Bios

Bios

The consultants at VALUMETRIX® Services come from a variety of backgrounds, giving you the benefit of  fresh perspectives and a wide range of experience. Some are former healthcare administrators who specialized in quality improvement. Others have worked in process improvement at manufacturing facilities. In each case, your consultant has years of experience with process improvement in a real-life setting.

  • a
    An Vos
    Consultant, EMEA

    With a master’s degree in industrial sciences, An specialized in biotechnology. She has been working in healthcare since 2001 as a specialist for clinical Laboratories and Lean, gaining solid experience and knowledge of the clinical laboratory process and how Lean applies to it.

    In January 2009, An joined ValuMetrix® Services in order to further extend the Ortho Clinical Diagnostic value stream to healthcare. Since becoming a part of the ValuMetrix® Services team, An has worked on both long-term change projects in clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology settings and rapid improvement events in blood production. Her strong consulting skills have made her very successful in improving the blood bank patient testing process.

    An is fluent in Dutch, French and English and has a good knowledge of the German language as well.

    An firmly believes in the ValuMetrix® Services approach of letting healthcare organizations discover their own ways to go Lean while coaching and training them on the complete Lean toolset and, more importantly, coaching them through the Lean culture change.

  • a
    Bill Han
    Consultant ValuMetrix® Services Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc.

    After earning a bachelor’s degree in the areas of electronics and automation, Bill joined a network integration company as a systems engineer working on the completion of the Cheng-Yu Freeway communication and toll system.

    He joined Johnson & Johnson Medical China (JJMC) in 2001 and played a key role in establishing the JJMC Technical Service Center (TSC). The center is one of 13 Ethicon Endo-Surgery (EES)-certified service centers worldwide, supporting not only the China market but also such regional markets as Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. In addition, it covers all the medical franchises in China, including Cordis, EES, DePuy Codman, Advanced Sterilization Products, Inc. (ASP) and Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc.

    Bill joined the ValuMetrix® Services China team in 2008 with a focus on developing business in China. After participating in extensive training that included performing Work Process Analysis (WPAs) at several United States hospitals, Bill helped ValuMetrix® Services enter the China market and develop a Chinese model for the ValuMetriX® Services offerings.

    Since then, Bill has been involved in more than 10 WPAs in China and one Lean project. He has also helped developed Process Excellence (PEx) online analysis tools that are now available, helping China take significant steps toward improving its healthcare system through the use of PEx and Lean methodology.

  • a
    Chetan Shukla, BE, MS, MBA
    Senior Consultant

    A certified Lean practitioner with more than 15 years of experience in the strategic application of Lean, Six Sigma and design principles, Chetan has achieved operational excellence in a variety of environments, including hospitals and healthcare organizations, manufacturers of medical devices, automobiles and appliances. He has also managed a facility of more than 350,000 square feet.

    As a member of the ValuMetrix® Services team, he has successfully managed Lean design and implementation projects in healthcare environments and helped them achieve savings in space, capacity and productivity and has improved customer service.

    Chetan has a bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Mumbai (India) and master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration from Florida International University in Miami, Florida.

    He enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience and has been an Adjunct faculty in Industrial Engineering at Florida International University and has led many seminars and events.

  • a
    Claudia French, MBA, MT (ASCP)
    Senior Consultant

    A graduate of Case Western Reserve University with a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology, Claudia began her career as a medical technologist with University Hospitals in Cleveland, specializing in blood banking. She had a long tenure with the NCH Healthcare System in Naples, Florida, advancing to a senior management position and serving several years as Laboratory Manager at NCH’s North Collier Hospital.

    After completing her graduate work (earning an MBA from the University of South Florida), she moved to DSI Laboratories, where she switched to operations, managing DSI’s couriers and outpatient service centers. She was named Director of Operations, responsible for assuring that efficient and effective processes were in place for each phase of the operation while also overseeing cost accounting in the laboratory.

    When DSI engaged ValuMetrix® Services to develop new ways of managing both costs and quality, Claudia led the new initiatives and went on to join ValuMetrix® Services as a Lean Consultant in 2004.

    Since joining ValuMetrix® Services, Claudia has been a leader in teaching Six Sigma and mentoring Six Sigma projects while also leading Lean initiatives in healthcare facilities throughout North America. She also has been instrumental in developing the integration of instrumentation and process, helping laboratories improve their process when implementing new equipment.

  • a
    Dale Hershfield, BSIE, MBA
    Senior Consultant

    Dale received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

    Prior to joining ValuMetrix® Services, he held positions with Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company and KI.

    Dale has successfully applied Lean principles in diverse settings, including healthcare, consumer goods manufacturing, industrial chemical production, distribution materials planning and furniture manufacturing. He also has more than 10 years of experience with Baldrige-based improvement approaches, including roles as applicant, examiner and state program judge.

    Dale is a featured author and speaker on Lean and performance improvement topics.

  • a
    Dan Johnson
    Consultant

    Dan has been an avid practitioner of Lean since his certification as a Green Belt in 2002. He gained substantial experience from his ten years in the diagnostics manufacturing industry at a Johnson & Johnson plant in South Wales. During that time, Dan was a driving force for improvement which saw the plant reduce its production lead time for highly sophisticated immunoassay products from 69 days to 16 days.

    Dan also played a major role as a Lean project leader in a $128 million project that included the Lean design of a green-field diagnostics world class manufacturing facility.

    In January 2009 Dan made the move from industry to ValuMetrix® Services, where he has continued to deliver the highest level of Lean implementation, facilitation, mentoring and coaching Lean project teams in healthcare establishments including hospitals, private laboratories and blood donation production facilities.

    Since joining ValuMetrix® Services, Dan has also achieved transformational results in a blood donation services value stream, the Lean design of a large private laboratory, and substantially increased patient throughput in a hematology and thrombosis clinical setting.

    Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Exercise Physiology.

  • a
    Daniel Littlefield, R.Ph. MBA
    Senior Consultant

    After graduating from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy, Dan earned his MBA at the University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business.

    He began his healthcare career in retail pharmacy and went on to earn a specialty certification in nuclear pharmacy. As a nuclear pharmacist, he was responsible for providing radiopharmaceuticals and consulting services to physicians and hospitals. He advanced to pharmacy manager and then to director of operations, where he was responsible for 13 facilities, 300 employees and overall financial performance.

    A Certified Lean Master, Dan attained his Lean certification in 2005. Since joining the ValuMetrix® Services team in 2009, he has worked on numerous Lean assessments in laboratories and pharmacies. He has also been involved with assignments that called for the integration and implementation of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics’ VITROS® 5600 Integrated Systems in clinical laboratories.

    He also enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience working with Lean concepts and has been a featured speaker at ValuMetrix® Services seminars.

  • a
    David Tener, MBA
    Consultant

    David joined Ortho Clinical Diagnostics in 2002 in the internal Process Excellence department, where he worked on several projects in reagent manufacturing and other areas of production. These projects resulted in major reductions in cycle time and helped to eliminate errors in product tracking and identification. As a manager in Ortho’s supply chain, he continued to lead internal improvements that lowered inventory and reduced lead time.

    Since joining the ValuMetrix® Services team in 2008, David has led implementations across a wide range of areas in the healthcare industry, from clinical laboratories to the OR pre-admission process.

    He has also worked on ValuMetrix® P3 Solutions® (Process + Product + People) assignments connected to the implementation of the VITROS 5600™ analyzer in clinical laboratories. With this new tool in the Ortho arsenal of resources, David works in partnership with the marketing and sales groups to make recommendations and provide training to implement Process Excellence improvements designed to optimize the use of Ortho’s products. For Ortho customers, this translates to increased laboratory capacity, reduced waste and improved quality.

    For David, “Lean is the beginning of the journey; it is not an end.”

  • a
    Hans Klein, PhD
    Consultant

    As a new member of the ValuMetrix® Services team, Hans brings years of biochemistry experience to the table. Working at several pharmaceutical companies in Germany, he gained insight into the operations of German hospitals and blood banks as well as the German market. As a key accounts manager, he demonstrated his ability to analyze trends and implement marketing concepts while troubleshooting and presenting products to the customer; all of these skills have proven effective in the worldwide market as well.

    Hans joined Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Germany in July 2007 as a project manager in lab automation, working with the Central Europe region. In this position, he analyzed competitors’ lab automation systems and trained sales teams. It was during this time that he came in contact with ValuMetrix® Services and what it offers customers. As he learned more about Process Excellence methods and Lean analysis, he knew he wanted to be a part of the team and joined ValuMetrix® Services in 2009.

    “I find the concept of starting the Lean journey in a lab and spreading out to any hospital department in need of process improvements extremely exciting,” says Hans.

  • a
    Jamie J. Miles, MT (ASCP)
    Managing Principal

    Jamie is a certified medical technologist with expertise in chemistry, special chemistry, hematology, microbiology, blood bank, coagulation, virology, immunology, phlebotomy molecular diagnostics and RIA.

    He graduated from Augustana College with a bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology and related minors in Chemistry and Biology. Jamie started his career working in a hospital setting in the evenings. He later served as a supervisor in the departments of immunology and special chemistry for a large reference laboratory, as a medical technologist, and as a senior medical technologist for the Laboratory of Clinical Medicine. He has also worked as a supervisor for the Nichols Institute and as an Immunology Specialist for MAWD Laboratories. He has been working in laboratories and healthcare since 1981.

    During his career with ValuMetrix® Services, Jamie has been instrumental in creating and defining innovative ways to apply the principles of Lean and Six Sigma to the healthcare environment. He has led multiple Lean projects across large healthcare organizations in North America, Australia and Europe, including focused projects in laboratory, emergency department, patient flow, surgery, blood donor centers, molecular and reference laboratories.

    Jamie has completed many healthcare design projects that have enabled customers to build better facilities that support a Lean environment of continuous improvement. He is able to work toward both enterprise and bench level solutions and improvements and help customers understand how the department/hospital layout can directly affect overall staff performance.

  • a
    Jean Stanley, MT (ASCP) SBB, CQA, CMQ/OE
    Senior Consultant

    Jean is a licensed medical technologist with more than 30 years experience in health care. She has held positions both on the bench as a blood bank specialist and supervisor and in management as director of technical services. She also has been responsible for organizational quality assurance programs.

    As director of operators at the Stanford Medical School Blood Center, Jean was introduced to Lean manufacturing as a member of the original team that focused on Lean implementation in the testing and component laboratories. She went on to champion the continuing Lean journey throughout the blood center, including telerecruitment, whole blood and automated collections, mobile operations and the materials management department.

    Jean left Stanford to become a Lean implementation specialist and has helped facilitate Lean operational activities for community blood banks, surgery and core lab operations.

    Jean earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Science at California Polytechnic State University, followed by an internship in medical technology at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Oakland, California. She found that immunohematology was her area of interest, which led to her Specialist in Blood Bank certification. She has continued to expand her knowledge, earning quality certifications and an MBA degree. Jean also shares her expertise as a guest speaker and as the author of articles and chapters in technical books.

  • a
    Jo Ann Hegarty MT (ASCP) SBB
    Worldwide Marketing Director

    After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rider College in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Jo Ann completed graduate work in virology, immunology and clinical pharmacology at the College of New Jersey. For more than 10 years, she performed complex immunohematology reference work in the world-renowned Philip Levine Reference Laboratory Blood Consultation Service at Ortho Diagnostics. She also held positions in quality assurance and field technical support.

    Jo Ann also worked as Marketing Director for Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, Consulting and Services, where she was instrumental in expanding the Surgery Consulting and Operations Solutions service lines.

    Jo Ann’s 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry encompasses both marketing management and health care technology. She has served in a variety of marketing and product management roles at several health care companies. Her technical background includes experience as a medical technologist and an assistant supervisor of a blood bank/transfusion service for a mid-sized community medical center. As a marketing executive for several diverse product lines, she developed and implemented product launch strategies, provided product training, directed marketing communication and promotional plans, and managed product inventory.

    Jo Ann now utilizes her experience to lead the worldwide marketing efforts of ValuMetrix® Services, the division of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics that combines the tools and methodologies of Six Sigma, Lean Thinking and Design Excellence to drive dramatic improvements in all areas of healthcare business performance.

    An active member of the American Association of Blood Banks, Jo Ann has co-authored several key papers that were presented at annual meetings and is a frequent speaker at educational programs and events.

  • a
    Junzhe “Bill” Shang
    Product Manager Process Excellence ValuMetrix® Services Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc.

    Bill graduated from Tianjin University, where he majored in Project Management. He went on to work as a project manager for a Chinese engineering company, working in Cyprus, Ethiopia and Hong Kong. He went on to graduate from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in 2006, where he earned an MBA.

    After graduation, Bill joined Johnson & Johnson Medical China through Johnson & Johnson’s International Recruitment and Development Program (IRDP). He spent six months as a supply chain manager with Johnson & Johnson Health Care System Inc. (HCS) in New Jersey before returning to China as a supply chain manager supporting Ortho Clinical Diagnostics’ LFS business in China. He also assumed responsibility for customer service and the Order to Cash function for all of Johnson & Johnson Medical China.

    In 2009 he moved to Ortho Clinical Diagnostics as product manager of Process Excellence service to facilitate the introduction of ValuMetrix® Services to the Chinese market. Bill is involved in developing the local team, the business development plan and market development of ValuMetrix® Services in China. He also speaks on Lean and Six Sigma at national meetings/events attended by diagnostic professionals in China.

  • a
    Lewis Lefteroff, MSIE
    Managing Principal

    A graduate of the University of Miami, where he earned both Bachelor of Science and master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering, Lewis began his career as an industrial engineer. After leading numerous improvements in medical device manufacturing, he moved along the value stream toward the customer, driving Lean improvements in materials management, quality systems and, now, the hospital environment.

    Since joining ValuMetrix® Services, Lewis has led teams to improvements across the hospital setting, including Laboratory Services, Operating Room, Central Sterile Processing, Pharmacy, Diagnostic Imaging, and others.

    Drawing from his own management experiences, Lewis has been a pioneer in addressing the challenges of “managing in a Lean environment.” In addition to project management and change management at the department/process levels, he works with senior executives to align their strategies for deploying Lean improvements and changing culture across the larger organization.

  • a
    Marco Cabello, MBA
    Consultant

    Marco’s diverse background includes automotive, medical devices, consumer products and electronics and healthcare. Since completing Lean manufacturing training in 1995 and Black Belt training in 1997, he has embraced Process Excellence principles and tools, earning his Master Black Belt certification in 2002 and compiling a comprehensive history of coursework and certifications in the areas of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma and Process Excellence.

    Since then, he has coached, mentored and/or led more than 100 Lean and Six Sigma projects which have generated more than $15M in savings, both in hard and avoidance costs, for several large corporations. In one instance, he achieved a $1M cost savings during a product line transfer by incorporating Lean principles.

    Marco has also worked internationally with companies and clients in Canada, Mexico and Australia.

    His enthusiasm for Lean is apparent, as he continues to teach others (training more than 20 waves of Green and Black Belts). He has also shared his experiences as a speaker at the Congress of Mexican Pathologists and as a member/speaker for the Institute of Industrial Engineers.

  • a
    Martha Sunyog, MT (ASCP)
    Consultant

    After graduating from Denison University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Martha began her career as a Medical Technologist in Naples, Florida. She served as the manager of the local community blood center and transfusion services for a number of years and then became the Laboratory Administrative Director of DSI Laboratories, part of the NCH Healthcare System, overseeing operations for two hospital laboratories.

    During her tenure as Laboratory Director at DSI, the lab partnered with ValuMetrix® Services in 2002 on a full Lean transformation project. Martha served as Champion for the project, which saw the lab cited as one of the successful pioneers in applying Lean to the laboratory.

    After such a successful project, Martha joined ValuMetrix® Services as a consultant in 2008. She now serves as a project leader for laboratory assessments and a team member of Lean implementation projects throughout North America using Process Excellence principles and tools.

    She also frequently lectures on Lean and Six Sigma at healthcare conferences.

    “Going through change is a major and sometimes stressful process, but the results are phenomenal and empowering,” she affirms.

  • a
    Maureen Harte, MT (ASCP)
    Process Excellence Solutions Manager

    A licensed medical technologist with specialty interests in chemistry, immunohematology and microbiology, Maureen graduated from Utah State University with a BS in Medical Technology and a minor in Chemistry. She has served as quality assurance and education coordinator for a laboratory in a 300-bed hospital and as director of the Medical Technology Internship Program at a major Utah hospital. She has also been a consultant to physician office laboratories with Intermountain Health Care.

    During Maureen’s career at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, she has held positions as Laboratory Specialist, Senior Consultant, Lean Specialist, Technical Marketing Manager, and International Practice Manager, demonstrating superior project management and change management proficiency along with strong technical and analytical competence. She earned the distinction of Master Black Belt in 2003.

    As the Worldwide Process Excellence Solutions Manager, she manages the program and processes associated with projects that include the implementation of process improvements combined with Ortho Clinical Diagnostics clinical systems. This includes working closely with customers to build implementation plans and ensuring all elements of the process improvement implementation are executed most effectively and efficiently resulting in optimized operations incorporating proper design, process improvements and the most effective use of employees with Ortho Clinical Diagnostics clinical systems.

    She has delivered presentations and training programs at local and national AACC, AABB, and CLMA functions, local and national ASCLS events, the WCBF Six Sigma Conference, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Best Practice Seminars, laboratory automation seminars and customer-sponsored healthcare symposiums throughout the world.

  • a
    Meghan Scanlon, BS
    Senior Consultant

    Meghan received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. She first joined Ortho Clinical Diagnostics as a Process Excellence engineer in worldwide operations, where she was responsible for utilizing Lean and Six Sigma tools to increase productivity, profitability and quality. She helped develop critical methods for capturing performance metrics and production control data to be used in improving efficiency in manufacturing and also developed inventory-tracking systems for use in the supply chain. She worked on numerous Six Sigma projects where root cause analyses were done to improve quality and first-pass yield.

     

    Her broad experience includes training team members in the use and benefits of Process Excellence tools and mentoring both Black and Green Belt candidates to certification.

     

    Since joining ValuMetrix® Services in 2005, Meghan has driven significant operational improvements in laboratories worldwide. She used her passion on integrating and optimizing people, equipment and processes to help develop ValuMetrix® P3 Solutions®.

     

    Meghan also has extensive experience in applying automation to laboratory services and works to design and implement automation systems that will meet the ever-increasing challenges of the laboratory. She leads customers on "the correct path to automation," helping them understand what they can expect from automating processes and utilizing Lean thinking in their processes and systems to achieve their goals.

  • a
    Michael Monaco
    Senior Consultant

    Mike brings an extensive “hands-on” background in Lean and Six Sigma, having worked with the Toyota Production Systems’ consulting firm in identifying problems, developing solutions and overseeing implementation of waste reduction teams throughout the value streams for manufacturing sites around the world.

    As a long-time proponent of Process Excellence, Mike brings an eye for process improvements bolstered by training in Lean and Six Sigma principles and experience in facilitating a broad range of kaizen events and continuous improvement projects across both analytical and non-analytical processes. He was part of a worldwide team of Lean Champions working for Eastman Kodak Company and ITT Space Systems, leading the deployment and implementation of more than 75 Lean “Kaizen” events in France, England, Australia, Mexico, China and the US.

    As a senior consultant with ValuMetrix® Services, Mike leads projects designed to accelerate the healthcare business using Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma concepts that ultimately link into a strategic focus for rapid, measurable and achievable result for impacting business growth.

  • a
    Norka Saldaña, PhD
    Senior Consultant

    A highly accomplished, motivated consultant and trainer, Norka’s 20 years experience spans corporate, manufacturing and healthcare environments as well as academia, illustrating her ability to work effectively with diverse international cultures and across broad occupational spectrums. She is an experienced facilitator in the development of strategic objectives, performance measures and goals, aligned with company vision, mission and key business objectives.

    She has developed and delivered virtual online training on Lean 5S, Six Sigma Awareness, Project Sponsorship and Analytical Primer. Norka has also developed and delivered Six Sigma Yellow Belt Training tailored to the healthcare community.

    A strong advocate of knowledge sharing, Norka has delivered presentations on Six Sigma and Change Management at professional conferences including: ValuMetrix® Services Executive Seminars and Workshops, Society for Health Systems/American Society for Quality Conference, XXXIX Mexican Pathology Congress, Lab Quality Confab on Quality Management in Diagnostic Medicine, International Congress on Occupational Risk Prevention, American Society of Safety Engineers and the National Safety Council. She was also the recipient of the LabCorp 2009 Corporate Billing Achievement Award for Process Excellence – the first time the award was ever given to a non-LabCorp employee.

    After earning two bachelor’s degrees at the University of Puerto Rico, Norka earned both Master of Science in Engineering and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

  • a
    Paul M Button, LRSC
    Managing Principal, EMEA

    Paul has accumulated more than 25 years of industrial experience in diagnostics manufacturing and has held responsibilities across many functional groups. He gained an Analytical Chemistry degree from University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC) in 1983 and was accepted as a Licentiate of the Royal Society of Chemistry in the same year. He trained and certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt in New Jersey in 2001.

    Paul held worldwide responsibility for Ortho Clinical Diagnostics’ technical customer support group from 1990 to 2000, where he collaborated with an impressive number of pathology experts in several laboratory-based practical studies. From 2000 to 2003 he ran a very busy laboratory with a throughput of 1.25 million tests per annum. Using Lean tools, he redesigned the laboratory, saving 45% floor space. Productivity was increased by 41% through the introduction of Value Stream Mapping, Flow, Pull, Line-of-Sight, Pace Maker, and Visual Management. Human error defects were improved to better than 5 Sigma.

    In 2005 Paul was appointed as Lean Design Manager for the design of the operations layout in a new Johnson & Johnson production plant in South Wales, which became operational in 2009.

    In 2006 Paul took on the responsibility of introducing ValuMetrix® Services into Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Since then he has achieved and managed a significant number of Lean engagements throughout Europe. Clients include: UK National Blood Service, The Royal Free Hospital London, Labor Limbach Germany, Anthony Nolan Trust, Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (German Red Cross), Northampton General Hospital, Katherine Dormandy Haemophilia Centre and Thrombosis Unit, University Hospital of Liège, GZA Hospitals Antwerp, Sonic Healthcare, and UCLH NHS Foundation Trust.

    Paul is now the Managing Principal of the ValuMetrix® Services group in EMEA and is equipped with a team of first-class Lean consultants with a variety of experiences from both industry and healthcare.

  • a
    R. Rodney Momcilovic, MBA, MT (ASCP)
    Consultant

    With a Bachelor Science in Biology and an MBA in Finance and Health Services Administration, Rodney has worked in public, private, corporate and government sectors, running organizations of all sizes. During the past 13 years he has provided direct oversight in management positions in the areas of quality improvement and performance, the blood bank, the core laboratory and microbiology.

    He has served as a CAP-trained inspector and played significant roles in TJC, AABB and FDA regulatory and accreditation preparation inspection processes.

    Rodney’s expertise has also been put to use as an active material and resource panelist for Advance for Medical Laboratory Professionals as well as an Editorial Advisory Board member for CLMA.

  • a
    Richard Albertini, ME, CMQ/OE
    Senior Consultant

    A Six Sigma Champion with more than 15 years of experience in manufacturing operations, Process Improvements/Lean Six Sigma and Supply Chain in two Fortune 500 companies, Rich has had great success in the deployment of Six Sigma methodologies, teaching and mentoring belts in the application of Process Excellence. He has translated his proven track record of results in manufacturing to the medical device/biotechnology industries.

    Rich holds a degree in Industrial and System Engineering from the University of Florida and a Masters of Engineering from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He is currently pursuing an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and an Advanced Project Management Certification at Stanford University. He is also an associate faculty member at the University of Phoenix John Sperling Graduate School of Business, where he teaches MBA students in Latin America.

    He currently resides in the Treasure Coast of Florida.

  • a
    Rick Malik MT (ASCP)
    Worldwide Director

    A graduate of Slippery Rock University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology, Rick received his medical technology certification from St. Vincent Hospital School of Medical Technology. He began his laboratory career in a supervisory role in the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Laboratories. He joined Ortho Clinical Diagnostics in 1999 as a Regional Health Systems executive, focusing on large integrated delivery systems.

    During his tenure with ValuMetrix® Services, Rick has been instrumental in leading the teams that bring operational transformation to clients. Rick works closely with healthcare executives around the world to create customized project solutions using the power of Lean, Six Sigma and Lean facility design. He serves as an instructor and leader for Champion and Leadership training and serves as an executive mentor aiding in designing the overall strategy and tactics for the cultural journey of Lean healthcare enterprises.

    He has been instrumental in helping healthcare organizations develop the vision, goals, and strategies for enterprise-wide Process Excellence deployment and helps align the goals and scorecards to sustain the process improvement results.

    In addition, Rick has played a key role in developing Lean facility design initiatives for healthcare executives looking to expand or build new healthcare facilities based on Lean concepts.

  • a
    Robert A. Schraders
    Senior Consultant, EMEA

    After completing his education in engineering and quality assurance, Robert accepted a position as QESH officer, focusing on training new hires in safety and standard operating procedures; along with the introduction of safety observations, recordable incidents dropped to zero over the course of two years. In 2005 he accepted a job as a Lean officer in the aerospace industry. He directed Lean projects for the vertical stabilizer and the landing gear for helicopters, increasing production from 23 to 72 vertical stabilizers.

    The following year he became a Continuous Improvement Manager, leading training and improvement projects in the Netherlands, the United States, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Hungary.

    He has experience in training senior management and employees in Lean awareness in the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. Before joining ValuMetrix® Services, Robert was an internationally recognized trainer, conducting workshops and training project leaders in Lean tools, utilizing his skills with a variety of international customers.

  • a
    Shana Padgett, BS, MT(ASCP)
    Senior Consultant

    Shana is a board certified Medical Technologist with over 20 years laboratory experience and 4 years providing instruction at a Minnesota professional practices university. Prior to joining the VALUMETRIX® team in the summer of 2006, Shana had the opportunity to participate in VALUMETRIX® supported lean initiatives in her Minnesota hospital system laboratories, first as a team member and then as team lead. She then led her peers in several internal initiatives, including pharmacy, billing and referral testing. Since joining VALUMETRIX® Services, Shana has successfully led initiatives and coached teams to realize enterprise level, transformational change. She has developed teams and leadership in Laboratory Services, Surgical Services, Pharmacy, Patient Admissions, Business Operations and others. Shana’s passion for ensuring the future of quality, affordable healthcare includes educational content to address the significant challenges faced in staff engagement, managing and leading in a lean environment and change management in a cultural revolution. Shana is experienced in coaching and mentoring to drive change, at all levels, from the bench to the boardroom, as organizations align their strategic plans for financial security, growth, quality and continuous improvement.

  • a
    Steven Friedland
    Executive Principal

    Prior to joining Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Steve represented products for cardiology and the clinical laboratory in the hospital and physicians’ office markets. In 1991, he joined the Ortho Clinical Diagnostics sales organization. He received numerous performance awards during his sales career, including top national sales honors, and was instrumental in the development of new markets and innovative sales programs.
    Appointed as one of the founding members of the Health Systems Executive Team, Steve managed a group of accounts in the southeast U.S. In 2001, he assumed an expanded management role, overseeing a group expansion and responsibility for the eastern half of the country. Many of the early pilot projects using Process Excellence in hospital labs were implemented within these healthcare facilities.
    Steve believes that, by applying change management systems, high performance team development and the proven quality programs of Lean, Six Sigma and Design Excellence to healthcare, ValuMetrix® Services offers a unique opportunity to elevate healthcare clients and the industry to new standards of quality and operational effectiveness.
    Steve is a graduate of Washington and Jefferson College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.

  • a
    Susan F. South, MAOM, MT (ASCP), SBB
    Senior Consultant

    Susan has more than 35 years experience working in and with transfusion services, donor centers, clinical laboratories, emergency departments, central sterile processing and hospital systems. She received her Specialist Blood Bank (SBB) certification in 1977 and an MA in Organizational Management in 1992. For more than 20 years, she managed the Immunohematology Consultation Laboratory for Blood Systems, Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona, providing education, training, quality assurance testing, and problem solving for more than 1,000 hospitals in a 19-state region and for 23 United Blood Services donor centers.

    From 1994 until January of 2002, she provided consulting services on work process redesign and other strategies for success at donor centers, transfusion services, and clinical laboratories. In 2002, Susan became a full-time member of the ValuMetrix® Services team.

    Susan has been on the leading edge of the educational efforts in Lean and Six Sigma methods, presenting more than 600 programs all over the world on such topics as competitive positioning, change management and Lean Six Sigma. She has received numerous awards for her contributions to the area of transfusion medicine and for her innovation and leadership in process improvement.

  • a
    Tim Orr
    Vice President, Marketing

    Tim is Vice President, Marketing of Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics (OCD). Since joining OCD in 1994, he has held several key positions worldwide, including Director U.S. Marketing, Worldwide Marketing Manager (based in London), Worldwide Strategic and Business Planning Manger, Director Sales and Marketing Asia Pacific Region, and International Managing Director for several OCD international affiliate companies. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Lake Forest College and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from The Graduate Institute. A member of the Biomedical Marketing Association and member of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry, he has served on the Johnson & Johnson Asian Philanthropic Committee, chairperson for OCD’s United Way and Good Government Fund campaigns.