Ms. O’Keefe heads communications and public affairs efforts for Eskenazi Health, a health system that serves as a vital training ground for the Indiana University School of Medicine. Along with other senior leaders at the system, she directs strategic communications, messaging, operations, culture and DEI. Research-based public and media relations, issues management, branding, marketing, employee and physician communications, events and outreach, music and arts programming and values-aligned community sponsorship efforts all fall under her jurisdiction. To drive the growth of the system during her nearly 23 years of leadership, Ms. O’Keefe has implemented methods ranging from grassroots outreach to major advertising campaigns. Her successes include a voter approval campaign for a new hospital campus in 2009, a rebranding effort to rename the system following a $40 million gift from Sidney and Lois Eskenazi in 2011, and an upcoming campaign to promote a long-term plan to combat barriers to health equity in three vulnerable zones of Indianapolis.
