Caryn Esten
Senior vice president, chief strategy and transformation officer, Froedtert Health
Age: 49
Hometown: Cedarburg
Education: BA, MS, MBA at Cardinal Stritch
Previous position: Vice president, strategic planning and experience management
On establishing a Transformation Office:
“It is a brand new role for our health system. It includes a physician partner from the Medical College of Wisconsin as well, so we are co-designing this office with sponsorship from our respective entities. We are also trying to build the office and design our structures and principles while we have many initiatives already in-flight that would benefit from what this office is designed to do.
“We've had structured project management and process support in the past and what this really does is start to take that to the next level … and then building that focus on partnering with our operations so that these changes or implementations really stick permanently and become part of how we work over the long term versus just a short-term implementation.”
What are one or two less obvious keys to your work being successful?
“I think discipline and rigor and having structured processes that we can use repeatedly, as opposed to having to invent a new way of doing something every time. … The other thing we've talked a lot about is health care is an industry that has experienced a lot of change over the last couple of years; it's been strained and tested over and over again. We have a workforce that is very tired and yet we need to keep accelerating our own business transformation and, so doing that, we have to take a lot of time understanding the impact of these changes we're implementing on our workforce.”
What activities or passions do you enjoy outside of work?
“I'm a theater wonk. I love going to shows. Pretty much all types: Broadway, plays, opera. I’m also very active in the arts locally and so when I'm not working or doing family things, I am usually partaking in some type of performing arts.”
