Executive Director: Lifecycle Wellness and Birth Center

Lifecycle Wellness and Birth Center is a unique and dynamic provider of reproductive care, poised to expand our footprint in the Delaware Valley. We seek a director who can recognize and seize opportunities for that expansion.

The Organization

Lifecycle Wellness and Birth Center (LWBC), once known as The Bryn Mawr Birth Center or The Birth Center, is one of the oldest and largest freestanding birth centers in the country. Births take place in our own building, along with GYN care, contraceptive care, pre- and post- menopausal care, childbirth and family education and lactation support. Ours was the first licensed birth center in Pennsylvania, providing exceptional midwifery services for women of all ages, regardless of income, since 1978. We have a commitment to diversity and making our services friendly and comfortable for all families who enroll in our care. A staff of Certified Nurse Midwives and nurses, who continue to attend to our core service of childbirth, has expanded to include health educators, nurse-practitioners and skilled administrators. We have relationships with schools of midwifery and nursing, plus physician residency training, providing a clinical site for the practice of physiologic childbirth. We have a relationship with Bryn Mawr Hospital, where our consulting physicians practice, and where our midwives attend the births of clients who need hospital care.

LWBC is licensed as a 501(c)3 charitable organization, with an annual budget of approximately $5.8 million and 54 individual employees, half of whom work part time. We have sites in Bryn Mawr and South Philadelphia (out-patient only) and are developing a new birth center in Abington PA. Since 1978 over 15,000 babies have been born under the care of LWBC midwives; we anticipate averaging approximately 49 per month in 2024. In addition, we anticipate approximately 400 home visits, 3600 GYN and 900 lactation visits. Appointment hours are provided six days a week and birth services are offered around the clock. Revenue is generated primarily from fee-for-service health insurance company payments, supplemented by individual donations and foundation support. The Board of Directors is actively involved in strategic planning and development.

Position Overview

The Executive Director (ED) will oversee LWBC’s operations, including financial oversight, budget, payroll, Human Resources, administrative and professional staff, contracts, and physical plant, and compliance with accreditation and healthcare requirements and regulations. In addition, the ED will be the public face of LWBC, interacting with health systems, insurance companies, hospital administrators and donors. Working in concert with the Board and staff, the ED will work toward achieving a goal of serving more people in a complex healthcare environment, promoting the ideals of physiologic birth and midwifery care throughout the lifecycle.

The position calls for a versatile, hands-on professional with a broad base of knowledge, strong business and negotiation skills, financial acumen, and sophisticated interpersonal skills. The ED must have the flexibility, self-confidence and adaptability to work in an evolving organization with a dedicated staff that has deep content expertise and responsibilities. The ED must function successfully in a highly interactive culture, where senior staff and the ED make many collaborative decisions. The position calls for an on-site presence and active engagement with staff, our partners and potential partners.

Strong applicants will demonstrate their commitment to the valuable history of the organization and it’s intimate, personal and empowering approach to health care while also carrying these fundamentals into a new growth phase for LWBC. Must have a vision for scaling the services provided without compromising the personalized approach that makes LWBC unique and successful.

Position Responsibilities

• Lead strategy and direction in partnership with the Board to further advance LWBC’s role as a leading reproductive health organization; position the organization as a desired and respected model for community-based healthcare and educational services. Explore and implement various prospective growth strategies.
• Oversee all organization functions, including the executive office, clinical operations, human resources, finance, grants, fundraising, etc. to facilitate optimal operational performance, assure continual quality, minimize risk and execute improvement opportunities
• Set priorities with staff and outside consultants regarding resources and support for ongoing and new expansion projects.
• Negotiate contracts with commercial heath care insurers and vendors to maximize revenue and minimize costs.
• Analyze budgetary information and assess organizational capacity.
• Strengthen and diversify the organization’s funding sources.
• Broaden LWBC’s visibility and continue to create academic, hospital and corporate partnerships.
• Cultivate and sustain strong working relationships with policy makers and other nonprofit peers, experts, and the general public.
• Incorporate the changing healthcare landscape into the organizational plan.
• Lead the organization’s ability to both measure and communicate impact.
• Provide guidance and vision to the staff leadership team during period of potential expansion.
• Collaborate with and inform Board of Directors of all critical decisions.

Professional Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree is required, relevant advanced degree is preferred.
• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in the nonprofit healthcare and/or business sectors with a proven record of achievement.
• Understanding of principles of the midwifery model of care to clients; commitment to a community-based, holistic model of health.
• Experience in fostering diversity, equity and inclusion at all levels of an organization: within the Board of Directors and Staff, and also with LWBC clients and their families who are quite diverse with regard to race, ethnicity, gender identity, religious observance, family structure and self-identified health care preferences.
• Experience or working knowledge of health care operations including provision of quality patient care, maintenance of physician relations, and clinical policy and procedure development
• Ability to assure that the organization meets Federal and state regulatory requirements, and national accreditation standards.
• Must be familiar with non-profit finance and management; experience working with a Board of Directors.
• Working knowledge to provide oversight of the revenue cycle, insurance reimbursement methodologies, budgeting, contract maintenance, inventory management, and human resource services.
• Successful track record of resource and fund development.

Personal Qualifications:

• Excellent judgment and creative problem-solving skills including negotiation and conflict resolution skills
• Self-reliant, good problem solver, results oriented, sense of humor.
• Track record of fostering collegiality in the workplace.
• Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills, and the ability to effectively interface with the Board of Directors, staff and outside constituents.
• Entrepreneurial team player who can multitask.
• Ability to operate as an effective tactical as well as strategic thinker.
• Honest and sincere with high standards of personal integrity.

Benefits