Bridging Strategy and Execution Through Collaborative Delivery
Bridging Strategy and Execution Through Collaborative Delivery
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Business Need
Business Need
Peoples Health, a leading Medicare Advantage organization in its geographic market, was working toward the highest quality standard in its industry—an achievement tied to customer satisfaction, care outcomes, and significant financial incentives.
To support this goal, the organization had more than 100 high-visibility strategic initiatives underway with strict regulatory timelines. Brenda was brought in to help shape a consultative Project Management Office (PMO) approach that would provide executives, vice presidents, and functional leaders with greater alignment, visibility, and support to effectively plan and deliver these initiatives.
Challenges
Challenges
Capacity constraints: Directors and managers were balancing strategic initiatives alongside daily operational responsibilities, creating capacity challenges for managing timelines, approvals, dependencies, and cross-functional coordination.
Adoption and standardization: While more than 80 employees had received training on the project management tool, adoption remained limited, highlighting the need for practical workflows and processes that reflected how teams actually worked. The organization also lacked enterprise-wide visibility into its 100+ active projects, including scope, complexity, business value, and strategic alignment.
PMO maturity: The newly established PMO was operating without dedicated resources or an established operating model, requiring a scalable approach to support its mission.
Approach
Approach
Brenda built the PMO from the ground up using a people-first, iterative approach:
People: Engaged 30 directors, managers, and team members to understand operational realities, identify challenges, and design PMO support around user needs.
Process: Provided hands-on coaching and guidance across the project lifecycle, helping leaders adopt practical project management practices while building trust and demonstrating value.
Tools: Partnered with the Education & Training team to evaluate tool adoption challenges and led usability testing with seven pilot users, informing improvements for both standalone and enterprise versions.
Results
Results
Supported achievement of the organization’s highest quality recognition standard, contributing to $10 million in additional revenue.
Enabled delivery of strategic programs on time, within scope, and within budget.
Improved enterprise-wide visibility and alignment across 100+ initiatives through centralized project inventory, analysis, and performance tracking.
Validated a user-centered PMO model that balanced governance, collaboration, and practical support.
Developed three tool prototypes that surfaced workflow blockers, non-value-added activities, and process improvement opportunities.
Expanded PMO capabilities by supporting the hiring and mentoring of project coordinators equipped with user-focused project management practices.
This engagement demonstrates how thoughtful organizational design, collaborative leadership, and practical execution frameworks can help teams align around strategic priorities and deliver measurable outcomes.
“With the implementation of the PMO office, Peoples Health was able to establish six new clinics and achieve a Five Star rating within the targeted two-year timeframe. This was in great measure due to the coordination and leadership of the project management team led by PMO manager Brenda Lee Hernandez.”
Dan Thomas, Assistant VP PMO, Peoples Health
"Brenda was my mentor when I was just starting my career in project management. She taught me how to implement cross-functional projects with diverse stakeholders. In addition to on-the-job coaching, she tutored me in preparation of my CAPM exam and gave me the confidence to pass. The lessons I learned from her help me be a more efficient team member and directly contribute to the success of a project."
Jessica Harrison, CAPM, Marketing & Regulatory, Peoples Health, now Manager Compliance at Ochsner Health
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