Ann Leinfelder Grove has spent over 30 years at
Wellpoint Care Network in various roles. Next year, she will be saying goodbye.
Leinfelder Grove is the chief executive officer at Wellpoint, a Milwaukee-based human services agency formerly known as
SaintA. She anticipates she will officially retire a few months after her successor has been named, meaning she will likely retire in the first half of 2025, Leinfelder Grove said. She has served as president and CEO since 2018.
Her retirement comes at a time when a major renovation of Wellpoint’s campus is nearing its end. Wellpoint issued $12.5 million in revenue bonds through the Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority (WHEFA) for the project.
“(The renovation) provides us with the workspace for our hybrid remote employees, and it also increasingly is a convening place for other organizations in our area,” Leinfelder Grove told BizTimes. “We see that the campus can evolve to be in this neighborhood, a place for neighbors to come. We’ll have recreational walking paths. We are really desiring to open the doors up and invite people into a building that was designed 70 years ago to be much more institutional and not as welcoming.”
BizTimes reporter Samantha Dietel spoke with Leinfelder Grove about Wellpoint’s evolution over the years, as well as her career achievements and legacy. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
BizTimes: You’ve been with this organization for over 30 years. What made you stick around?
Leinfelder Grove: “I have stayed with this organization because in these 30 plus years, I have always felt like we were creating new ways to support the community, that we were bringing innovation to our work and our desire to work alongside the people in our care, especially through the lens of trauma-informed care, which is a framework we developed here within our organization, but one which we teach and train around the country. There was just always something exciting happening that reflected new research, new information, new ways to serve children and families.”
How has Wellpoint grown or evolved since you first started working there?
“When I began those many years ago, we were primarily a residential treatment center for boys, and at that time, we served about 130 or so young people on any given day. Now we're serving 6,000 people, most of them in southeastern Wisconsin, some throughout our state of Wisconsin, and as I mentioned, related to the training, also some work across the country. So it has grown exponentially, as has the staff, where we have almost 350 employees working with us. So over those many years, lots of change and growth.”
When you look back at the work you’ve done with Wellpoint, what are you most proud of?
“A few things. I'm most proud that we took a leadership role in bringing trauma-informed care to human service organizations. Trauma-informed care is the philosophy and practice that teaches us that when difficulty happens to people, especially children, it affects them potentially over the course of their life. So impressing upon all of our staff and many others how important it is to understand somebody else’s story. To date, we've trained almost 80,000 people in trauma-informed care. That includes law enforcement officers, teachers, health care providers, judges and legislators, lots of people who serve the community who have benefited from understanding about the impact of trauma on the people that they’re working with. So I’m very proud of that, and I see the difference that it makes in how we approach the people who are in our programs and in our care.
“I’m also proud of our long-standing commitment to diversity. Long before George Floyd, a commitment to a diverse workforce. And in many of our programs, our workforce mirrors the population of people we serve, which is very rare and very important to be able to come alongside somebody who can appreciate your story. So that drive for a workplace culture that embraces differences, that aspires to inclusion, that's the second thing that I'm most proud of. And the third thing I would say is our constant commitment to education and training of our staff to learn the new things that are available for us in our practice, so that we’re truly operating with excellence, that we are engaging the people we serve with the very best evidence-based innovations, and that we do so with humility. That we engage the community, our neighbors and constituents that are close to our facility, that we’re just in a state of curiosity and support for the community's needs.”
Tell me about the various roles you’ve had through the years at Wellpoint, and how they may have influenced the work you did as CEO.
“Well over those many years, I have had responsibility from a leadership lens for all of the various programs that we provide. So child and family well-being, child welfare support, mental health services, training and consultation, all of the ways that we serve the community. I’ve had the opportunity to have initial leadership roles, and then gradually was increasing responsibility. So COO, executive vice president. All the way back to the beginning, I was a part-time manager of our volunteer services program where we invited community members to serve as volunteers for our organization. So from that 20-hour-a-week role to the role I have now, I’ve had the chance to grow with and influence the growth of our organization.”
How would you describe the legacy you will be leaving behind at Wellpoint?
“Legacy is a big word, right? I would reflect that the legacy of any leader is the people who are here, still doing the good work after I retire. So a legacy is a strong team of leaders to guide the organization, a legacy of passionate employees who choose to do this important work in human services that are choosing to make a difference in the professional role that that they choose. Trauma-informed care is very much a part of my passion, my own professional development and my legacy. And I really do hope that my legacy includes understanding of the role that our community engagement efforts and diversity efforts are really reflective of who Wellpoint is today.”
What’s the most meaningful lesson you’ve learned during your career at Wellpoint?
“Humility. To always seek to understand different perspectives as it relates to the work that we do with the people in our care, those that are in our programs. To always seek to understand who they are and what their life story was before we met them, and to not judge, but to try to engage in a way that is authentic and humble. We can’t walk in somebody else's shoes, but we can be curious and compassionate enough to learn about them in ways that help us support their journey.”
What do you hope to see in the next CEO?
“I hope that the next CEO has a compassion for the community. I hope that the next CEO will recognize and then embrace the talent of the workforce, of our employees at Wellpoint. And I hope that the new leader brings fresh perspectives, things that perhaps we haven't considered on our evolution so far, that might align with our mission and vision, but freshen things up or introduce new ways that we can serve the community.”
