Chief Executive Officer - Healthcare and Human services

We are seeking an accomplished, thoughtful Chief Executive Officer to lead a growing, privately held healthcare and human services company through its next stage of development. With approximately $12 million in annual revenue, an established operating platform, and a recent expansion into a second state, the company is positioned to grow toward $20 million while continuing to strengthen the quality, consistency, and reach of its services. We are looking for a leader who knows how to build a business—not simply manage one—and who brings sound judgment, financial discipline, operational depth, and a genuine appreciation for the people whose lives are affected by the decisions we make.

About the Company

We are a founder-led provider of Medicaid-funded home- and community-based services supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Operating in the Mid-Atlantic region, we have built our business around a straightforward commitment: deliver exceptional services, take on meaningful challenges, and create greater opportunity for the people and families who depend on us.

The Role

The Chief Executive Officer will have responsibility for the company’s overall performance, including financial results, operational execution, service quality, regulatory compliance, organizational culture, and strategic growth. This is a substantive operating leadership role. The successful candidate will be equally comfortable reviewing financial performance, developing executive talent, evaluating a new market, and engaging with state agencies or other key stakeholders. The CEO will have authority over the operating plan, budget, executive team, organizational structure, and day-to-day business decisions. The Board will retain responsibility for ownership and capital matters, with long-term strategy developed collaboratively.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Sustainable Growth

• In partnership with the Board, develop and execute a clear strategy to grow the business from approximately $12 million toward $20 million in annual revenue while maintaining strong service quality and financial performance.
• Lead the continued growth, optimization, and profitability of existing service lines.
• Advance operations in the company’s second state while establishing a disciplined, scalable model for future geographic expansion.
• Apply rigorous commercial judgment to growth decisions, considering demand, mission alignment, reimbursement, workforce availability, regulatory requirements, and expected returns.
• Translate strategic priorities into measurable operating plans, clear accountability, and consistent execution.

Financial and Business Performance

• Take full ownership of the company’s P&L, annual budget, forecasting, cash management, and operating performance.
• Drive meaningful EBITDA growth through revenue expansion, service utilization, disciplined expense management, and operating improvements.
• Strengthen financial visibility, management reporting, and performance accountability across the organization.
• Evaluate investments in people, technology, infrastructure, and growth based on measurable business value.
• Anticipate Medicaid reimbursement and policy changes, maintaining appropriate financial flexibility and contingency plans.

Operational Excellence and Service Quality

• Build an operating model capable of supporting materially greater scale without sacrificing responsiveness, quality, or accountability.
• Increase service capacity and delivered service hours while improving the timeliness of service initiation and reducing avoidable client attrition.
• Strengthen workforce planning, recruitment, retention, and deployment to support reliable service delivery.
• Establish practical, data-informed performance standards across service lines and business functions.
• Maintain a consistent focus on the health, safety, dignity, rights, choices, and individual goals of the people served.

Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management

• Maintain a strong culture of compliance with applicable Medicaid, state licensing, waiver, documentation, billing, and service delivery requirements.
• Ensure the organization remains consistently prepared for audits, surveys, and regulatory reviews.
• Oversee effective risk management, incident response, internal controls, and corrective action processes.
• Foster an environment in which concerns are surfaced early, addressed responsibly, and used to improve organizational performance.

Leadership and Organizational Development

• Lead, develop, and hold accountable a capable, high-performing executive team.
• Establish clear responsibilities, decision-making authority, and performance expectations throughout the organization.
• Strengthen management systems and leadership capacity as the company grows.
• Build a culture grounded in good judgment, integrity, transparency, collaboration, and follow-through.
• Make the organization an employer of choice for talented leaders, managers, and direct support professionals.

External Relationships and Board Partnership

• Represent the company effectively with government agencies, referral partners, professional associations, families, and other stakeholders.
• Develop constructive relationships with state Medicaid and program leadership.
• Participate actively in policy discussions affecting reimbursement, service access, and workforce sustainability.
• Provide the Board with clear, candid reporting on financial results, operational performance, opportunities, and risks.
• Establish a productive, transparent working relationship with the founder as Board Chair, maintaining appropriate governance and management boundaries.

The Leader We Are Seeking

We are looking for a proven executive who has successfully led a business through meaningful growth and understands the discipline required to make that growth sustainable. The strongest candidates will bring a combination of business acumen, operational credibility, intellectual curiosity, and maturity of judgment. We will be particularly interested in candidates who demonstrate:

• Proven leadership: A track record of leading an organization with meaningful financial, operational, and people-management complexity.
• Financial fluency: A strong command of business economics, profitability, cash flow, forecasting, and the drivers of operating performance.
• A builder’s mindset: The ability to strengthen an existing business while developing the systems and leadership capacity required for its next stage.
• A hands-on, player-coach leadership approach: The ability to lead strategically while remaining actively engaged in the work—developing leaders, navigating operational details, solving complex problems, and personally executing critical initiatives—with the judgment to know when to step in and when to step back.
• Operational judgment: A willingness to engage directly with difficult issues, understand their root causes, and see solutions through.
• Balanced leadership: The conviction that exceptional client outcomes, engaged employees, regulatory integrity, and sustainable profitability belong together.
• Executive temperament: Confidence without ego, candor without unnecessary friction, and the ability to make difficult decisions with fairness and clarity.
• Accountability: A record of producing measurable results and taking ownership of outcomes.

We are not seeking a leader whose experience is limited to setting strategy from a distance. This role calls for an executive who enjoys the work of building and improving a business.

Qualifications

Required

• Previous experience as a Chief Executive Officer or comparable top enterprise leader with substantial operating and P&L responsibility.
• Significant executive-level experience in a Medicaid-funded business or service organization.
• Demonstrated success growing revenue, EBITDA, service capacity, geographic reach, or a combination of these measures.
• Strong financial management capabilities, including budgeting, forecasting, financial statement analysis, cash management, and margin improvement.
• Experience leading a regulated organization with substantial quality, documentation, reimbursement, or compliance obligations.
• Proven ability to lead and develop a multifunctional senior management team.
• Experience working productively with a board, owner, or founder.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent executive leadership experience.
• Residence in Maryland or willingness to relocate within an agreed timeframe.
• Ability to satisfy applicable background screening and regulatory requirements.

Preferred

• Executive leadership experience in intellectual and developmental disability services, home- and community-based services, behavioral health, home care, or related human services.
• Experience navigating significant Medicaid reimbursement or regulatory changes.
• Successful multistate expansion, new-market entry, or service-line diversification.
• Leadership experience in a privately held, founder-led, or entrepreneurial organization.
• Advanced degree in business, healthcare administration, public health, social work, or a related discipline.

Direct experience in intellectual and developmental disability services is highly valued but is not required for candidates with substantial Medicaid experience and a compelling record of operating and growing regulated service businesses.

Compensation and Benefits

• Base salary: $250,000–$275,000 annually, commensurate with experience.
• Performance framework: Incentive compensation will be based on a Board-approved scorecard emphasizing EBITDA growth, operational performance, service quality, organizational health, and strategic execution. The bonus pool will be funded by that growth, subject to appropriate quality and compliance safeguards.
• Benefits: Employer-supported health coverage through an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement