PBN 2021 Business Women Awards
Career Achiever: Brenda Seagrave-Whittle, Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island
With parents who were very active in the Somers, Conn., community and with schools she and her siblings attended, Brenda Seagrave-Whittle was provided with a very stable foundation based on the importance of giving back and caring for others.
“I realized early on in my life that I was born to protect, support and advocate for people, so the advocacy part of my career was always in my DNA,” said Seagrave-Whittle, chief marketing officer at Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island. “We were always a close-knit family and I realized at a very young age how fortunate I was, not just to feel loved and cared for but also to never be lacking for anything significant. Growing up, I always had this deep sense of awareness that life was not fair to everyone and that people who were struggling needed an advocate by their side. I had a fire within my belly for standing up for what was right. I just knew that my purpose in life was to stand up for others and to give them a voice.”
In her adolescent years, Seagrave-Whittle became passionate about advocacy work and was acutely aware of the Vietnam War and the women’s and civil rights movements. In college, in addition to earning her psychology degree and marrying her husband, Shelly, she helped a family member get out of an abusive relationship and began volunteering at a domestic violence shelter and a rape crisis center.
Following a couple of job transfers for Shelly to New York and Connecticut, the couple ended up in Rhode Island in 1990. That’s when Seagrave-Whittle began working in the unemployment division at the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, providing support to the unemployed. About a year later, when a position providing direct services to the underserved opened up at one of the state’s community health centers, Thundermist Health Care Associates – now Thundermist Health Center, she jumped at the opportunity.
“I found my way to where I truly belonged – in a health care setting advocating for the disadvantaged,” Seagrave-Whittle said. “I had always admired the work of Rhode Island’s community health centers because of their focus on health equity and their commitment to providing access to health care to anyone, including undocumented families.”
Her nearly 10-year tenure at Thundermist launched what has become a lifetime career focusing on advocacy for vulnerable populations and ensuring everyone in Rhode Island has access to high-quality, affordable health care. Before joining Providence-based Neighborhood in 2001, Seagrave-Whittle spent two years at St. Joseph Hospital working on a national grant critical to expanding health care access for eligible but uninsured vulnerable populations.
Not surprisingly, Seagrave-Whittle has been heavily focused on leading Neighborhood’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year. Initial efforts, she said, focused on educating members and high-risk communities about COVID-19, the safety measures they should be taking, and how and where to get tested. Neighborhood also took measures to educate the public about the importance of having health insurance and emphasized to the recently unemployed or underemployed that they were eligible for free or low-cost health coverage. In addition to supporting the state’s front-line health care workers with meals and protective supplies, more-recent efforts have focused on ensuring the most vulnerable Rhode Islanders have access to COVID-19 vaccines.
While still in the early stages, Seagrave-Whittle is very excited about Neighborhood’s developing community Health Van Program, which aims to remove one of the key barriers underserved Rhode Islanders face when they need access to health care – transportation. Neighborhood has also partnered with LunaYou, a Providence-based maternal well-being program designed for all pregnant women but heavily focused on empowering disadvantaged women of color.
Peter Marino, Neighborhood’s CEO and president, said Seagrave-Whittle believes her fundamental role is to serve others and that she exhibits that belief every day.
“The remarkable thing about Brenda is that she goes above and beyond for people, especially those who are underserved, every single day. It’s just her nature,” Marino said. “Brenda brings to the table passion, empathy, business and marketing acumen, and the ability to coalesce teams around an issue. She demonstrates character, courage and integrity as a strong advocate for those who are most in need of a voice. Brenda serves with genuine kindness and an authenticity that is unmatched. Her face lights up when she knows her work has improved someone’s life.”
Seagrave-Whittle credits her husband and her two children, Sarah and Sean, for supporting her and her career choices over the years.
“Little did I know at the time that I was inspiring them through the work I did,” she said. “My daughter wound up becoming a doctor and my son wound up becoming a teacher – both in service to others.”
