Carmela Castellano-Garcia, California Primary Care Association CEO, reveals some of the strategies she has been applying for 23 years to develop the next generation leaders.
Here some of the strategies she mentioned:
- Create career paths for people to move up within the organization
- Focus on internal leadership development for the C-Suite
- Adopting and implementing a diversity policy
- Encouraging independent and creative thinking
- Motivate women to take a proactive and bold approach to their careers
- How women can take bold steps to take initiatives
- Leading with purpose and vision
Carmela has been committed to advancing multi-cultural health policy issues for nearly 30 years, focusing on areas such as cultural and linguistic competency in health care delivery, ensuring the viability of safety net providers, health care reform, and access to care for vulnerable populations.
Primary Care Association (CPCA), overseeing a membership association of approximately 1,370 nonprofits, community clinics, and health centers (CCHCs) which serve nearly 7.4 million patients a year.
Prior to joining CPCA, Carmela served as the Founder and Executive Director of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California (LCHC), a healthcare policy and advocacy organization seeking to improve access to health and human services for California’s Latino population.
She was the Executive Director in 1992-1997 and she served as the Volunteer Executive Director in 2011, wherein she played a leadership role in ensuring the continued vitality of the organization.
Carmela’s legal background includes six years as a Staff Attorney and Managing Attorney with Public Advocates, Inc., a public interest law firm in San Francisco. She has litigated in the areas of employment discrimination, insurance redlining, and ensuring access to the information superhighway for California’s minority, low-income populations.
Carmela is a founder and continues to serve on the Board of the California Health Information Partnership and Services Organization (CalHIPSO), the Regional Extension Center for California. She also sits on the Board of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California (LCHC), and the National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP). She also serves on a number of Advisory Boards, including Insure the Uninsured Project (ITUP), California Program on Access to Care (CPAC), and the Health Initiative of the Americas (HIA).
