Our team brings a range of experience in healthcare and strategic business development, transformational change management, digital customer experience strategy and more.
Growth Catalyst, People Promotor, Do-It-Differently Enthusiast
Deborah McMahon is a Senior Vice President at Aveus, and a results-oriented change leader who knows that transformative company culture and winning customer experiences only happen by design (and with a BOLD leader). Early on, Deborah worked with fortune 500 companies to bring their businesses online for the first time, developing a deep expertise in building customer strategies that work within and across all channels. Throughout her continued corporate career, Deborah optimized the P&L through top-line growth and efficient business operations via the teams she led. Described as “a catalyst for creating and putting the best ideas into action,” she works collaboratively with Aveus clients and consulting teammates to set the course, coach, and execute plans that deliver competitive differentiation and customer loyalty. When not at work, you will find Deborah in south Minneapolis with her husband, 3 children, black lab, and 2 chickens (yep, it’s crowded).
“Every day at Aveus, I get to work with our amazing team to: help our clients choose a unique and valuable position, realize it through focused change work, and measure performance improvements. #lucky”
Kelly Hugunin is a Vice President at Aveus, and an adaptive, strategic leader energized by growth and innovation. She has enjoyed 20+ years of launching new initiatives – new solutions, new brands, new artists, new tech products, and new retail categories within Disney, Best Buy, Amazon, Duke Energy and more. After holding several executive positions within Fortune 500 organizations, Kelly now enjoys serving customer experience and innovation teams in a consulting capacity – building relationships, rapidly learning new spaces, and igniting new thinking among teams. From “High School Musical to Healthcare” – Kelly brings her customer experience, strategy, and innovation knowledge from a variety of industries into the work of modernizing healthcare. Kelly enjoys adventures with her family of 4, discussing all things pop culture, and hitting the courts for tennis and pickleball.
“Uses the term ‘juicy’ to describe rich insights, compelling solutions, and exciting challenges.”
Jane is an Aveus consultant and innovation specialist with over 20 years of experience across diverse organizations ranging from Fortune 500 to early-stage companies. After holding leadership positions across product management, marketing, finance, and sales operations, she now enjoys leveraging design thinking, lean and agile techniques to support growth initiatives, launch new solutions, discover new business models and implement new processes. In her professional life, Jane is recognized as a strong strategic thinker with the ability to solve complex business problems, adapt quickly to new industries and lead cross-functional teams effectively. In her personal life, Jane enjoys karaoke dance party sessions with her young daughters, crushing her husband at badminton and discovering the next foodie hot spot around town.
“We have a family Kanban board – need I say more?”
Samantha Guseyn-Zade is a brilliant combination of communicator, organizer, motivator, results achiever and happiness champion. That last bit is why she’s earned the nickname “Sunshine Sammi.” She is an experienced project manager in multi-channel business environments with a background in corporate communications and marketing. Sammi has spent many years working with clients across the healthcare ecosystem on innovation, customer experience, provider experience, and transformational change strategy. Sammi has a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications Studies from St. Catherine University. In her spare time, you can find her running, gardening, and spending time with her family in the great outdoors. That’s right, you’ll find her basking in the sunshine.
“I truly enjoy working with clients to bring creative insight to solving complex business problems.”
Brand Story Weaver, Energetic Problem-Solver, Competitive Spirit
Ellie Sjordal is a consultant at Aveus with a true knack for driving clarity and building strong partnerships. She is an English major with a business mind – empathetic, curious, and energized by making meaningful connections and building solutions and systems that improve experiences for all. Recently dubbed our “CMO,” when Ellie isn’t partnering with clients on innovation and customer experience initiatives, she is leading our marketing strategy and operations. In her free time, you can find her exploring the outdoors, playing Ultimate frisbee, dancing, and spending time with friends, family, and her neurotic but lovable dog, Rosie.
“Approaching problems with an empathetic ‘both/and’ mindset is rarely easy. It’s a good thing ‘easy’ has never been my go-to.”
Chris is Founder and Senior Consultant at Aveus. Chris’ early career led her to executive roles in financial services and the media world before she founded Aveus, to focus on helping companies grow and transform successfully. Her work has taken her around the world, giving her a unique perspective on how leaders drive material and positive outcomes in today’s global marketplace. Any industry undergoing transformation is a place Chris feels comfortable. Partnering with clients to create customer-driven strategies, diagnose performance and align one with the other, she is the very definition of a dynamic, collaborative thinker. Chris is also an author, corporate and nonprofit director, and private investor in women owned and led businesses. By night, Chris works on her writing, reads voraciously, enjoys contemporary art and music, travels with friends and family and always tries to land near water.
“As you can probably tell, everything is interesting to me. (The joke at Aveus is ‘Don’t put Chris in a drawer!’) I work with an amazing team serving wonderful clients, which continually feeds my curiosity and deepens my commitment to creatively solve big, thorny challenges.”
Duane White is a thought-provoking change leader. He partners with clients in designing innovative strategies, products, and solutions that deliver value and enhance the customer experience. His client engagements cross a range of industries including healthcare, pharma, and financial services. His work experience includes senior leadership positions at Medecision and UnitedHealth Group. Throughout his career as either an executive or consultant, Duane has focused on developing, growing, acquiring, restructuring and repositioning businesses for profitable growth. Duane also serves on corporate boards of directors and volunteers his expertise to nonprofits where he has a passionate interest. In his free time, you’ll find Duane on a golf course, or relaxing in Hawaii, on a golf course – or on vacation, on a golf course…
“Leadership means being a step ahead and demonstrating the type of change you expect from the rest of the organization.”
John Kundtz is a highly collaborative consultant with a passion for understanding customers and consumers. He partners with clients to develop more focused plans and strategies, better experiences, innovative new offerings, and strong brand propositions. He has held senior leadership positions in large and small organizations and has worked across multiple industries as a consultant. John leverages this experience and expertise into healthcare where there is tremendous opportunity to develop more customer centric strategies and approaches. He enjoys running, skiing, and theater where he periodically performs.
“Thinking of the customer first and putting yourself in their shoes will always unlock insights, opportunities, innovation and growth.”
Certified Case Manager, Operational Expert, Outcomes Advocate
Suzanne has over 30 years of care management experience. She has a rich medical management background with strong analytical and operational experience. She has successfully executed multiple projects to improve efficiencies and clinical outcomes. She has deep clinical product knowledge which has been used in many roles including consulting, sales and product development. Suzanne is the current Vice President/ President Elect for the Mid Atlantic Chapter of CMSA.
“It is in my DNA to help patients by providing tools and services to our customers that will improve their outcomes.“
Collaborative Team Leader, Goal Oriented, Forward Thinking
Connie Webster is a healthcare professional with over thirty years of experience within the healthcare industry. Connie’s experience includes 11 years in a variety of settings providing direct patient care in hospital emergency department, medical intensive care unit, telemetry, cardiac intensive care unit, general medical and home health care, and 13 years in managed care for two large Wisconsin-based insurance plans. In that time, Connie directed and implemented corporate wide projects for Utilization Management, Behavioral Health and Case Management and implementation of care management software. The most recent 15 years, Connie has worked on successfully implementing products with a variety of healthcare customers. Highly motivated and productive, she is able to combine analysis and innovation to solve complex workflow and interface problems.
“The essence of nursing is caring for patients; that is what gives me purpose. In direct patient care I could impact 10-20 patients per day; but in healthcare IT, what I do can reach millions of patients.“
Customer Obsessor, Digital Promoter, People Energizer
Shaila is a Principal Consultant for Aveus, with more than 20 years of professional experience focusing on strategy within the healthcare industry. She believes healthcare is going through an unparalleled transformation and is excited to help organizations improve the consumer experience and manage dynamic change. In prior executive roles, Shaila served as the Customer Experience Executive for Independence Blue Cross, where she redefined the customer experience and related healthcare reporting and communications. Shaila is an expert in improving digital usage in senior populations, including identifying tools and techniques to drive senior digital use in healthcare. She has also led several transformational change initiatives, and believes that people communications are key to making any transformation successful. With that in mind, she creates innovative and engaging change management plans that build acceptance and consensus. Shaila serves on a number of boards, including Trinity Health, Serviam Girls’ Academy, The Grand Opera House of Delaware, and the Ronald McDonald House of Delaware.
“I have a passion for the customer experience and enjoy looking at all things from the point of view of the customer.”
Meredith Speier has honed the art of “hearing” between the lines to find the intersection of consumer needs, business goals and competitive trends. She has built a career around the passionate pursuit of bringing customers to the forefront of the business conversation. An innovator in the creation of personas, journey maps, and brand architecture, Meredith’s client engagements have spanned multiple industries, including healthcare, technology, med tech, financial services, apparel, and retail.
In addition to client work, Meredith is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota teaching Marketing, Market Research and Brand Strategy. Meredith regularly participates in advisory meetings alongside other faculty to optimize course curriculum and instruction materials. When she’s not working, Meredith loves to spend time exploring other cultures around the world.
“I get customers. And businesses. But better than that, I use my toolbox to dig deeper and find insights about consumers that matter to your business.“
Enterprise Technologist, Process Enthusiast, Idea Generator
Dylan Bassett is a consultant at Aveus with an eye for process and a mind for data. He studied Information Systems and Entrepreneurship which produces innovative ideas for service and product development. Formerly an enterprise technology consultant, Dylan acts as the team’s resident technologist and brings ideas to integrate new tech into the Aveus work. Dylan has deep experience in all types of project management including traditional, lean, and agile practices. Dylan believes in work which drives a greater good and improves the lives of those it reaches. As a lover of the outdoors, Dylan stays active in all four seasons by spending time at the lake, camping, snowboarding, or skateboarding.
“Process exists whether or not you are aware of it.“
