Leading with Purpose - Ken Ortbals (April 2023)

LEADING WITH PURPOSE SOCIAL IMPACT JOURNAL

APRIL 2023

LEADING

INTO ITS SEMICENTENNIAL

KEN ORTBALS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

FEATURE

KEN ORTBALS “Every job we have at WestCare is

After growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, Ken graduated from Central Missouri State University in 1985 with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a dual major in Management

Information

Systems

and

Accounting.

Following college, Ken began working for Accenture, a Fortune

500

company

specializing

in

management

consulting, outsourcing, and technology services. He would serve there for 15 years in various technical and leadership

related to helping people, and

roles before ultimately finding his life’s calling in working

you’re supporting them, whether

for nonprofits.

directly interacting with clients or not. You are playing a role in helping them get better in their lives.”

“While working for Accenture, I was also on the board of a technology nonprofit called Community Resource Network that served other nonprofits in Kansas City. In 2002, they needed a new leader, and I was at a point in my career where I didn’t want to travel very much. So, I stepped in as

Ken Ortbals, WestCare’s Chief Executive

the Interim Executive Director and started my journey in

Officer, shared these words with us recently

the nonprofit world. Since then, I’ve only worked for

when he sat down with the Vice President of

nonprofits.”

Marketing and Communication, Gabriela Swartwood, to talk about his journey to –

After serving at Community Resource Network for over six

and through – WestCare. His journey has

years, he moved to KC CareLink, a nonprofit electronic

seen him serve in various rewarding and

information exchange linking health care providers in the

challenging roles and has taken him across

bi-state Kansas City community. While serving as a

the globe to see the extraordinary work

Technology Architect there, he helped develop an

done by WestCare programs worldwide.

electronic health record (EHR) platform that led to the creation of a software development business for nonprofit .

organizations within First Call. The platform aimed to

Ken’s first major project as CIO was working with Diane

reduce the impact of alcohol, drugs, and addiction by

Ludens and others across the organization to enhance

providing technology resources to individuals, families,

WestCare’s certified electronic health record, the

and the community. He is particularly proud of the

Clinical Data System (CDS). The CDS platform has

work he and his team accomplished there.

proven to be a transformational technology for WestCare, enabling programs worldwide to have a

“The first thing was figuring out how to make

customized EHR that meets the unique needs of

technology

organizations.

hundreds of behavioral health and human services

Technology wasn’t that prevalent when I joined the

programs with varying state and funder requirements.

nonprofit world years ago. So, figuring out how

While it would typically take a year or longer for a

small and even large nonprofit organizations can

third-party EHR solution to implement, WestCare’s IT

use

Project Management and Software Development

work

technology

for

to

nonprofit

grow

and

develop

was

challenging. So that’s something I’m proud of.”

teams can now work closely with WestCare’s Chief Clinical

While serving as Chief Operating Officer at First Call, he

Officer,

Jason

Engel,

to

have

a

CDS

implementation in place in four to six weeks.

crossed paths with WestCare. “Peggy Quigg from WestCare had visited our company in Missouri

Following Ken’s success as CIO, his prior roles and

because WestCare was in the market for an electronic

educational background would allow him to take on

health record. I was later brought to Las Vegas with

additional responsibilities at WestCare. “I later got a

our CEO to meet Dick Steinberg and the leadership

call from Peggy asking if I would step in as the

team to present our EHR. After our conversations, I

interim

learned that WestCare was considering merging with

continuing to do the CIO job, and so, I stepped in to

my company and acquiring our software and that they

do that for a while. The CFO role eventually turned

were looking to hire a Chief Information Officer (CIO).

into a full-time job. Then, after Peggy left

While the merger didn’t happen, I did get offered the

WestCare, I took on the Executive Vice President

CIO role and joined WestCare in October 2015.”

position, which eventually led to the CEO job.”

Chief

Financial

Officer

(CFO)

while

WHATEVER YOUR EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND, THERE'S A

place for you here

As CEO, Ken has proven to be a successful, resultsoriented leader with a well-rounded perspective on leading with integrity, transparency, and innovation. As a leader who cultivates a high morality and fairness culture, Mr. Ortbals is committed to upholding WestCare’s mission of Uplifting the Human Spirit. His leadership style reflects that commitment.

“I think my leadership style is trusting people to do their jobs and trusting that they will do a good job. I support what people do, but I also expect them to do their job. If they have any challenges or need any help, they will come to me. But they’re free to figure out what they need to do daily.”

As illustrated throughout this career, Ken strives to leverage his diverse experiences to help people and communities find the resources they need to be successful. When asked how he defines success personally, Ken said, “I think success for anybody is figuring out how you fit in, how you help, and what makes you happy with yourself personally and

“I enjoy all the different programs, all the people that work at WestCare, and how they help so many different people

professionally. For me, that’s just helping others and

in our communities. It is so great how

trying to see what I can do to help everybody have a

varied and unique we are in each

better day.”

community we work in.”

“We’re unique because we do so many different things and are open and willing to do whatever our community needs. It isn’t a model from a central office that says you will do these five types of things. We’re going to do whatever we think fits that community. So, in some locations, we focus more on community development and prevention.

In others, we are more education oriented. Others are more oriented toward substance use disorder treatment and behavioral health. So, I think that’s one key piece that makes us unique.”

Today, hundreds of programs in sixteen U.S. States, four U.S. territories, and two foreign nations are all supported by WestCare Foundation’s dedicated and talented group of professionals, allowing program staff to focus on their primary mission of helping those

During his tenure with WestCare, Ken has had the privilege of visiting almost all WestCare’s facilities and meeting and speaking with hundreds of dedicated staff. When we asked Ken if there were any common threads underlying those programs, he said, “People take pride in our facilities. For the clients who are in our residential programs, that’s their homes. When you look at our outpatient facilities, you can see the care there, with our people trying to make it a great space to get care.”

“Another commonality for our staff is that they are happy to be where they’re at and want to make a difference in their community. They’re different geographically and culturally, so understanding what the culture is like in that community and how and how the work we do fits into that culture in need. Ken shared, “We are a large family of

is a key part of it. Traveling around Kentucky

nonprofits connected with back-office support

differs greatly from traveling around California,

with accounting, finance, information technology,

Guam, or St. Croix.”

marketing, and all of the other functions we can provide a community. WestCare Foundation can

Ken and his wife, Becky, have been married for 38

provide a significant amount of capacity to small

years and have two children. Their son, Taylor, is 30,

nonprofits

nonprofit

and married Jessica in July 2022. They recently

organization wouldn’t have access to. I think that

purchased their first home in Olathe, Kansas. Ken and

is one of the key things for WestCare; through that,

Becky's

we can touch more lives.”

Minneapolis, Minnesota. In his spare time, Ken enjoys

and

expertise

that

a

daughter,

Hayley,

is

26

and

lives

in

a diverse array of hobbies. “I like sports and am a When Ken looks to the future and thinks about how

Kansas City Chiefs fan. I like playing golf, but I don’t get

WestCare can grow its impact and continue uplifting

to do it very often. Becky and I enjoy traveling, so that’s

even more people in need, he has a vision for

been a fun byproduct of my job at WestCare. I also like

continuing to invest in information technology and

reading a lot.”

marketing to expand the reach of our services.

“Anyone should be able to get services from WestCare from wherever they are in the world through our technology and marketing efforts. That’s the goal. We currently help a lot of people because they get referred to us. A huge segment of the world population still needs our help, but without marketing, they may never know we exist. Many people who need our services now or in the future have grown up using social media and smartphones. To connect with that population, we need to meet them where they are and provide services using the technologies they are comfortable with.”

As our interview concluded, we asked Ken if he had any final words we wanted to share with our prospective employees, current employees, and board members.

“We have over 1600 individuals that work for us all around the world, and we do all kinds of different work, but it’s all centered around our motto of “Uplifting the Human Spirit” which means to me that we’re offering hope to

Stay in touch

people. For those who might be thinking about joining our company, we

Follow Ken on social media

need you; we need your help, your energy, and your drive. In our field,

as he tells our WestCare

unfortunately, we never run out of customers, and people around the

story to the world!

world always need help. So, whatever your experience and educational background, there’s a place for you here at WestCare.”

Ken Ortbals, CEO WestCare @KOrtbals

“For those WestCare employees who are currently here, I can’t thank you

@KenOrtbals

enough for all the work you do and how you help people every single day,

Ken Ortbals

no matter what your job is. Every job we have at WestCare is related to helping people, and you’re supporting them, whether directly interacting with clients or not. You are playing a role in assisting them to get better in their lives. You’re also helping their family. So, for any person you’re helping, every person touches many other people. And if you’re helping one person, you’re helping many others. Over your career, you’ll help many people, and I can’t thank you enough for being here. “ “For our board members and our community action council members, thank you very much for the time you give us, for the leadership you give us, for how much you care about the communities you live in, and for supporting WestCare and enabling us to do the work that we do. Without your leadership, it would be much more difficult for us to understand the

Follow WestCare to stay connected to us around the world WestCare @westcare

community’s needs and figure out how we can help. Your guidance, energy,

@westcarefoundation

and giving help us Uplift the Human Spirit, and we can’t thank you enough

WestCare Foundation

for all the support you provide us.”

westcare.com