Board of Directors
Kelli Houston
Chief Community & Culture Officer, Community Health Plan of WA
She/Her
Kelli Houston comes to us with over 19 years of Diversity Leadership experience across the health and human sector with emphasis on health and racial equity and ensuring that culturally diverse communities live healthier lives and receive the care they need and deserve. Her extensive background working with in health care systems includes work to reduce health disparities. Kelli has led and contributed to Equity and Community efforts with Health Share of Oregon, Seattle Children’s Hospital, PeaceHealth and Kaiser Permanente.
Under her leadership, she has successfully executed strategic planning and implementation diversity and health equity policy and program development that target a set of high-impact priorities, among them; designing long range plans for a patient centered health system improving the quality of care for culturally diverse patients.
Currently, she serves as Chief Community & Culture Officer for Community Health Plan of WA, the leading health plan in WA State, where she is responsible for leading community driven initiatives and organizational culture change for strategic planning and execution across business operations. She is the chair of statewide Equity Council and serves on several community-led committees and boards overseeing key priorities in advancing organizations with an equity in action approach.
Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, she considers Washington state her home state. Kelli holds an MBA, Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management, and professional certification in Women’s Studies from Cornell University. In her spare time, Kelli performed on stage as a standup comedian, auditioning for NBC’s Last Comic Standing. She is “fur mama” to a 13-year-old Japanese bobtail cat named Suzy.