Vicki Shepard

President, Paragon Strategies

 

Vicki is the founder and President of Paragon Strategies, LLC. The group consults with business and non-profit organizations in developing actions to support aging, health and well-being solutions and strategies.

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Vicki brings extensive experience in both government and the private sector. She has held prominent leadership positions, conducted successful business development efforts, and advanced strong partnerships with stakeholder groups and government officials. She serves on several industry, association, and non-profit boards and manages political and policy agendas for clients.  She is a founding member of Women Business Leaders in Healthcare.

Vicki’s private sector experience has included Tivity Health where she was in the Office of the CEO and ran Government Relations and External Partnerships and EDS (now HP) where she was Vice President of Healthcare Industry and Government Solutions for North American with a portfolio over $1.6 billion. Vicki the Healthy Aging Coalition, a 70 member stakeholder group committed to networking and pro-active policy for an aging nation which has just celebrated its five year anniversary.

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Vicki was a presidential appointee for five years serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  She participated in Secretary and White House sessions on  a variety of subjects, including aging and disability, health reform and welfare reform.

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Before coming to Washington, she served a Chief Deputy Director the California Department of Aging and Long-Term Care and held a variety of public sector leadership positions on a local level, including serving as the director for health and human services and community action programs.  Vicki was also a professor of graduate social work students at San Jose state University. 

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Vicki is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and has a master’s degree in Social Work and a master’s degree in Public Administration. She has received numerous awards for her leadership, including the Monty Alumni award from San Diego State University and most recently the Pioneer Award from the National Association of Social Workers. She is also an active volunteer with the American Heart Association where she was the 2022 GO RED champion for women’s heart health.

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