Tatiana Crosby ’25

Tatiana Crosby began career her at Cigna in March 2022, where hands-on experience as a customer service representative taught her the ins and outs of employer-sponsored health plans: Things like benefits design, member experience and operational workflows.

“I had a great foundation in the insurance industry, and I wanted to enhance my ability and transition into a leadership role,” Crosby says. She turned to LeBow’s Masters in Health Administration to up her game, and that choice paid off almost immediately. “Within the same month I earned my MHA, I was promoted.”

In her new role as enablement learning delivery senior supervisor at Cigna subsidiary Evernorth Health Services, Crosby focuses on training. Evernorth supports businesses in delivering their employee healthcare programs, and Crosby trains internal teams to respond to the wide array of needs across these businesses.

“I supervise a team of 11 learning delivery facilitators who help our clients deliver an enhanced customer experience for their employees,” she says. “My team focuses on delivering trainings and coaching opportunities for the customer service representatives who are taking the calls from those employees.”

Crosby operates in a complicated space, as each business may offer its employees a variety of benefits, in a variety of ways. Her team for example supports a U.S. company that offers its workers “a unique level of service, and also a unique level of product, beyond just the medical plan,” she says. To help that company and others like it to meet employees’ needs, Evernorth needs to get deep in the weeds.

“We learn everything about the client expectations, we know the ins and outs of their medical plan,” she says. “When they call in, they are looking for us to give them that next level of customer service. We are going to resolve the issue, do any needed outreach and do follow-ups. If a member calls in with a question, we do everything we can to find that answer.”

In order to be effective in the role, Crosby needs to keep her team motivated and engaged. Her LeBow experiences come to the fore here. The MHA program “sharpened my strategic thinking, my communication, and my ability to analyze healthcare systems holistically,” she says.

“Within the MHA program, I learned the healthcare industry in depth. That holistic perspective has enhanced my ability to effectively coach and lead my team, helping them to understand the bigger picture and the different impacts of the work that they do,” she says.

“I can tell them: This work doesn’t just affect your performance or my performance. It has a ripple effect to the client, to our larger company and especially to the member. The MHA program helped me understand the wider industry, and to communicate that effectively.”

She points some especially impactful coursework — classes like Practice Issues in Healthcare Management, Strategic Planning for Healthcare Administration, and Ethical and Legal Issues in Healthcare Management and Policy. “The concepts and skills that I learned continue to inform how I approach problem-solving, team leadership, and strategic planning in my current role,” she says.

Overall, the master’s degree has helped her to realize her professional vision, empowering her to take that next step. In addition to grounding her in the business aspects of health care — budgeting is a big part of what she does these days — the program sharpened her core people-management skills.

“I want to present myself as a leader, and that means knowing: When are moments to delegate? When are moments to step in? What are the teachable moments?” she says. “The MHA really enhanced my skills and deepen my understanding in those areas.”