Karissa Quinlan

Senior Manager of Internal Communications

UPMC

Karissa Quinlan is senior manager of internal communications at UPMC, one of U.S. News and World Report's "Best Hospitals." She began her career as a media relations intern but quickly found her calling in internal communications after being asked to support an intranet upgrade in 2010. Now her team manages the organization's intranet for 65,000+ employees and recently led an upgrade to SharePoint 2013, with plans to move to the cloud already underway. User experience comes first for her, and that model has driven the internal communications team to overhaul UPMC's intranet to help employees find what they need quickly. She coaches internal colleagues to adjust content for the web, enhancing search and usability. In early 2017 UPMC's intranet transitioned from a client-run information dump to a tightly governed and personalized news and information platform for staff.