Jeanan Yasiri is Owner and Principal with Jeanan Yasiri Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm focused on strategies that advance innovative community and customer engagement initiatives. Jeanan brings more than 25 years experience in health care administration, broadcast journalism and university education and outreach to her clients.

As a consultant with WARF, Jeanan spearheaded University of Wisconsin (UW) campus and biotechnology industry outreach and engagement efforts associated with the conceptualization, design and development of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery / Morgridge Institute for Research, a multi-million dollar interdisciplinary public / private research institute. In addition, she developed donor outreach opportunities for the WiCell Research Institute.

Jeanan serves on the Wellpoint National Medicaid Advisory Committee and the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Health Care Quality.

Jeanan holds three affiliated appointments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As Executive Director of the UW Center for Nonprofits, she is administrative lead for this interdisciplinary center which supports academic degrees in nonprofit and community leadership, nonprofit sector research and executive education for nonprofit professionals. As Faculty Associate with UW she teaches “Entrepreneurship in Society”, a course which engages hundreds of students each year with nationally recognized entrepreneurs in the private, social and public sectors as well as the arts. This course is broadcast statewide on Wisconsin Public Television. Jeanan also serves on the Advancement Team for the UW's Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

In 2011, Jeanan produced the national conference “Building Civil Society Through the Nonprofit Sector: Next Generations Contributions" bringing national experts and philanthropists together to discuss the challenges family foundations are facing during leadership transitions.  

Her work with the Wisconsin State Department of Health included development of constituent dialogues and focus groups in connection with the state’s electronic health initiative. She also participated in grant and program development for a federal Medicaid Transformation initiative yielding more than $7-million dollars for the State Medicaid program. She has extensive experience in program development, public / private partnership development and customer and constituent relations.

Between 1992 – 2006, Jeanan served as Vice President for Service Innovation at Dean Health System.  In addition to leading practice management initiatives for the organization, she was executive sponsor of Dean’s patient and community advocacy efforts.,  Among those programs was Dean’s Community Care Program, a nationally recognized, progressive health benefits counseling effort which assists uninsured patients in finding access to resources that help them in meeting their medical expenses. Dean’s Community Care Program was the 2002 recipient of the National ACMPE (American College of Medical Practice Executives) Fred Graham Award for Innovation in Improving Community Health and the 1998 recipient of the State of Wisconsin’s Maternal and Child Health Award for Performing Outreach to Low Income, Minority or Otherwise Hard-to-Reach Populations.

Jeanan was named by the YWCA as a “Women of Distinction” in 2005. She was the 1998 recipient of the first Dane County / City of Madison Public Health “Leadership Award”. She has been active in facilitating development and growth of a number of community based collaborative projects which have enhanced public / private partnerships in meeting the health needs of Wisconsin families. She was appointed by Governor Jim Doyle to the National and Wisconsin Community Service Board (2003) and the Wisconsin Public Health Council (2004). She has extensive experience with public / private collaboratives and coalitions.

In addition to several journal articles, Jeanan is co-author of the books “Tackling the Uninsured Puzzle: Collaborating for Community Care” (2001) and “Putting the Patient First: Upfront with Advocacy and Community Service.” (1997). She is a regular presenter at national and statewide forums.

Jeanan holds a M.Sc. in Consumer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.Sc. in Business and Economics from University of Wisconsin - Platteville. She has earned the designation of Fellow in the American College of Medical Practice Executives (FACMPE).

Since 1987 she has served as a Senior Lecturer teaching in the UW School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She served as Chair of the UW School of Human Ecology National Board of Visitors which advises the Dean of that school. She also served on the National Board of the University of the Wisconsin Alumni Association.

Jeanan is an active on-air presence and serves as Board President for Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.  Between 1984 – 1992, Jeanan worked as a news reporter/anchor and assistant news director for the 15 News – the NBC television affiliate in Madison, WI.