Employee Interview: Julie Northcote

Julie Northcote is a program manager at VSP Vision with 27 years of experience managing a variety of projects ranging from regulatory compliance to product launches. She found her niche with Eyeconic in 2015 while preparing the “scrappy” Eyeconic team for the launch of the redesigned eyeconic.com. Julie is inspired by teamwork and enjoys bringing people together to create, learn, and achieve. Julie lives on a working ranch outside of Sacramento,  California, where her passion is raising, training, and showing miniature horses.

Tell me a little bit about your background. How did you get started in the field?

I started my career at VSP as a business analyst who reported directly to an IT (what is now GTS) project manager. After about a month on the job, my project manager provided me with a link to the Health Insurance Portability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) legislation and asked that I review the legislation and “summarize” the impacts to VSP. I reviewed 3000+ pages of legislation and created a matrix of the key components of the legislation (electronic data exchange, security, and privacy), with the associated compliance requirements and indicated the impacted VSP business/technical areas along with process, documentation, and role modifications that would be necessary for HIPAA compliance. Our VSP legal staff was fairly small at the time; however, I was able to coordinate with and receive guidance from Stuart Thompson during my compliance assessment. Several months after completing the research and reviewing my findings with our IT Vice President, a project manager role that would be dedicated to HIPAA compliance became available in Health Care Services (what is now Provider Solutions). Because I saw such value in the legislation and understood the impacts to VSP, I really wanted to be that HIPAA project manager. And I got the job! It was a four-year-long project that allowed me to meet so many people and learn so much about VSP. I worked with three business analysts, and we became a business unit/team that reported directly to the Vice President of Health Care Services. It was an insanely challenging, complicated, detail-oriented role, and I loved every minute of it! The HIPAA project was closed, with the remaining work distributed primarily to our VSP Regulatory Compliance team. With my role as HIPAA project manager completed, I was incorporated into what became VSP’s first Project Management Organization (PMO). I worked on cross-enterprise projects for several years before asking to take over for the project manager who had been coordinating the Eyeconic re-platform operational readiness activities.  
 

Describe your typical workday.

My typical day starts with a task list and includes many conversations, clarifications, and meetings.
 

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I love to organize and I enjoy seeing people collaborate to create solutions.
 

What do you want people to know about your job?

What I want people to know about my job is that a project manager is not just there to get the work done, but to provide opportunities for project team members to grow their careers, to learn about other areas of the organization, and to establish career-long relationships and friends.
 

When you’re not overseeing projects at Eyeconic, you run a working ranch in Sacramento raising miniature horses. How did you get into ranching?

I love horses, and living on a ranch has been a lifelong dream and pursuit. I saw my first horse (and Miniature horse) at the LA County Fair when I was 5 years old. It was then that I knew horses would be in my future. As a kid, and even as a teenager, my parents did not allow me to pursue horses or riding, as it was just a “phase.” Once I moved out of my parents’ home, my horse adventure was on. I took riding lessons and got involved in an equine management program at a local community college. The equestrian center where I rode unknowingly presented me with the key to my future—a misfit, rescued thoroughbred named Zarian. Zarian was too “spirited” and unpredictable to be a lesson horse…and she became my “project.” I was able to gain Zarian’s trust, and we became a team as I continued my lessons. My experiences with Zarian gave me the confidence to pursue life on a ranch and my goal of raising and training miniature horses. 
 

What’s your favorite thing about miniature horses?

My favorite thing about miniatures is their personalities. They love people, are willing to learn and want to be your best friend.