Sheila McGuire-Riggs

Political Bio
McGuire-Riggs was the 1994 Democratic nominee for Iowa’s 5th Congressional District.  As an EMILY’s List endorsed candidate, she won the three-way primary but fell short in the general.  In 1996, McGuire-Riggs was the Finance Chair for Senator Tom Harkin’s successful re-election campaign.  In the 2002 cycle, Senator Harkin and Governor Vilsack tapped Sheila to Chair the Iowa Democratic Party.  Together, they made history ~ it was the first time Iowa had ever re-elected a Democratic Senator and a Democratic Governor.  And it was in this cycle, under McGuire-Riggs’ leadership, that the Voter Activation Network known now as the VAN was created by the Iowa Democratic Party.   McGuire-Riggs is the current State PAC Chair and a member of the Board of Directors of WomenWinning in Minnesota.

Professional Bio
Expansive innovator is the term most associated with Sheila M. Riggs, a healthcare executive with two doctorates in health care and over 20 years of cross-functional industry experience.  Dr. Riggs has earned the trust and respect of healthcare and policy colleagues by staying fastidiously grounded in the evidence and the needs of the customer.  From her analytic training at Harvard to her executive and board of director positions in healthcare across the Midwest, she has tapped her vast network consisting of experts from AHRQ, IHI, CDC, NIH, employer coalitions, and academia to bring the latest innovations to the health care economy.  Dr. Riggs created the informatics division of the Iowa’s largest health insurer leading the measurement and analytic competencies for the Six Sigma Process Improvement Teams which, for example, decreased administrative costs from $10.88 PMPM TO $9.95 PMPM.  After serving six years on the Board of Directors of Delta Dental of Minnesota, Dr. Riggs was asked by her colleagues to become its President and CEO.  She had a strong track record of bringing key constituents together to achieve business results that exceeded expectations, including increasing the number of subscribers each year by over 100,000 members to the highest number in company’s history and exceeding the 4% revenue growth forecasts each year of her tenure.  After Wellpoint’s successful acquisition of the for-profit  subsidiary within the holding company at Delta Dental, Dr. Riggs’ current focus is workforce preparation as Department Chair and tenured educator within the Academic Health Center at the University of Minnesota.