Rosemond Sarpong Owens
Director–Health Equity Integration
Company: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MinnesotaRole: Session Presenter
Rosemond Sarpong Owens is the director of health equity integration and diversity and inclusion at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion and about equity in general. Her specific interests include improving diversity and equity for populations experiencing inequities. A public health/health equity practitioner by training, she understands the struggles of underserved and priority populations. As part of her role, she is responsible for leading Blue Cross’s enterprise-wide focus on building health equity into Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota’s mission and business practices. She holds primary accountability for catalyzing and supporting work across the enterprise to implement the health equity strategic plan.
Prior to her role at Blue Cross, Rosemond served as health literacy/cultural competency specialist at CentraCare Health for about eight years, where she developed a strategic plan related to health equity and provided expertise and support to leaders and staff in all areas of the company to ensure equitable care for all patients.
Rosemond was born in Ghana, West Africa, and loves her native country and prides herself on being a true African at heart. A graduate of both University of Ghana and University of Madrid, she holds undergraduate degrees in French, Spanish and linguistics. In 2007, she received her MPH in public health, with emphasis on maternal and child health and health equity, from University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health.
Rosemond has served on the boards of several organizations including Books for Africa, Create CommUNITY, and Maternal Child Health Task Force. She is a Paul Harris Fellow, and was recognized in 2015 for her contributions to literacy in Africa and to ending the Book Famine in Africa.
Rosemond is a certified administrator for the Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®), and also a Spanish interpreter.
She has lived on three continents which brings a broad, transnational perspective to her life.