Mary O’Hara
Mary O’Hara is the executive vice president, people and engagement, at Blue Shield of California, a nonprofit health plan with $22.9 billion in annual revenue serving 4.7 million members in the state’s commercial, individual, and government markets.
Since joining Blue Shield in 2013, O’Hara has grown her success record with over 25 years of experience leading award-winning talent and development strategies across large enterprises. She is responsible for people strategy, leadership development, diversity equity and inclusion, enterprise-wide learning, and the employee experience for 7,900 employees across California. She also heads internal and executive communications, corporate citizenship, and reputation, that dovetail with people and engagement strategies. O’Hara is a member of the Chief Executive Officer Direct Leadership team, contributing expert opinions and change strategies, including an enterprise human-capital plan.
O’Hara is a distinguished talent expert and global human resources executive advisor to boards, chief executive officers, and senior teams. She is a recognized thought leader of systemic change through people strategies that advance culture and distinctively position organizations.
Prior to her tenure with Blue Shield, she spent seven years as senior vice president of human resources with Toronto-based TD Bank Financial Group. Before that, she spent ten years as vice president of human resources at Bell Canada Enterprises.
O’Hara’s activities in industry organizations include: keynote speaker for University of Southern California’s (USC) Marshall School of Business; serving on USC’s Corporate Advisory Board, in addition to the Advisory Board of Marshall’s Center for Effective Organizations; board member of Altais, chairing their Compensation and HR Committee; and, served as Advisory Council member with Royal Roads University’s School of Leadership Studies.
O’Hara earned a Master's degree in Organization and Leadership Studies from Royal Roads University in Victoria, Canada, where she also completed major research in diversity and minority inclusion. She is certified in transformational neuro-coaching and is a Certified Human Resources Professional. She has also studied at Humber College of Applied Arts and Technology, the University of Southern California, Queen’s University, and the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
Her awards include San Francisco Business Times’ “Forever Influential,” and the publication has also named her a three-time Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business recipient. She has received numerous awards from Brandon Hall, including a Gold Medal for Best Advancement in Leadership Development in 2015 and 2017.
