When you work with Cary Sullivan, there’s one thing you can be certain she’ll say a lot: “I’ll take it on.”
Sullivan started working in healthcare for a physician practice at just 16, then she landed a spot at an HMO in Buffalo, New York when she was 21. She says the HMO had great vision and it was a perfect fit for her. Sullivan worked in the member services department and then central medical administration, and because she was doing a job that was new and undefined she moved desks frequently. At one point she ended up at a desk in the MIS department – surrounded by graduate students (one of the HMO’s founders taught at SUNY). She joined in football betting pools with the MIS department. She even baked for them. In return, they taught her how the databases were organized. She became proficient at pulling data and presenting graphs that told a story with data. It was undoubtedly a win-win.
