conditions

• Works in an office environment.
• May experience some mental/visual fatigue due to continued use of computer equipment.

Physical Demands

• Requires the physical ability and stamina to perform the essential functions of the position.