Her Story
About Charece
Charece Owen is a Senior Technical Project Manager at CareDx, Inc., bringing extensive experience in healthcare information technology and project management. Her career spans more than two decades, including roles in healthcare administration, IT coordination, project management, and business intelligence. Before joining CareDx, she served as a Project Manager III at CoxHealth and held multiple positions with Cerner Corporation, where she progressed from Site Coordinator to IT Project Manager and Senior Project Manager.
Throughout her career, Charece has focused on managing complex technology initiatives and supporting healthcare system transformation. Her experience includes coordinating external vendors, implementing new products in clinical settings, developing project scopes and deliverables, and overseeing technical programs. During CoxHealth’s transition from Cerner to Epic, she contributed to third-party implementations, hardware deployment, technical dress rehearsals, testing, and technical program oversight, supporting the deployment of more than 25,000 pieces of equipment and extensive organizational readiness activities. Her professional development includes studies in Organizational Studies with a focus on Leadership at Drury University and Human-Centered Design training through the LUMA Institute.
Charece’s professional journey reflects a progression built through hands-on experience, leadership development, and a willingness to take on increasingly complex responsibilities. She emphasizes forward thinking, preparation, and the importance of keeping projects moving through uncertainty and change. Her professional interests include healthcare technology, technical project leadership, complex project management, and human-centered approaches to organizational and technology challenges.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Charece
01What do you attribute your success to?
My grit and willingness to keep driving and striving forward even when I feel like I'm failing. I am typically super hard on myself and think I'm failing all the time, but my lack of confidence has also helped me drive myself harder. I didn't have confidence in myself until probably the last year from efforts at my old employer.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
My old boss used to tell me to dare to be uncomfortable. Even before she said that, I've driven myself to do uncomfortable things, like taking speech class and debate competitions in high school when I was a shy introvert, because I wanted to speak publicly. Daring yourself to do the uncomfortable things helps you grow every single time.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
They don't have to be an expert in the projects they're running, they just have to be able to learn personalities and know how and where to get the answers. Know your resources.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
It is still very much being a woman in the tech industry, even if maybe less in healthcare. It is getting easier to move forward but it is still extremely hard to prove yourself as worthy or knowing as much as the guys and getting paid as much as them. I had a co-worker making $30,000 more than me for the same work, and it took leaving the organization to catch up.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Having integrity and always being out to do the right thing for somebody, even if it's the hard thing to do. I think that's something that a lot of people lose.
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