In each role I take on, I start with heart and true caring for each individual and focus on building foundation for a health through culture and environment.

As a coordinator onsite at a Chrysler plant, I first embraced a “boots on the ground” approach and experienced the value of face-to-face interaction to drive a highly male population to engage in programs and health behaviors.   In addition, to traditional activities like stop-by tables and blood pressure checks, I connected with employees by meeting them where they were at, on the line or playing cards at lunch.  Taking time to get to know employees personally helped break down barriers and build trust.  Through that trust, program engagement at the plant grew to more than 43% - the highest level in program history.

I later went on to apply my energy and passion to the establishment and growth of the Energize Your Life program at DTE Energy a Michigan-based utility, where I regularly applied the 7 Benchmarks to insure the success of the program. Fortunately, senior leadership at DTE was on board from the beginning.   I continued to insure their engagement by setting the strategy of the wellness program to support the strategic priorities of the broader organization.   For example, “highly engaged employees” was one of the 6 strategic priorities of the organization.  I led the wellness team to develop a strategy around building a health-supportive environment that would foster engagement.  To that end, we established the following mission for the program – empower all individuals to live with high energy, good health and passion for life.   This mission was vetted and approved by the executive committee, along with a carefully crafted operating plan and goals based on data and benchmarking.

Beyond DTE, I also led the expansion of the program at Beaumont Health.  In my roles at Beaumont and DTE, I made evaluation of the program a priority.  Even when no one was asking for data – I was tracking and reporting on progress and impact measures. In effort to align with the organization and be perceived as a true strategic partner, dashboards were modeled in the same style used by leadership.  This resulted in greater trust and support of the program as we were always ready with evidence of impact, in addition to being able to make data-driven adjustments to programming when necessary.

As wellness professionals, we are a group of folks who believe health is so important, fun and exciting we choose to focus on it everyday.   Many of those we strive to help, may not have the same enthusiasm for healthy living.   Understanding this, I lean heavily on empathy and “seek to understand” skills to make sure strategies are a right fit for the population’s needs, not just something I think is a good idea. To accomplish this, I leaned on my staff and teams of 100+ ambassadors at both DTE Energy and Beaumont to empower others to champion and take It ownership of building a healthy culture. 

I strive to be a role model by integrating my passion for wellbeing into my life. I dedicate time to family activities and engaging in outdoor pursuits like paddleboarding, hiking, swimming, playing soccer and travel. 

My passion for learning drives me to engage in a variety of professional organizations and communities.   As a member of NBGH, I served on the Institute on Innovation in Workforce Well-Being. I also serve on several HERO committees. In 2011, I was invited to be a part of the National Wellness Institute team that developed certification for wellness program managers.  I currently serve as Faculty for NWI and enjoy learning and teaching. I am a founding board member of the Michigan Wellness Council and serve as board chair of the organization.

I encourage others reach out to those you admire and want to learn from.  The field of health promotion is non-competitive community of professionals who are happy to give you time – if you ask.

The application of tried and true practices – the 7 Benchmarks - and understanding of the principals of business and positive psychology have helped me be innovative.  While our field understands that healthy employees are essential to the success of the business, business leaders may not see believe as readily.   They have other challenges that “keep them up at night”.   By working to understand those challenges at DTE, where worker safety and an aging workforce were top concerns for leadership, I designed strategies that supported accomplishment of business imperatives.    Examples include implementing the High Energy Health energy management training and functional fitness assessments, which provided exercises individuals could do to alleviate pain and improve mobility. Both programs resulted in improved knowledge, skills of ability participants to manage personal energy and improve mobility.  HEH participants who reported high energy increased by 122% and those who reported increased number of sleep hours increased by 47%.

We are all connected and everyone’s health and prosperity depends on the health of the whole – people, planet, creatures and infrastructure. I see promise and hope in our future in the increased integration and belief in the benefit of building health-supportive cultures and expanding focus on caring about people and helping them thrive.    As more health promotion professionals learn to speak the language of business, our credibility as strategic business partners will grow.   We have tremendous potential to evolve our role as partners and by helping leadership see how improving the health and vitality of the employee population can drive business results.  Over the next 5 years, I look forward to growing my skills by attaining the WELL AP certification to help more organizations create health supportive environments; remaining involved in committees and serving on boards; teaching and networking; and connecting others to good people and best practices.