Always delivering more than expected, Karen Robinson knows how to leverage her significant leadership experience in the non-profit healthcare, educational, and entrepreneurial spaces to deliver rapid and sustainable growth, efficiency, and profitability for her organizations.
With both of her parents starting their careers in nursing—her mother went on to shape young minds as a Master Teacher and her father later worked as a microbiologist and played a key role in discovering Legionnaire’s Disease—helping people was in Karen’s DNA. Both resourceful, dedicated, and accomplished, they cemented her pathway early on.
Having evolved her own career as a multi-award-winning healthcare administrator, educator, and strategic advisor, Karen works alongside top-level leadership teams to translate a strategic vision and business strategy into action. Noted for her unique ability to zero in on missed opportunities and solve complex business challenges, she catches issues that others don’t see and has a talent for optimizing resources while orchestrating operational and strategic change initiatives.
During her prolific tenure as Manager of Patient Relations / Director of Student & Volunteer Services at the UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURG MEDICAL CENTER (UPMC), she spearheaded rapid performance turnarounds in people and operations while introducing programs and rolling out effective strategies, policies, and systems to accelerate efficiency, productivity, organizational effectiveness, and the patient and staff experience.
Not only did she position her organization as one of the top three performing hospitals year over year, she consistently surpassed core goals—including national customer service scores, quality outcomes, regulatory compliance, risk management, service delivery, and call center performance targets—while maintaining near-zero staff turnover rate and leading teams to high productivity levels.
On the academic front, Karen sharpens her focus on leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship, and communications as a SME and master’s-level course developer for several universities, including University of St. Mary, Kansas, where she’s now on track to receive the Distinguished Master Instructor Award.
Dedicated to enhancing team performance, you’ll regularly find her training, coaching, and mentoring team members so that they—and her organizations—continue to thrive. Her career philosophy “happy internal customers most often translates into happy external customers” has been instrumental in achieving minimal staff turnover throughout my career.
While orchestrating a recent inter-state relocation, Karen also broadened her entrepreneurial horizons by capitalizing on her earlier marketing management and customer experience (CX) background into launching and helming three businesses, one of which is a consulting practice to facilitate client training, educational courses, and informational sessions within operations management; healthcare leadership and administration, and organizational design and development.
CRITICAL SUCCESSES
Improved performance of 45 contractors and the QA process on a large, nationally recognized UPMC study with a $14M grant
Earned Advisory Board acclaim with Patient Navigation Program that prompted system-wide adoption
Empowered long-term patients to vote from their bedsides during federal elections
Amplified patient outcomes and staff satisfaction scores by introducing critical experience- and spirit-boosting events
Resituated hospital from last place to 1 of the top 3
Championed diversity, equity, and inclusion
Karen has a Doctor of Management in Organizational Leadership, a Master of Science in Professional Leadership: Training & Development, a Master of Professional Writing, and holds graduate certificates in Marketing (G-MKT) and Human Resources Management (G-HRM).
A lifelong learner and supportive teacher, Karen is also a Certified Advanced Facilitator (CAF) and Program Advisor to help people further their careers and advises next-generation women entrepreneurs through various university programs.
AWARD-WINNING PERFORMANCE
UPMC ACES Award for commitment and excellence in service; awarded to <1% of employees
UPMC Sustainability & Innovation Award for development of a sustainable conservation project
UPMC Special Recognitions for outstanding results in quality and performance outcomes; multiple years
Distinguished Master Instructor Award, University of St. Mary, Kansas (on track
A former foster parent helping at-risk youth—as well as dogs and cats—is another great personal accomplishment, especially seeing her last teenager off to his freshman year in college, first-generation.