Holly McCann is Executive Vice President of Strategy & Growth at Carenet Health, leading enterprise payer strategy across a global delivery network. Across 30+ years in outsourcing and customer experience at Xerox, Conduent, Sykes, and Teleperformance, she has always worked from one belief: performance and people aren’t a trade-off. That conviction was forged at Xerox, known for exceptional leadership development, an inclusive culture, and strong female leadership.
Today, she partners with healthcare organizations to design intelligent engagement models that make healthcare work better for the people inside it. A proud WVU alum in Communications and Software Development, based in Atlanta and active in WBL, Holly is happiest playing golf with her husband and dogs nearby.
How did your career in healthcare start?
My career started working night shifts in a windowless data center, punching cards and hanging tape: not glamorous, but foundational. The CIO of one of the country’s largest banks saw commercial potential in me before I saw it in myself and bet on the “quiet girl” in the data center, which changed everything.
Healthcare came later, after decades across data, systems, global delivery, and enterprise growth. It wasn’t the starting point, but it’s become the most meaningful chapter. Better execution in our industry isn’t abstract — it changes how people access, understand, and experience care. That matters to me.
What is one lesson you learned in your early career that is still relevant today?
Be agile enough to embrace the curve in the road, potholes included. Years ago, I landed a massive deal with a marquee client. Shortly after, I was caught in a RIF; the company was cutting top earners. I thought it was the end. It wasn’t. The next year was the highest-producing of my career, building a program for a top 5 payer from net zero to $125M+ in revenue, with a hand-selected team of cross-functional experts who embraced the strategy and delivered 3,500 health advisors across three countries in 18 months.
Then, leadership challenged my integrity. I walked. That line doesn’t move, not for any role, not for any number. I rebuilt at another company with another payer and delivered again. Luck plays a part, but experience, planning, and a refusal to fold are the real winning combination. Some people pride themselves on seeing around corners. I’d rather run around them… with panache! (Feathers optional, but encouraged.)
How do you bridge healthcare and technology to drive impact?
In healthcare, technology has to earn its place — operational reality, regulatory pressure, and the practical question of whether it really makes the work better. Good intent isn’t enough. I build technology-led, data-rich global delivery models for first-mile engagement and communications. Having served two-thirds of the Fortune 500, I now translate that cross-industry CX into the industry most dependent on care. I’m not a clinician, but the first mile is where care is built or broken, and that’s the ground where I do my best work. Looking forward, I’m fusing AI into the builds: highly personalized, compassionate experiences where health advisors focus on care, not on digging through systems for answers. Faster to deliver, built to scale, lower in cost. Human at the center.
What might the WBL network be surprised to know about you?
Most people meet me and see the big personality first. Energy, humor, urgency, and a healthy intolerance for “status quo.” I’ve learned not to sand any of that down, but here’s what might surprise them: I think best on paper. Me, my sketchbook, a pencil. Lifting my eyes from the screen, drawing the problem, watching it take shape in my own hand. That’s where I find space to breathe, and where the answer usually emerges. A good day shows up with smudges on my face and hands!
