Full Name
Vernita Todd
Company
San Ysidro Health
Speaker Bio
Vernita Todd is the Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for San Ysidro Health; a large Federally Qualified Health Center and PACE program in San Diego, California; serving more than 110,000 SoCal residents per year.
In this role since 2019, she leads SYH in identifying, aligning, and executing strategic opportunities for growth and optimization; the creation and implementation of the company’s strategic planning process; building relationships and linkages to enhance SYH’s success in the market, and advocating for sensible policy and regulatory change that promotes equity for patients and sustainability for the health center.
Vernita began her first job in California in 2016 as the Chief Experience Officer for Health Center Partners of Southern California, a consortium of 17 federally qualified health centers. Her priorities included ensuring members had a seat and a voice at the table for emerging policy discussions and issues impacting primary care, developing actionable relationships among both elected officials and their staff at all levels of government, and working in partnership with national and state primary care associations to advance health center priorities.
The love of the health center movement began for Vernita in 2005, when she became the CEO of Heart City Health Center. After training board members, providing leadership development, and assisting with the strategic plan as a consultant, Todd took over the small community health center as its official leader in 2005. She can tout remarkable achievement during her tenure there, growing the patient population by 200%, achieving FQHC and PCMH3 status, winning state-wide quality awards, and leading a financial turnaround that made the company debt-free within five years. After a 10-year career as the CEO for Heart City Health Center and six years of training nonprofit organizations in Indiana, Vernita and her husband relocated to San Diego California in 2016
Todd is a lifetime member of the National Association of Community Health Centers and has been honored twice by the national association: In 2014, she was presented with the Elizabeth K. Cooke Advocacy MVP Award; and in 2017 Vernita was inducted into NACHC’s Grassroots Hall of Fame for her advocacy work.
Vernita Largin Todd President/Founder of the Human Capital Group, which works with nonprofit organizations in strategic planning and change management is a frequently requested keynote and motivational speaker.
Over the course of her career, Todd has served on numerous boards: Chair of the Indiana Primary Health Care Association, Governance Chair and Board Member for Oaklawn Psychiatric Center, and board member for Goshen Hospital. In 2022, she was appointed by the state legislature’s Senate Rules Committee to serve as a trustee on the newly established Health Care Access & Information Commission (HCAI) Currently, she is a board member and Executive Committee member of the American Association of Teaching Health Centers (AATCH) in Washington, DC and a board member of Health Outreach Partners (located in Oakland, CA) as well as the Vice-Chair of the San Diego Chamber Health Committee.
A native of Clarksville, Tennessee, Vernita Largin Todd is the daughter of James and Sinclair Largin and a 1986 graduate of Northeast High School. Todd holds a 2007 master's degree of business administration from Davenport University in Michigan, a 1998 master’s degree in organizational communication, and a 1996 bachelor's degree in psychology from Murray State University in Kentucky. Vernita is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
In this role since 2019, she leads SYH in identifying, aligning, and executing strategic opportunities for growth and optimization; the creation and implementation of the company’s strategic planning process; building relationships and linkages to enhance SYH’s success in the market, and advocating for sensible policy and regulatory change that promotes equity for patients and sustainability for the health center.
Vernita began her first job in California in 2016 as the Chief Experience Officer for Health Center Partners of Southern California, a consortium of 17 federally qualified health centers. Her priorities included ensuring members had a seat and a voice at the table for emerging policy discussions and issues impacting primary care, developing actionable relationships among both elected officials and their staff at all levels of government, and working in partnership with national and state primary care associations to advance health center priorities.
The love of the health center movement began for Vernita in 2005, when she became the CEO of Heart City Health Center. After training board members, providing leadership development, and assisting with the strategic plan as a consultant, Todd took over the small community health center as its official leader in 2005. She can tout remarkable achievement during her tenure there, growing the patient population by 200%, achieving FQHC and PCMH3 status, winning state-wide quality awards, and leading a financial turnaround that made the company debt-free within five years. After a 10-year career as the CEO for Heart City Health Center and six years of training nonprofit organizations in Indiana, Vernita and her husband relocated to San Diego California in 2016
Todd is a lifetime member of the National Association of Community Health Centers and has been honored twice by the national association: In 2014, she was presented with the Elizabeth K. Cooke Advocacy MVP Award; and in 2017 Vernita was inducted into NACHC’s Grassroots Hall of Fame for her advocacy work.
Vernita Largin Todd President/Founder of the Human Capital Group, which works with nonprofit organizations in strategic planning and change management is a frequently requested keynote and motivational speaker.
Over the course of her career, Todd has served on numerous boards: Chair of the Indiana Primary Health Care Association, Governance Chair and Board Member for Oaklawn Psychiatric Center, and board member for Goshen Hospital. In 2022, she was appointed by the state legislature’s Senate Rules Committee to serve as a trustee on the newly established Health Care Access & Information Commission (HCAI) Currently, she is a board member and Executive Committee member of the American Association of Teaching Health Centers (AATCH) in Washington, DC and a board member of Health Outreach Partners (located in Oakland, CA) as well as the Vice-Chair of the San Diego Chamber Health Committee.
A native of Clarksville, Tennessee, Vernita Largin Todd is the daughter of James and Sinclair Largin and a 1986 graduate of Northeast High School. Todd holds a 2007 master's degree of business administration from Davenport University in Michigan, a 1998 master’s degree in organizational communication, and a 1996 bachelor's degree in psychology from Murray State University in Kentucky. Vernita is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Speaking At
