Vickie has over 30 years of experience and a passion for supporting a wide range of for-profit and nonprofit organizations in the pursuit of organizational excellence and system thinking. She started her career in manufacturing at Alcoa, considered one of the safest companies in the world, where she supported the worldwide adoption of the principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS) as the Alcoa Business System.

Here she had the unique opportunity to learn the principles of TPS directly from Toyota sensei while participating in the development of Harvard Business School’s Kent Bowen and Steve Spear’s seminal work Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System. At the request of Paul O’Neill, then retiring Alcoa CEO, she transitioned to applying these same principles to the healthcare industry first at the Pittsburgh Regional Health Care Initiative and then at Value Capture, LLC.

Additionally, she co-founded True North Institute, a consulting firm that supported various Pittsburgh businesses that included a local grocery chain, a women’s center and shelter, a substance abuse clinic, and a school district.

And while the primary caregiver of her three 90-year grandparents, she opened and operated a bakery business for over 10 years.

Vickie holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering – Mechanical and Aerospace from Princeton University, a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government.