IOA is on the forefront of revolutionary healthcare models, reshaping the way people can age in place. Our innovative models transform lives, enhance communities, and save healthcare systems millions of dollars. Rather than focusing on archaic outdated design, we strive to consistently question the “status-quo” and create new and more innovative ways to help aging adults and adults with disabilities maintain their quality of life.
With over 23 programs, we offer multiple ways to aid seniors maintain their health, well-being, independence and participation in the community, fulfilling our mission.
Institute on Aging (IOA) is seeking an entrepreneurial, mission-driven behavioral health leader to build the next generation of social connection and behavioral health services for older adults.
This is not a traditional clinical or program leadership role. Friendship Line, one of the nation's longest-standing crisis and emotional support lines for older adults, will serve as an important foundation and front door to a broader continuum of services. This leader will take the work well beyond the traditional Friendship Line model—developing, testing, implementing, and scaling evidence-based and evidence-informed services that may include group interventions, peer and paraprofessional supports, behavioral health services, navigation, community-based programs, and technology-enabled approaches.
Working closely with IOA executive leadership and strategic partners, including a major health care organization, the Sr. Director, Social Connection & Behavioral Health Innovation will translate an ambitious vision into a scalable and financially sustainable operating model. This includes building new programs and teams, developing health plan and payer partnerships, establishing reimbursable services, and pursuing Medi-Cal/Medicaid, Medicare, value-based care, private-pay, philanthropic, and other sustainable funding pathways.
The successful candidate will combine deep behavioral health expertise with the mindset of a builder. They will be entrepreneurial, curious, creative, evidence-driven, and comfortable testing new approaches. They will also be an exceptional communicator and servant leader who can inspire teams, build strong partnerships, and become a compelling external voice for IOA's work addressing loneliness, social isolation, and behavioral health among older adults.
Key Responsibilities
Strategy, Innovation & Growth
- Develop and execute the strategic vision for IOA's behavioral health and social connection division.
- Build a broader continuum of services with Friendship Line serving as a front door to additional supports.
- Identify, design, test, evaluate, and scale new evidence-based and evidence-informed programs and service models.
- Create a culture of curiosity, thoughtful experimentation, continuous learning, and innovation.
- Develop a multi-year roadmap for growth, impact, and financial sustainability.
- Stay current on emerging interventions, technologies, reimbursement models, and innovations in behavioral health, social connection, and healthy aging.
Behavioral Health, Quality & Outcomes
- Provide senior behavioral health leadership and subject matter expertise across the division.
- Guide the selection, adaptation, implementation, and evaluation of behavioral health interventions for older adults.
- Ensure services are clinically sound, person-centered, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and grounded in evidence.
- Establish appropriate clinical oversight, supervision, escalation, and risk-management structures across services and workforce models.
- Develop meaningful measures of behavioral health outcomes, loneliness and social connection, participant experience, quality, access, equity, and financial performance.
- Use data and evidence to continuously improve programs and determine what should be scaled, modified, or discontinued.
Business Development & Financial Sustainability
- Build and scale a financially sustainable portfolio of behavioral health and social connection services.
- Develop business plans, financial models, and growth strategies for new and existing service lines.
- Lead and grow programs or service lines with multi-million-dollar annual operating budgets or revenue.
- Develop reimbursement and contracting strategies across Medi-Cal/Medicaid, Medicare and Medicare Advantage, managed care, health systems, value-based arrangements, private pay, philanthropy, and other funding sources.
- Partner with internal teams to build the billing, contracting, technology, data, and operational infrastructure needed to support growth.
Strategic Partnerships & External Leadership
- Serve as a senior IOA leader for a significant strategic partnership with a major health care organization and other key external relationships.
- Build trusted partnerships with health plans, health systems, government, community organizations, academic institutions, and funders.
- Translate partnership commitments into operational plans, milestones, and measurable outcomes.
- Serve as a compelling storyteller and ambassador for IOA's work addressing loneliness, social isolation, behavioral health, and healthy aging.
- Represent IOA with healthcare leaders, funders, policymakers, community partners, and other external audiences.
Friendship Line & Operational Leadership
- Provide strategic and operational leadership for Friendship Line, ensuring the continued quality, safety, and integrity of its core services.
- Position Friendship Line as a trusted front door to a broader continuum of social connection and behavioral health supports.
- Strengthen referral pathways, follow-up, navigation, and connections to additional services.
- Preserve the human connection at the heart of Friendship Line while thoughtfully exploring new service modalities and technologies.
- Build the workflows, staffing models, systems, policies, and performance standards necessary to support the division's growth.
People Leadership & Culture
- Recruit, develop, and inspire a high-performing multidisciplinary team of clinical professionals, peers, paraprofessionals, program leaders, volunteers, and operational staff.
- Lead as a servant leader who develops others, invites different perspectives, and creates accountability.
- Foster a culture of mission, innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning.
- Effectively lead teams through growth, change, ambiguity, and organizational transformation.
Required Qualifications
- Advanced degree in behavioral health or mental health, such as PsyD, PhD in psychology, MSW, MFT, or another closely related discipline.
- Significant behavioral health or mental health experience, with strong knowledge of clinical practice, interventions, risk, quality, and evidence-based care.
- 8 plus years of progressively responsible leadership experience with responsibility for people, programs, operations, and financial performance.
- Demonstrated success building, growing, scaling, or transforming a program, service line, or business with a multi-million-dollar annual operating budget or revenue.
- Demonstrated entrepreneurial experience launching new services, programs, partnerships, or business models.
- Strong business and financial acumen, including budgeting, business planning, growth strategy, and performance management.
- Exceptional communication, storytelling, relationship-building, and partnership-management skills.
- Demonstrated success building and developing high-performing teams.
Preferred Qualifications
- Active California behavioral health/mental health licensure strongly preferred (e.g., Psychologist, LCSW, LMFT, or other applicable clinical license).
- Experience with older adults and/or knowledge of aging, loneliness, social isolation, and related behavioral health needs.
- Experience with health plans, managed care, population health, or value-based care.
- Knowledge of Medi-Cal/Medicaid, Medicare, healthcare contracting, billing, and reimbursement.
- Experience developing or scaling reimbursable behavioral health or community-based services.
- Experience with evidence-based interventions, peer to peer support, community health workers, or paraprofessional workforce models.
Leadership Profile
The ideal candidate is:
- A builder and entrepreneur. Energized by creating something new and able to turn ideas into scalable, sustainable programs.
- Deeply grounded in behavioral health. Brings the clinical credibility and judgment necessary to innovate responsibly.
- Business-minded. Understands that lasting impact requires sustainable revenue, strong operations, disciplined growth, and measurable performance.
- Evidence-driven and curious. Values evidence-based practice, measurement, experimentation, and continuous learning.
- An exceptional storyteller and ambassador. Can inspire team members, partners, funders, healthcare leaders, and communities around a compelling vision.
- A servant leader. Leads with humility and accountability, develops others, and builds strong teams.
The Opportunity
Loneliness and social isolation are increasingly recognized as significant health and behavioral health challenges for older adults. IOA has a unique opportunity to build on decades of experience through Friendship Line while creating something much broader: an integrated, scalable continuum of behavioral health and social connection services.
For the right leader, this is an opportunity not simply to manage an existing program, but to build the next generation of behavioral health and social connection services for older adults.
COMPENSATION:
Range: $ 195,000 to $210,000/annual
This amount is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific employee, which is always dependent on actual experience, education and other factors.
This range does not include any additional equity, benefits, or other non-monetary compensation which may be included.
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