Debra Owens
 

Debra is a former Fortune 500 Executive for a multinational medical device manufacturing organization. She has 37 years of experience in quality management and business improvement. Her wide range of experience includes working globally with healthcare, manufacturing, service, small business, non–profits and government organizations.

Debra’s healthcare engagements include the following: Shreveport Medical Center; Freeport Health Network a recipient of the (Illinois) Lincoln Award for Business Excellence’s Achievement of Excellence Award; The Native American Medical Center; Howard Community Hospital; Northern Michigan Regional Hospital, U.S. Navy Medical Inspector General Office; Arc Ventures- a for-profit business of Chicago’s Rush-Press.St.Luke’s Hospital; St. Francis Hospital System, Swedish American Hospital, Rutland Regional Medical Center, Trinity Regional Health System and Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center.

Debra also developed and taught the American Society for Quality’s (ASQ) Healthcare Assessment and Improvement Using the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence course and Problem Solving for Sustained Improvements. She co-developed and taught a similar course for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in 1991. She has also been a speaker at healthcare conferences and workshops such as, the 2001 IQPC conference speaking on “Using Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence in Healthcare.” With a colleague from Dartmouth-Hitchcock, she delivered a workshop in 2002 at the New York Academy of Medicine for ambulatory healthcare professionals’ entitled “Process Mapping: Resolving Log Jams in Your Patient Flow.” Since 1999, Debra has also served as faculty member of the Medical Technology Management Institute (MTMI) in Wisconsin. At MTMI she taught one day of a four day course on Quality Management for diagnostic Imaging professionals. Debra had worked with the American College for Healthcare Executives to improve its internal continuous improvement and process management efforts.

Debra is a Certified Master Black Belt, Black Belt, Green Belt. She is a four–year National Malcolm Baldrige Examiner, Co-founder and member of the Lincoln Foundation for Business Excellence’s first Executive Board (Illinois’ Baldrige-based performance excellence award and education program). Debra has been a member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) since 1978 and has served the organization in numerous capacities including: Board of Director member, Executive Board Member and Recipient of the 1996 ASQ Most Successful New Course Award and the Faculty Excellence Award for Outstanding Customer Satisfaction.

Debra earned a BS in Biology from Milliken University, Decatur, IL and conducted a Medical Technology internship at St. Therese Hospital, Waukegan, IL.