The Wellforce Health System is pleased to share that Rosa Colon-Kolacko, PhD, MBA, CDM, SHRM-SCP will join Wellforce as our first Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer.
Our national search for this position attracted the attention of numerous highly-qualified candidates from both health care and other industries. Rosa stood out to the search committee and all who interviewed her because of her energy, passion for health equity and deep DE&I experience in health care and other sectors. She was described by those who know her as a “builder” – someone who likes to take on big challenges that require new thinking and extensive collaboration. Rosa has more than 25 years of experience leading diversity, inclusion, and equity strategies, change management teams and other human resource functions across different industries, the country and globally. She was the Chief Diversity Officer and SVP of the Learning Institute at Christiana Care Health System in Delaware and SVP and Chief People Officer at NY City Health + Hospital. She also ran her own diversity and global learning consulting firm, with a client list including Jefferson Health and Baptist Health South Florida. At Bristol Myers-Squibb she was the Global Director for Change Management and Learning. She also is a researcher and has held academic positions at Bowling Green State University, Georgetown University, and for the last four years Rosa has been Adjunct Professor at Thomas Jefferson University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
A multi-cultural and multi-lingual leader, Rosa will partner with all Wellforce members to further embrace diversity, build cultural intelligence, and create an environment that values and supports all who work here. She will also help us achieve our goal of an unmatched customer experience by ensuring that all patients and their families feel respected and receive the highest quality of care. Rosa will be a critical liaison between the system and our communities, helping us better understand the disparities that exist and how we can be part of the solution.