As the head of Phreesia’s Client Services and Client Success organizations, overseeing more than 600 employees requires a lot of time and energy from Sara DiNardo, Vice President of Client Solutions at Phreesia, a healthcare technology company.
But as a leader who prides herself on “rolling up her sleeves and getting her hands dirty,” she’s maintained her hands-on approach to leadership, even as she’s ascended to her current role.
“I like to understand the details of what’s going on and what’s happening so that I can jump in and provide my team with the right amount of support,” DiNardo said. “I never want to ask someone to go do something without my own sense of what it takes to get the job done.”
“I think this motivates my team,” she added. “I don’t think I’m above any job or task. We can work together to tackle what we need to do.”
DiNardo’s leadership approach – work hard, maintain drive, and keep strong attention to detail – was instilled in her at a young age thanks to her parents, who were small business owners.
Client relationships were the foundation for her parents’ success, and that has provided her with a great example of how to manage her own client relationships throughout her career.
“The biggest thing I learned was how to make sure you do right by your clients by not only providing the best product, but also by supporting them however is needed,” she said.
Prior to her current role at Phreesia, DiNardo spent six years leading both client services and client success teams for health system clients. Now, she’s responsible for overseeing those teams across the entirety of Phreesia’s network.
She and her teams work with new clients so they have a seamless implementation experience and quickly see Phreesia’s value. They also focus on ongoing account management, partnering with clients to ensure high utilization of Phreesia and its many digital tools across intake, payments, scheduling, and more.
DiNardo credits her own leadership style to working under a variety of leaders, all with different management styles. “I don’t think there’s one specific person who I’ve modeled my leadership style after. I’ve been fortunate to work with several great leaders and pull the pieces from each leadership style that I believe is most effective,” she said.
DiNardo is grateful for the opportunity to lead what she considers to be a smart and talented organization within Phreesia. She is continuously impressed by what they accomplish every day.
“I love having visibility into all the amazing things my team does on a regular basis. They have so much impact on our clients at Phreesia. It’s exciting to be a part of that.”
When asked for her professional advice for other women, DiNardo replied: “Be your own biggest advocate. No one is going to fight for you the way that you’re going to fight for yourself. Figure out what you need to do to get to the next level and how you can prove to the right people that you’re capable of doing what’s needed.”
