Speakers 2009: Judith A. Webster, RN, MSN, PHN
Judith A. Webster has a wide range of experience in the field of health promotion and wellness, focusing on program design and development, management and evaluation. Specific interests include the development and evaluation of e-health programs, health behavior change strategies, measurement processes, business development, marketing strategies and health and productivity management initiatives for private industry, educational facilities, community organizations, health providers, hospitals and public health sectors.
She currently manages the Health Promotion Partnership employee wellness initiative for the County of Monterey in northern California.
Ms. Webster past experience includes Vice President Wellness and Health Promotion for Club Management Concepts where she was responsible for managing the development team for MD Health Evolution, an online wellness and behavior change with demonstrated results in terms of reducing cholesterol, weight, BMI, and stress among participants.
Prior to this position, she was Director of Health and Wellness for Club One, Inc. where her responsibilities included growing the corporate health promotion sector of business for the company and supporting over 60 existing corporate wellness accounts with over 100,000 employees throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. These accounts demonstrated an average ROI of $5.10:1 for wellness center participants in terms of 54% fewer lost work days, 4 times lower turnover rates, 37% lower health care expenditures, and health cost savings of $363/year/employee as compared to prior to program implementation.
Ms. Webster came to Club One from 15 years of experience at Applied Materials, a Fortune 500 global semiconductor equipment manufacturing company based in Santa Clara, California with 27,000 employees and over 100+ locations throughout North America, Asia and Europe. She was responsible for the strategic design and management of their award winning employee wellness program which generated an ROI of $3:1 in terms of reduced health costs, less absenteeism, increased productivity, and fewer accidents and injuries.
Ms. Webster holds a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Wisconsin, USA with an emphasis on primary health care and health education, and has completed doctoral work and a Graduate Research Fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin in health education and health promotion with a minor track in Occupational Health Psychology.
She is also Certified Public Health Nurse and has experience managing various culturally specific public sector programs for underserved populations including immunizations, maternal, adolescent and child health, accident and injury prevention, HIV/AIDS prevention and education, tobacco cessation initiatives, nutrition education, promotion of physical activity, and adolescent education programming addressing teenage pregnancy prevention and sexually transmitted diseases.
Webster is a long-time advocate for wellness and healthy lifestyle as a logical alternative to illness-based health care. She has published and lectured extensively on the subject and authored several books. Her programs have been profiled in numerous local and national publications including Business & Health, the American Journal of Health Promotion, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.
Programs designed by Webster deliver measurable results in terms of demonstrated reduced health care costs, lower accident and injury rates, shorter periods of long and short term disability, improved morale, less absenteeism, greater satisfaction with job and employer and increased productivity among employees participating in these programs in companies including Stanford University, Cal Poly Pomona, Applied Materials, Motorola, Sutter Health Care Systems, GlaxoSmithKleine, Chevron, e-Bay, The Health Trust, Aol, Google, and AMD to name a few.
This ability to effect health behavior change and to decrease health costs for participants has been recognized by organizations ranging from the C. Everett Koop National Health Award to the Singapore Ministry of Health Best Practices in Corporate Health Promotion Award. She is frequently asked to consult on program and product design throughout the world.
This commitment to innovation and quality in the area of global health promotion has resulted in recognition by organizations such as the American Cancer Society, YWCA, American Lung Association, National Employee Services and Recreation Association, Vermont and California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Fortune Magazine’s Best 100 Companies to Work For, National Health Information Awards, Association of Worksite Health Promotion Business and Industry Award, and the Wellness Councils of America. Her programs have been recognized as a “best practice” in corporate health promotion and demand management by the American Quality and Productivity Institute. They have been benchmarked internationally by corporations such as Nippon Telephone and Telegraph, Honda, Motorola, Citibank, Ameritech, Federal Express, Delta Airlines, ARCO, and several pharmaceutical companies.