Annette Walker
Executive Vice President, Strategic Services
St. Joseph Health
Ms. Walker is executive vice president, strategic services for St. Joseph Health (SJH). In this role, she is responsible for the strategy, business development, marketing and communications. Bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience, she works directly with senior executives and physicians throughout SJH to develop, support, and implement the strategic objectives and competitive positioning of the health ministry. She also has executive responsibility for the system-wide implementation of Toyota Lean strategies and the Physician Leadership Council, which brings together physician executives from across the system.
Prior to joining the health system in 2005, Ms. Walker served as senior vice president of strategy and physician integration for MemorialCare, a six-hospital system serving Southern California. In that role, she developed the physician engagement and business strategies that made MemorialCare one the most recognized health care "brands" in the region.
She previously served in various leadership operational roles in quality management, professional development, human resources, radiology, case management, infection control and laboratory services.
The author of numerous articles on the promotion of health care quality, and a featured speaker for national healthcare organizations, she has received considerable recognition and nationwide honors for her work, including Modern Healthcare's Innovation in Healthcare Technology Award, the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development Banner Award, the California Hospital Association's Ritz E. Herman Innovator Award, and the Hospitals and Health Networks Innovator Award.
She currently serves on the boards of trustees for SJH's Santa Rosa Memorial and Petaluma Valley hospitals, and the CSJ Educational Network, a ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange that collaborates on the Church's mission in education through a network of Catholic elementary schools across the state of California.
She holds a master's degree in healthcare administration from the University of Minneapolis (1995) and a B.S. in biology from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles (1979).