Scaling a Mission-Driven Culture through Transformational Growth

The
Client

Medica, one of the largest nonprofit health plans in the Upper Midwest.

Founded by Twin Cities physicians in 1975 and headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Medica provides employer, individual, Medicaid, and Medicare coverage. Following its acquisition of certain UCare contracts and assets, the mission-driven organization now serves approximately 1.7 million members across nine states while remaining focused on high-quality, affordable care and the communities it serves.

The Challenge

Building a sustainable talent foundation after transformational growth

The UCare transaction accelerated growth objectives that had been expected to unfold over several years. Within a remarkably short period, Medica was operating with greater scale, complexity, and risk.

The People Team had supported the organization well through rapid change, but core capabilities needed to evolve. Talent acquisition was filling nearly 700 positions annually through manual processes, while learning and development, succession planning, performance management, leadership expectations, and employee listening required modernization.

Medica sought an executive who could move the organization from relationship-driven practices to scalable enterprise frameworks without losing its mission-driven culture or adding to the change fatigue already felt across the business.

The Solution

Recruiting a practical talent executive to unify strategy, systems, and culture

We partnered closely with Medica’s Chief People Officer and executive team to help define a new Vice President of Talent & Culture role with enterprise-wide scope.

The ideal executive needed to be equal parts strategist and working leader, capable of creating a multi-year talent roadmap, advising the executive leadership team and Board, and delivering meaningful wins along the way. They would modernize talent acquisition, build an integrated talent and learning ecosystem, strengthen performance and succession practices, and connect culture, technology, and workforce strategy.

Using our PrecisionPath™ search delivery model, we unearthed talent leaders with significant enterprise experience who could still build with creativity and pragmatism. Our deep-dive assessments differentiated true talent architects from program managers by examining each candidate’s ability to build systems, lead through influence, and translate people strategies into practical business tools.

The Outcome

A transformation-tested talent executive with a rare blend of scale and builder capability.

“Laura Prebarich and the Cultura team is hands down the best search partner I have ever worked with in my career, and I've worked with a lot. From the overall experience, communication, everything - anyone I can tell about Cultura, I will do just that, because they need to know!"

Following a carefully curated candidate presentation, Medica selected an accomplished talent executive with more than 25 years of experience spanning non-profit mental health, higher education, retail, and global manufacturing.

She spent nearly 13 years at 3M, progressing through global talent, strategy, and organizational transformation roles before becoming Senior Vice President and Chief Talent & Diversity Officer. She led enterprise talent strategy for more than 90,000 employees, spanning workforce planning, talent acquisition, learning, leadership, culture, and diversity, while modernizing recruiting through AI and automation.

She holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Macalester College.

With the enterprise rigor to design for scale and the hands-on mindset to build, she is ideally positioned to help Medica create the talent systems, leadership capability, and culture required for its next chapter.

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