Vice President, Business Development

Are you ready to take the next step in your career and lead a team that makes a real impact every day? At Merakey, we put heart and soul into everything we do. We believe that people can and do recover from mental illness—and our mission is to support that recovery by addressing the whole person: mind, body, spirit, and community. 

 

The Vice President of Business Development for Merakey’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Division is responsible for leading strategic growth initiatives across all IDD service lines. This executive role identifies, develops, and executes opportunities that expand Merakey’s footprint, strengthen partnerships, enhance program sustainability, and support the organization’s mission of providing exceptional, person-centered care to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

 

The VP of Business Development serves as a key advisor to the IDD Division Senior Vice President and collaborates closely with operations, enterprise business development, finance, strategy, marketing, and clinical leadership to drive long-term growth and innovation.

 

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Growth & Market Expansion

• Develop and lead the IDD Division’s comprehensive growth strategy to expand programs and services across existing and new states/geographies. Ensure alignment with mission, payer dynamics, and regulatory realities. Translates vision into disciplined expansion plans across regions and service lines.
• Identify emerging trends, regulatory changes, and market opportunities within the IDD sector to inform strategic planning for growth.
• Evaluate potential new business lines, expansion of current business lines, partnerships, acquisitions or affiliations and opportunities that align with Merakey’s mission and strategy.
• Conduct needs analysis and feasibility assessments for new programs and markets.
• Work closely with operations, clinical leadership, finance, legal, human resources, and compliance to ensure growth initiatives are executable, compliant, and scalable across a national platform.
• Continuously evaluate state and regional markets, reimbursement trends, and competitor activity. Use data and field insight to prioritize where and how the organization can grow.

Business Development & Partnerships

• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with state and county agencies, community partners, provider associations, and advocacy groups.
• Lead contract development, negotiation, and renewal processes with payers and government entities.
• Represent Merakey at national conferences (e.g., ANCOR, PAR, Open Minds) to influence policy and stay ahead of industry trends.
• Work collaboratively with operations team to help ensure the seamless transition of new business.

Proposal Development & Implementation

• Oversee the end to end process of RFP/RFI response development, including coordination with internal subject matter experts.
• Ensure proposals are competitive, compliant, mission-centered, and financially viable.
• Partner with operations and finance leaders to transition awarded proposals into successful program launches.

Division Leadership & Collaboration

• Serve as a member of the IDD Division leadership team, contributing to division wide planning, budgeting, and performance improvement efforts.
• Collaborate with operations leaders to assess program capacity, performance, and opportunities for expansion or redesign.
• Work with Marketing & Communications to enhance the visibility of Merakey’s IDD programs and highlight innovative practices.
• Establishes metrics to track pipeline health, return on investment, service ramp up, and long term margin contribution. Adjust strategy based on real world results.

Travel Requirements

• Regular travel across current and potential service regions is expected, including statewide stakeholder meetings, market visits, conferences, and partner engagements.

Benefits

 

Merakey offers generous benefits that promote well-being, financial security, and work-life balance, including:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus access to healthcare advocacy support.