I interviewed Dr. Paulette Evans. Dr. Paulette J. Evans, BSEE, MBA, SSBB, CPHQ, PMP, CKF was born in Georgetown, SC, a small coastal town where both of her parents grew up; after they both graduated from college, her father worked as an electrician for 33 years and her Mother taught Math for 36 years. Combining what she learned from both of them, she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, minoring in Mathematical Sciences, from Clemson University in 2001. Paulette also earned her Master of Business Administration degree from Stetson University in 2008, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She recently obtained her Doctor of Education degree, specializing in Performance Improvement Leadership, from Capella University; she was on the President’s List throughout her work for maintaining a 4.00 GPA and graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Paulette currently lives in Raleigh, NC, and identifies as a process improvement/project management expert who utilizes proven methodologies to effectively and efficiently solve problems at work, at home, and everywhere in between. Because this ability comes naturally to her, she recently launched Evans Efficiency Experts, a consulting firm focused on helping people convert chaos to calm before they burn out. Prior to founding her business, Paulette served as the Vice President – Enterprise Portfolio Management Office at Cardinal Innovations Healthcare in Charlotte, NC. She was responsible for overseeing the enterprise-wide portfolio of projects, and managing a dedicated team of professionals to ensure all components of projects and deliverables meet desired metrics and outcomes. Before transitioning to Cardinal Innovations, Paulette served as the Senior Business andamp; Quality Improvement Leader for the Revenue Cycle department at UNC Health. She was tasked with partnering with leaders and front-line staff to improve their processes, identifying ways to enhance project team performance, and serving as a key champion of the organization’s strategic priorities. Prior to relocating to Raleigh, Paulette was a Senior Project Manager at Cone Health where she led and managed the development, implementation, and coordination of projects for Reinventing Care, a collaborative process that combined architectural and health care experts from across the country to inform the design, construction, and renovation of Cone Health’s hospitals. In the last 9 years, she has obtained certifications in Kaizen Facilitation, Project Management, and Healthcare Quality. Before transitioning to the healthcare industry, Paulette held a variety of leadership positions at General Electric where she honed and cultivated her project and operations management skills and earned a Six Sigma Black Belt certification. As an Electrical Project Manager, she managed 430 projects totaling $13.4MM for the sales team in the North Florida district and helped the team reach $58MM for the 2006 budget year.

In 2017, Paulette was recognized as one of 40 Leaders Under 40 by the Triad Business Journal, and she was featured in the Clemson World Magazine as a “Tiger on the Move.” She was also awarded the 2019-2020 Foundation Award from the Junior League of Raleigh. Paulette also has a passion for empowering women to be strong, self-reliant, and successful in all their endeavors, so she spends any free time she has volunteering for organizations with this same focus. She currently serves in a leadership capacity with the Junior League of Raleigh, the Raleigh Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, the NC Triangle Chapter of Ellevate, Soroptimist International of Wake Forest, and KNOW Cares. One of her most memorable life experiences occurred in 2001. While an electrical engineering student at Clemson University, Paulette led a project requiring a team to research, design, and install a water purification system at a clinic in an underdeveloped village in South Africa. To this day, Paulette looks back on this experience as the sole...