Tiered Huddles at Cleveland Clinic with Melissa Vandergriff & Keith Sulzer

Connecting the Dots

Melissa Vandergriff, MBA, PMP, is Director of Continuous Improvement for the Cleveland Clinic Enterprise Markets. Melissa has served as a member of the Cleveland Clinic Continuous Improvement team for 15 years and has led numerous successful improvement initiatives across the Cleveland Clinic health system. Prior to her current position, Melissa held the role of CI Director for Clinical Institutes and for 6 years held the dual roles of Director of Operations and Continuous Improvement at Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, where she led the hospital’s culture of improvement program and oversaw clinical and non-clinical operations. Before joining the Cleveland Clinic, Melissa spent 10 years in process improvement and project management in the IT and healthcare industries. She received her MBA from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Keith Sulzer joined the Cleveland Clinic in 2022 where he has served as the Continuous Improvement Advisor for the Education Institute, Dermatology & Plastic Surgery Institute, and the Main Campus Submarket. In all three areas, Keith has excelled in partnering with leaders and teams to build CCIM capability and drive tangible results – most recently in the areas of documentation optimization, appointment fill rates, OR efficiency, and hospital throughput.

Prior to the Clinic, Keith had an 11-year career in management consulting at Oliver Wyman in Chicago where he was a Principal in the firm’s Operations practice. Over his consulting career, Keith worked with Fortune 500 clients in various industries to design and implement large, cross-divisional improvement programs to increase service levels, reduce waste, and improve financial performance. His previous roles included leading a $1.2B cost savings initiative for a logistics company and implementing an operational efficiency program at an airline which reduced fuel spend by $35M a year.

Keith graduated from Northwestern University with a double major in Industrial Engineering and Economics. He was a member of the varsity wrestling team and a two-time Academic All-American. Keith lives in the West Park area, where he was born and raised.

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• CME credit is available for up to 3 years after the stated release date

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