Kaiser Permanente appoints Wall new Marin-Sonoma Public Affairs Director

Kaiser Permanente recently appointed Alena Wall, MA, CHES, as the new Public Affairs Director for the Marin-Sonoma Service Area. In the role, Alena will be leading the department responsible for internal and external communications, community and government relations, and community benefit functions for the hospitals located in San Rafael and Santa Rosa and the medical offices throughout Marin and Sonoma counties. Alena has served as the Community Health Leader for Marin-Sonoma since 2018, as well as interim Public Affairs Director since April 2021.

“Alena has been instrumental in advancing our mission to improve the health of the communities we serve across Marin-Sonoma. She has built lasting, deep relationships between local KP leadership, elected officials, and community partners as well as the business sector,” said Tarek Salaway, Senior VP, Area Manager, Marin-Sonoma Service Area.

Since May 2020, Alena has also been on assignment to Kaiser Permanente’s National Social Health team to help lead an enterprise-wide strategy to address loneliness and social isolation, resulting in the launch of Life Experienced, a national community-facing social marketing campaign with a goal of reaching 10 million people.

Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente in 2018, Alena served as Executive Director for the Center for Well Being, where she and her team led efforts to address root causes of health outcomes and partnered with major nonprofit hospital and health systems to ensure high-quality, patient-centered services.

Alena’s 15-year track record in healthcare leadership serving mission-driven organizations has been a strong foundation for Kaiser Permanente Marin-Sonoma’s groundbreaking work in the community health space with a wide range of partners.

In addition to her years of experience, Alena holds a bachelor’s degree in Health Science from California State University, Chico, and a master’s degree in Holistic Health Education from JFK University. In 2017, Alena was named Woman of the Year, California State Assembly District 2, presented by Assembly Member Jim Wood, for her meaningful contributions in addressing health equity.

“It is an incredible honor to be appointed to the role of Public Affairs Director for such a mission-driven organization that consistently leans in to meet the needs of our most vulnerable community members,” Alena says. “In fire recovery alone, we have given nearly $24 million in Kaiser Permanente grant funding to support our local nonprofits to improve housing and homelessness, mental health, community infrastructure and language access, and mitigating financial insecurity for vulnerable community members.”