Leatha Merculieff

Leatha Merculieff, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer has more than 20 years of healthcare experience. She began her healthcare career in 2003 as the Public Relations Department Manager for Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) /Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC) where she quickly advanced to become a Hospital Administrative Manager. Leatha has managed public relations and special projects with a strong focus on client priorities and expectations to ensure maximum customer satisfaction. In 2012 she was promoted to ANMC/ANTHC’s Vice President of Customer Experience. She provided leadership direction to multiple departments, developed and implemented strategies that correlated with best practices specific to enhancing the customers’ overall satisfaction. Leatha also was responsible for establishing standards and procedures that complied with regulatory requirements.

In 2015, Leatha became the SEARHC Vice President and Executive Administrator working collaboratively with executive leadership to manage the customer/patient experience.

In 2019, Leatha began serving as Wrangell Medical Center Hospital Administrator in addition to her role as SEARHC Vice President. She worked to lead a seamless transition of hospital services from the City and Borough of Wrangell to SEARHC. She also oversaw the construction of a 45,000-square-foot healthcare campus, which includes Emergency Services, Acute Care, Long-Term Care, Primary Care, and ancillary services.

In 2021, SEARHC once again promoted Leatha to Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer where she became responsible for designing and implementing policies to promote company culture and vision. As the SVP/COO, she relies on her coalition-building skills to create collaborative relationships with staff, community members, staff, tribal organizations, governmental and external health, wellness and prevention organizations to achieve SEARHC’s strategic goals.

Leatha has a Master of Business Administration from the Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Alaska, Anchorage.