Board of Directors

Kathryn Correia

CEO, Legacy Health

Kathryn Correia’s work using Lean methodology has successfully transformed health delivery models, with a goal to deliver the best patient-centered and compassionate care. She is an expert in developing and transforming healthcare systems to create greater value for customers and communities. With more than ten years’ experience teaching and leading Lean, Kathryn understands that taking on transformational change doesn’t happen by maintaining the status quo.

Correia was selected as President and CEO for HealthEast in 2012. An advocate for community health and well-being, she embraced the opportunity to help create a vision that would inspire the organization to see the future of health care through a new lens, thus was born “Optimal health and well-being for our patients, our communities and ourselves.” The HealthEast Vision serves to engage and motivate employees, physicians and communities alike.

An Ohio native, Correia received her undergraduate degree from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and her Master’s degree in Health Administration from Ohio State University.  She previously served as president of Appleton Medical Center and Theda Clark Medical Center, and senior vice president of ThedaCare.

While at ThedaCare, she formed ThedaCare Physicians and served as that medical group’s executive leader.  Prior to joining ThedaCare, Correia was vice president for ambulatory care centers and administrative director for clinic operations at Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania.

Her work using The Toyota Production System and other lean principles to transform health delivery models has been featured in several national publications including, Health Affairs.  While at ThedaCare, Kathryn’s work was published in Using a Positive Lens to Explore Social Change and Organizations, by Karen Golden-Biddle and Jane E. Dutton.

Correia serves on the Catalysis Board of Directors and sits on the Leadership Council for the Center for Lean Healthcare Research (Ohio State University/Fisher College of Business).

Correia is also has board member roles with the Minnesota Hospital Association Board member and the YMCA Greater Twin Cities.

Eric Dickson MD, MHCM, FACEP

President & CEO UMass Memorial Health

Dr. Dickson is President and CEO of UMass Memorial Health, the largest not-for-profit health care system in central Massachusetts with $3.3 billion in annual revenue, 1,700 physicians and more than 16,500 employees. The system includes four owned hospitals on ten campuses with more than 1,000 licensed beds; four affiliated hospitals; 70 office-based community practices; a behavioral health services agency and hospital; six urgent care centers; and an Accountable Care Organization (ACO). UMass Memorial trains 650 residents and fellows annually and performs world-class research in partnership with the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Dickson also serves as a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Prior to being named President and CEO of the health system, Dr. Dickson served as President of the UMass Memorial Medical Group and senior associate dean at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The UMass Memorial Medical Group is a subsidiary of UMass Memorial Health Care and is a 1,100-physician, 1,100-employee multidisciplinary medical group with revenues of over $535 million. He served as the head of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and interim chief operating officer for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. 

Dr. Dickson completed his medical degree and residency training in emergency medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and has a master’s degree in Health Care Management from Harvard University.  Dr. Dickson has served as a member of the Baldrige National Quality Award Board of Examiners, lectures nationally on the use of the Toyota Production System in health care and is an active faculty member for the Institute of Healthcare Improvement, where he works with health systems around the world to reduce health care costs while improving quality.  Dr. Dickson is the Immediate Past Chair of the Massachusetts Hospital Association and this year will be the Board Chair Elect for the America’s Essential Hospitals, which is the national association for safety net hospitals.

Mark Hallett, MD

Chief Clinical Officer, St. Charles Health System

Mark Hallett, MD, MBOE, FAAFP is chief medical officer for the PeaceHealth system in Vancouver, Washington.  His current responsibilities include leadership for PeaceHealth’s lean transformation office, as well as physician leadership, and safety, quality, and service excellence for the system.

Dr. Hallett formerly served in multiple leadership roles over 25 years with ThedaCare in Appleton, Wisconsin, including chief operating officer for ThedaCare’s two regional medical centers, chief clinical officer, and primary care group and specialty service line leadership. He combines this with 20 years of primary care and specialty practice experience and has maintained his board certification in Family Medicine.  He earned a Master of Business Operational Excellence for Healthcare from the Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University.  His experience and passion for translating Toyota Production System thinking to improve patient care has led to multiple conference and medical group presentations.

Kevin McNamara

Chief Executive Officer, TIDI Prodcuts

Kevin McNamara is the President and Chief Executive Officer of TIDI Products, LLC based in Neenah, Wisconsin. TIDI is a medical device manufacturer focused on the acute care market. TIDI has manufacturing operations in Wisconsin, Mexico, and China. Kevin has over 30 years of management and leadership experience in industries ranging from consumer-packaged goods to health care. His career has included sales and marketing roles at Procter & Gamble Company, Pepsi-Cola Company, and E.J. Brach Corporation. Mr. McNamara has been with TIDI or its predecessor companies since 1998. He has held Board roles in several “for profit” and “not for profit” organizations. He holds an A. B. Degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. 

Kevin Schulman, MD

Professor of Medicine, Stanford University

Dr. Schulman serves as Professor of Medicine, Associate Chair of Business Development and Strategy in the Department of Medicine, Director of Industry Partnerships and Education for the Clinical Excellence Research Center (CERC) at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and, by courtesy, Professor of Economics at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Dr. Schulman’s research interests include organizational innovation in health care, health care policy and health economics. With over 300 original articles, 90 review articles/commentaries, and 40 case studies/book chapters, Kevin Schulman has had a broad impact on health policy (h-index = 61). His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and Annals of Internal Medicine. He is a member of the editorial/advisory boards of the American Heart Journal, Health Policy, Management and Innovation (HMPI.Org), and Senior Associate Editor of Health Services Research.

At Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, Dr. Schulman oversaw the growth of the health sector management program, graduating almost 1500 students. He is the Founding Director of the unique Master of Management in Clinical Informatics program (MMCi), originally offered through the Fuqua School of Business and now housed in the Duke University School of Medicine. He has served as a Visiting Professor in General Management at Harvard Business School from 2013-2016, and a visiting scholar from 2016-2018. At Stanford, he teaches a course on Health IT and Strategy at the GSB.

He is the Founding President of the Business School Alliance for Health Management (BAHM-Alliance.Org), which is a consortium of the leading business schools offering health management programs.

He is an elected member of ASCI and AAP.

Stephen Shortell, Ph.D., M.P.H., MBA

Professor & Co-Director, UC-Berkeley School of Public Health

Stephen M. Shortell, Ph.D., M.P.H, MBA is the Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management Emeritus, Dean Emeritus, and Professor of the Graduate School at the School of Public Health and Haas School of Business at University of California-Berkeley where he also co-leads the Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research (CHOIR) and the Center for Lean Engagement and Research (CLEAR) in healthcare.  

The author or co-author of over 350 peer-reviewed articles and 10 books Dr. Shortell and his colleagues have received numerous awards for their research examining the formation and performance of integrated delivery systems; the organizational factors associated with quality and outcomes of care; and the factors associated with the adoption of evidence-based processes for treating patients with chronic illness.  He is currently conducting research on patient engagement and the performance of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and on Lean applications in healthcare He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and a recent recipient of the AHA/HRET TRUST Visionary Leadership Award.   

Ken Snyder

Executive Director, The Shingo Institute

Ken Snyder is the executive director of the Shingo Institute. Mr. Snyder has served as a member of the Shingo Executive Advisory Board since 2009, as a Shingo Examiner since 2010, and as Shingo advisory board chairman since 2013. He became executive director in 2015. Mr. Snyder developed an interest in Japanese business practices while living in Japan during the time he was a student. His interest led him to major in Japanese history and then to pursue an MBA for the purpose of working with a Japanese business. Inspired by the work of Professors Mike Yoshino and William Ouchi, Mr. Snyder wrote his master’s thesis on “Applying Japanese Business Practices in American Companies.” Mr. Snyder earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1980 with an emphasis in international business.

Immediately after graduation, Mr. Snyder joined a Japanese electronics manufacturing company, Susumu Kogyo K.K., and helped lead the establishment of its U.S. affiliate company. As plant manager, and later president of that company, he led the company through the implementation of TQC, QC Circles, and later, JIT and kanban initiatives. After ten+ years with the Japanese company, Mr. Snyder led the startup of Progressive Impressions International (PII) in Bloomington, Illinois. There he created a “Lean accounting” system before the term even existed, and he led the growth of PII from pre-revenue to over $25 million in annual revenues. Before joining the Huntsman School, Mr. Snyder was president of Marketing Communication Inc., an operating division of Taylor Corporation. After 30 years in industry, Mr. Snyder joined the faculty of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business in 2008.

Jeffrey E. Thompson, MD

Former CEO, Gundersen Health System

Jeffrey E. Thompson, MD, is chief executive officer and chairman of the boards of Gundersen Lutheran Health System, and a practicing pediatric intensivist and neonatologist. He is a founding member and past board chair of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality. Presently, he is chairman of the board of the La Crosse Medical Health Science Consortium.

Since completing his professional training in 1984, Dr. Thompson has worked full time solely at Gundersen Clinic and Lutheran Hospital – La Crosse (now Gundersen Lutheran). From 1992 to 1996, he served on the former Board of Directors of Gundersen Clinic and played a key role in the negotiations and governance design that led up to the merger between Gundersen Clinic and Lutheran Health System. Since 1996, Dr. Thompson has been a member of the Board of Governors, and a member of the Board of Trustees. He served as executive vice president from 1995 to 2001. From 2001 to present he has served as chief executive officer.

Dr. Thompson is board certified in Pediatric Critical Care, Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine, and Pediatrics. He finished his Neonatal fellowship at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1984. He was a Pediatric resident, and then Chief resident from 1979 to 1982 at the same institution. He completed his Pediatric internship at the University of California-Davis from 1978 to 1979. Dr. Thompson graduated in 1978 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School. He is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics as well as their subsections in Neonatal and Critical Care Medicine and is a member of American College of Physician Executives. Dr. Thompson has authored a number of articles, book chapters and abstracts on many healthcare topics.

John Toussaint, MD

Executive Chairman, Catalysis

John is an Internist, former healthcare CEO and is one of the foremost figures in the adoption of organizational excellence principles in healthcare. He founded Catalysis a nonprofit education institute in 2008.  Catalysis has launched peer-to-peer learning networks, developed in-depth workshops, and created many products – including books, DVDs, webinars and podcasts.

John has published articles in major medical journals such as Health Affairs and JAMA and in major business journals such as Harvard Business Review.  He has written three books all of which have received the prestigious Shingo Research and Publication Award. His groundbreaking first book, On the Mend: Revolutionizing Healthcare to Save Lives and Transform the Industry reveals how healthcare can be fundamentally improved at the point of delivery using the proven principles of enterprise excellence. His second book, Potent Medicine: The Collaborative Cure for Healthcare, describes the three core elements necessary to transform healthcare and deliver better value; delivery of care designed around the patient; transparency of treatment quality and cost; and payment for outcomes. His third book, Management on the Mend: The Executive Guide to System Transformation is a study of eleven organizations and the successful attempts to apply enterprise excellence principles in healthcare.  A fourth book released in July 2020, Becoming the Change: Leadership Behavior Strategies for Continuous Improvement in Healthcare, co-authored with Kim Barnas showcases executives in healthcare around the world as they implement behavior-driven strategies to ensure quality care and create lasting change.

Dr. Toussaint has been recognized for his work in transforming healthcare by organizations including The Business Healthcare Group of Wisconsin, which awarded him the “Driving Meaningful Change” award in 2014, The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME), which inducted him into its 2012 Hall of Fame, and the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, which hosts the Shingo Prize for Organizational Excellence. Dr. Toussaint was named a lifetime member of the Shingo Academy in 2011. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle also honored Dr. Toussaint with a Certificate of Commendation for Innovation from the State of Wisconsin in 2005. Dr. Toussaint is also the winner of ACHE’s 2014 Dean Conley Award for his article “A Management, Leadership and Board Road Map to Transforming Care for Patients,” published in the Spring 2013 issue of Frontiers of Health Services Management. He is also the recipient of the 2018 Cornell College Leadership and Service Award.

He was the founding chair of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality and of the Wisconsin Health Information Organization, as well as the non-executive leader of the Partnership for Healthcare Payment Reform in Wisconsin. He has participated in Institute of Medicine subcommittees and has directly worked with CMS leaders to broaden their understanding of lean for government.

Peter Ward

Director, Center for Operational Excellence, The Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business

Peter Ward is Professor of Operations Management and holds the Richard M. Ross Chair in Management at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. Peter participates frequently in executive education programs including developing several successful certificate programs in lean management.  He is the founder of the Lean Education Academic Network (LEAN), a global community of university educators dedicated to teaching systems thinking in universities. Peter is founding director of Fisher’s Master of Business Operational Excellence (MBOE) program, an innovative degree program aimed at mid-career professionals involved in transforming their organizations through operational excellence.

Peter is Academic Director of the Center for Operational Excellence at Ohio State, a consortium of forty organizations dedicated to excellence and thought leadership in operations.  He has served as a member of the advisory board of Ford Motor Company's Lean Resource Center and as a judge for Industry Week's America's Best Plants Program.  Peter has served as a consultant to a number of leading corporations.  He currently serves on the boards of the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) and the Center for Lean Engagement and Research in Healthcare, and Catalysis.  Within Ohio State, Peter has served as chair of the Department of Management Sciences (12 years) and, more recently, Senior Associate Dean (4 years). 

Dr. Ward's research has resulted in numerous articles which have appeared in leading operations management journals and he has been recognized with a number of awards including the 2007 distinguished operations management scholar from the Academy of Management, Shingo Prize for research, and Fisher College’s Pacesetter Research award, and the Bostic-Georges Pacesetter Award for Service.  He is a fellow of the Decision Sciences Institute. His research focuses on gaining competitive advantage through operations.

Lucy Xenophon, MD, MPH

Chief Transformation Officer

Lucy Xenophon, MD, MPH, joined the Executive Team at Mount Sinai Morningside in May 2014 as the Chief Transformation Officer. In addition to her senior leadership responsibilities, Dr. Xenophon also directs a team of facilitators and industrial engineers in the Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Lean Learning Lab, the first such lab in the Mount Sinai Health System. Her team works with leadership, middle managers, and frontline staff to design healthcare delivery workflows and processes that remove waste and improve value for patients and staff. Dr. Xenophon also lead the creation of the first Daily Management and Incident Command Center for the Mount Sinai Health System – a space where electronic dashboards drive daily real-time decision making, enable sharing of resources across the Health System, and provide key information for emergency management teams.

Dr. Xenophon began her medical career as a diagnostic radiologist with fellowship training in CT, MRI, and sonography. She trained and worked as an attending in the Northwell Health System and served as the Director of Performance Improvement for the Department of Radiology at Long Island Jewish Hospital. Immediately prior to her arrival at Mount Sinai, Dr. Xenophon directed the first Lean Lab at NuHealth, a safety net hospital on Long Island.

Dr. Xenophon graduated summa cum laude from the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education and earned her medical degree from New York University School of Medicine. She is Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Diagnostic Radiology and holds a master’s degree in Health Management and Policy from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.