By Skip Steward
5
2727 ratings
The podcast currently has 203 episodes available.
Melissa Vandergriff, MBA, PMP, is Director of Continuous Improvement for the Cleveland Clinic Enterprise Markets. Melissa has served as a member of the Cleveland Clinic Continuous Improvement team for 15 years and has led numerous successful improvement initiatives across the Cleveland Clinic health system. Prior to her current position, Melissa held the role of CI Director for Clinical Institutes and for 6 years held the dual roles of Director of Operations and Continuous Improvement at Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, where she led the hospital’s culture of improvement program and oversaw clinical and non-clinical operations. Before joining the Cleveland Clinic, Melissa spent 10 years in process improvement and project management in the IT and healthcare industries. She received her MBA from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).
Keith Sulzer joined the Cleveland Clinic in 2022 where he has served as the Continuous Improvement Advisor for the Education Institute, Dermatology & Plastic Surgery Institute, and the Main Campus Submarket. In all three areas, Keith has excelled in partnering with leaders and teams to build CCIM capability and drive tangible results – most recently in the areas of documentation optimization, appointment fill rates, OR efficiency, and hospital throughput.
Prior to the Clinic, Keith had an 11-year career in management consulting at Oliver Wyman in Chicago where he was a Principal in the firm’s Operations practice. Over his consulting career, Keith worked with Fortune 500 clients in various industries to design and implement large, cross-divisional improvement programs to increase service levels, reduce waste, and improve financial performance. His previous roles included leading a $1.2B cost savings initiative for a logistics company and implementing an operational efficiency program at an airline which reduced fuel spend by $35M a year.
Keith graduated from Northwestern University with a double major in Industrial Engineering and Economics. He was a member of the varsity wrestling team and a two-time Academic All-American. Keith lives in the West Park area, where he was born and raised.
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Michael Gallagher is an Executive Lean Leader with GE Aerospace. After 14 years in the auto industry Michael has held several roles in 14 years with GE including Lean Six Sigma Leader, Quality Leader, and Advanced Manufacturing Engineering Leader before taking his current position leading the Finance Kaizen Promotion Office at GE Aerospace.
Michael received his MBA in Supply Chain Management with a concentration in Operations from Michigan State University. In addition to a busy career, Mr. Gallagher serves as Chairman of the Board of Make-A-Wish of Greater Virginia and coordinated testing for his local chapter of MENSA. He enjoys hiking, ultra-marathon running, and volunteering. He and his wife currently reside in Virginia. He has three children and two grandsons.
Priya Oscar is an Executive Lean Leader with GE Aerospace Finance. Priya has over 20 years of experience in GE Finance roles serving several divisions with Commercial Engines Services and Defense & Systems in GE Aerospace . Over the past 5 years she has held Lean Leader roles , supporting finance teams simplify their processes and solve problems at Aerospace and Corporate, before taking her current position with the GE Aerospace Finance Kaizen Promotion Office.
Priya received her MBA in Finance from S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai. Priya enjoys reading, snorkeling, traveling and learning something new every day.
She currently resides in Cincinnati, OH with her young daughter.
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Petal Bartlett joined the University of Kansas Health System in 2019 as a Pharmacy Master Trainer, where she focused on influencing the implementation of standardized training to ensure high-quality patient care. In 2020, she utilized over 20 years of educational experience and her certification as a Job Instruction course instructor from the TWI Institute to develop the Training Leadership Certification (TLC) program. This program equips pharmacy leaders with the skills to design, deliver, and sustain standardized training within their departments, including obtaining certification as a Job Instruction trainer. Under her direction, the TLC program has evolved into a comprehensive training framework, incorporating systems for planning, execution, and evaluation to ensure high-quality workplace training and support the development of new health system master trainers.
Kaitlyn Wolken joined The University of Kansas Health System in 2015 as a Respiratory Therapist, where she specialized in delivering high-quality care to neonatal and pediatric patients. In 2019, she transitioned to the role of Respiratory Therapy Educator to focus on teaching. By 2021, she advanced to the position of Respiratory Therapy Master Trainer and earned certification as a Job Instruction course instructor from the TWI Institute. In this role, she introduced the Training Leadership Certification (TLC) program to respiratory therapy and continues to oversee its implementation. This program is designed to equip leaders with the skills necessary to develop, deliver, and sustain standardized training within their departments, including certification as a Job Instruction trainer.
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Jacques Neatby is a leadership team and corporate strategy expert.
He began his career as a labour & litigation lawyer with one of Canada’s elite international law firms.
He was recruited into consulting in 1994 and soon after was hired by Canada’s largest independent strategy consultancy (since acquired by KPMG). There he worked with the executive teams of industry-leading companies in North America and Europe, including Ubisoft, Sanofi, as well as Bureau Veritas, the no. 2 player in the global testing and inspection industry (currently 80 000 employees in 140 countries) who hired him to set up their corporate university and develop their flagship strategic alignment program targeting the organization’s top 300 leaders.
He was later asked to join Bureau Veritas full-time as a senior executive. Based in Europe and reporting to a member of the group’s Executive Committee, he led a team that supported country and regional leadership teams in the USA, Europe and Asia-Pacific, notably with restructuring and strategic alignment, as well as with their post-merger integration of efforts (Note: during his time at Bureau Veritas, the company grew from 18 000 to 60 000 employees).
In 2010, he returned to North America and his expertise with executive teams led Lafarge, now Holcim, the leading cement company in the world ($30 billion in revenues, 72 000 employees) to hire him as a special advisor to its executive teams in Europe, Asia and North America to address restructuring and alignment issues. Since that time, he has also been hired for strategic alignment support by many other industry-leading companies in North America and Europe including Marriott (global no. 1 in hospitality) and Randstad (global no.1 in recruitment).
In addition to his consulting work, Jacques has taught at numerous business schools in North America and Europe since 2012. From 2015-2021, he taught the leadership team module in the world’s no. 1 EMBA program as ranked by the Financial Times in London, where he was amongst the top-ranked professors.
He also writes on executive teams and strategy, notably for the Harvard Business Review and Business Digest. He and INSEAD professor Frédéric Godart are the authors of Leadership Team alignment: From Conflict to Collaboration published by Stanford University Press in 2023.
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Bijoy E. John, MD, is a board-certified Sleep Specialist, Sleep Expert, Public speaker, Podcast guest and an author. He is currently a private practitioner with over 25 years of clinical and research experience. He is the founder and medical director of Sleep Fix Academy which offers online courses, podcasts, and other resources to improve sleep quality. He also treats both kid and adults with various sleep disorders at his clinic in Brentwood, Tennessee. He also serves as an Affiliate Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine. He is married and has 2 grown children and resides in the suburbs of Nashville.
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Evan Unger has 25 years’ experience driving organizational change initiatives, both as an executive in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries and as an external consultant. Since 1988 he has consulted with clients in small organizations, school systems and in Fortune 100 companies domestically and across Europe, the Pacific Rim and South America.
He served in several key leadership positions for Merck, a global pharmaceutical manufacturer, and as Vice President of Leadership, Change & Development for Centura Health, Colorado’s largest healthcare provider. He has trained thousands of people in the art of collaborative leadership, and specializes in building teams, change management and complex meeting facilitation. Evan received his BS in Psychology and Economics from Duke University and MBA from the University of Michigan. He recharges once a year with a ten-day, silent meditation retreat. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado.
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Wendy K. Smith is a Harvard educated, award-winning academic and the Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management and faculty director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at University of Delaware. She is an expert on organizational paradoxes, exploring how leaders and individuals effectively respond to contradictory, yet interdependent demands. She spends her time continually working to better manage the paradoxes of life that we all face.
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Tom Webb, DBA is the co-founder and managing partner of CareKate, LLC, a firm focused on supporting those who support the health of an aging loved one. Tom's extensive background in healthcare, engineering, and business informs his unique perspective on healthcare consumerism and the future of AI in healthcare.
Tom also serves as Adjunct Faculty at Rush University and National Louis University, teaching courses on data management, statistics for business data analytics, and healthcare quality. His academic research focuses on healthcare quality measurement and price transparency.
Tom held various roles at Rush University Medical Center, including AVP - Quality Analytics, Manager – Clinical Resource Management, and Performance Improvement Consultant. His experience spans over a decade in the chemical and food industries, where he focused on engineering products and processes, including automotive paints, biocide plastic additives, and liquid sweeteners.
Tom's diverse expertise positions him to offer valuable insights into the intersection of technology and healthcare. He holds a DBA with a focus in Data Analytics from Grand Canyon University, an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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Morgan started 4 years ago in BMA Daunia and is the BOS CoE Practice Lead. Morgan has over 30 years' experience in Lean and 20 years in Six Sigma, a pragmatic and experienced improvement Leader, delivering over $2.1.Bn in hard savings to organisation, improving customer, staff experiences and improved Health and Safety. The legacy capabilities of Business Improvement have resulted in over 23 international awards and chairing 27 international conferences around Business Improvement. Morgan is an international award-winning author and written 8 books, two of which have won Shingo Prize publications awards. He has led a business unit with overall P&L accountability of $367M and led an organisation to be the first bank to a Shingo award. He is also a Chartered Engineer, Certified Master Black Belt, Lean Master and Executive Coach. Morgan has leadership experience in marine, manufacturing, government, military, mining, utilities, telecommunications, oil and gas, banking and supply chain.
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Jenn Christison grew up wanting to change the world as a teacher, social worker, or stand-up comedian. After exploring all three, she discovered her most significant impact could be made by leading organizational transformation.
With over 15 years of experience as a performance improvement consultant, senior leader, facilitator, and coach across multiple industries and sectors, Jenn brings a wealth of expertise to her work. Her educational background in Society, Ethics, and Human Behavior has shaped her improvement framework, emphasizing team and leadership development alongside technical process improvement.
Committed to the principles of respect for people and continuous improvement, Jenn owns and operates Seven Ways Consulting. She helps motivated leaders become even better through custom coaching, facilitation, and education services. Known for her upbeat, optimistic approach, Jenn encourages hands-on experimentation that enables rapid, engaging improvement.
In her spare time, Jenn enjoys reading fiction, inhaling the scent of Pacific Northwest pine trees, and baking treats for her loved ones. You can still find her playing stand-up comic if you know where to look.
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The podcast currently has 203 episodes available.
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