The faculty of the Lean Healthcare Certificate Program are proven facilitators and trainers, with years of experience in the real-life application of Lean principles as applied to clinical, nonclinical, business processes, and support systems. Program faculty have experience in the application of Lean at the clinical or single hospital level as well as large systems and healthcare related organizations.

Charles Hagood, MBA
Charles Hagood, President and CEO of Healthcare Performance Partners, Inc. (HPP), has overseen the implementation of Lean Healthcare systems in numerous healthcare organizations across the US including some of the largest non-profit hospitals, small critical access hospitals, clinics, and large for-profit systems. HPP is one of the few organizations that have successfully translated Lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System (TPS) to the healthcare industry. Charles also is a founding Principal of The Access Group, LLC (TAG), which is headquartered in the Nashville, Tennessee area along with HPP, and has worked with Fortune 100 companies throughout the world in their Lean transformation and process improvement initiatives. Charles received his MBA from Belmont University's Massey School of Business.

Dwayne Keller, MBA, MS
Dwayne has overseen the introduction and implementation of Lean Healthcare in various hospital and clinical systems throughout the USA.  Dwayne served as a leader of Alcoa where he helped drive the implementation of the "Alcoa Business System" (ABS), which is based upon TPS methodology. He was also responsible for driving business results through ABS implementation in five Alcoa business units.  Dwayne holds Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University and a MBA from Clemson University.

Richard Tucker, MS
Richard Tucker is a Director with HPP and has served as a coach, facilitator, and project manager for healthcare clients in the training and implementation of Lean Healthcare Tools and Methodologies. Prior to joining HPP, Richard had over sixteen years of business and industry experience in operational and leadership positions. With his work in healthcare, Richard has lead teams in the utilization of lean healthcare tools to eliminate waste, giving back precious time to the front line caregivers to focus on their patients. Richard’s educational background includes BS and MS degrees from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee. Richard has attended formal training courses in Lean Manufacturing, Leadership Development, and Shainin® Statistical Problem Solving.

Barbara Jennion, M.Ed.
Barbara Jennion is the Education Director for the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Perfecting Patient CareSM (PPC) educational curriculum. In addition to coordinating the activities, she is a curriculum specialist, on-site coach, and teacher. Barbara Jennion has over 20 years of experience as a mental health clinician and manager. During the last two years she served as the Team Leader for Perfecting Patient CareSM on the Behavioral Health unit at Forbes Regional Hospital.Ms. Jennion earned a B.S. in Therapeutic Recreation from Gannon University, a B.A. in Art Therapy from Mercyhurst College and a M.Ed. in Health Education from the Pennsylvania State University.

David Munch, MD
Dr. David Munch is the Senior Vice President of HPP. He comes from Exempla Lutheran Medical Center as their Chief Clinical and Quality Officer. He has been leading their Lean Production applications for the past 5 years resulting in substantial improvements in both clinical and non-clinical processes. Dr. Munch is an instructor for the University of Michigan’s Lean Certification Program and has been a frequent speaker on the subject of leadership effectiveness and Lean transformation for a number of healthcare organizations including Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), The University of Rochester Medical Center, Yale-New Haven Health System, Tulane University Medical Center, Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI), and the Voluntary Hospital Association (VHA). Dr. Munch has served on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s High Reliability Advisory Group, has an extensive background in hospital operations, health plan governance, physician organization governance and clinical practice in Internal Medicine. 

Laura K. Mahood, MS, SCT(ASCP)
Laura Mahood is a Project Manager with the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative. In this role she coordinates and facilitates two graduate-level healthcare Fellowship programs as well as a variety of Lean healthcare training programs. Additionally she serves as a Teacher and Coach for the Perfecting Patient CareSM system, a healthcare quality improvement methodology based on Lean. She has presented the philosophies and tools of the system and coached its implementation in a variety of healthcare settings. She has over 18 years of healthcare experience in a variety of roles within the field of pathology, including laboratory technologist, educator, manager and quality assurance coordinator. She has a special interest in quality improvement methodologies and continuous work process improvement techniques. Laura obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Cytotechnology from Thomas Jefferson University and a Master’s degree in Education from Duquesne University.

Steve Taninecz, MSOL
Steve Taninecz is an Educator/Trainer/Coach with the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, bringing 36 years of experience from manufacturing organizations. The last ten years have been dedicated to teaching, mentoring and implementing Lean manufacturing principles and best practices in facilities throughout North America, including General Motors and New United Motors. He has a demonstrated success rate in working with top level management to counsel and coach the culture changes for successful implementation of lean. He is recognized as a highly successful and motivational teacher and facilitator at the academic level as well.  Mr. Taninecz is a member of the American Society for Quality and is a Certified Quality Manager, Certified Quality Auditor, Certified Quality Technician and Certified Quality engineer.  Mr. Taninecz holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership from Geneva College.