Emily Shirden
About Emily Shirden
I lead Jarrard’s National Health Systems practice, where we focus exclusively on providing complex healthcare organizations with strategic support in times of change, challenge and opportunity. This work takes many forms of marketing and communications, but my true passion is in the execution – helping clients assess their team’s strengths and build new structures and processes that create efficiencies, scale strategies and deliver measurable results. With 20 years of experience providing communications counsel to large, complex clients across healthcare, including pharmaceutical companies, payors, academic medical centers and health systems, I have built and led large, remote teams through complex industry and organizational change. In my time at Jarrard, I've led high-profile leadership transitions, significant mergers, the launch of a large, regional health system brand and award-winning DEI and community partnership endeavors. From this experience, there are four key insights you should know about me: 1.) I always measure. Today’s communications programs must be held to measurable outcomes from the start. That goes beyond impressions and reach to true business impact. This belief inspired my MBA and is a mindset I bring to every project. 2.) Culture is always my focus as a leader. I had the unique opportunity as the first Finn Partners employee in Detroit to build a culture of respect, transparency and collaboration, where we “worked hard, played nice” every day. Now, as the leader of a newly-established practice at Jarrard, I'm honored at the opportunity to once again set the tone from the beginning. 3.) I excel under pressure and want to make an impact. The best clients and projects are those that create an opportunity to evoke positive change in the world and make a difference to a brand, an industry or a community. 4.) I treat people the way I want to be treated and believe that kindness is a superpower – and with it, you can do amazing things.