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  4. May 11: The Power of Continuous Improvement

The Power of Continuous Improvement

Tuesday, May 11, 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Process Palooza returns to UC San Diego - and the world! - for its fourth edition. We're all about showcasing and celebrating the power of continuous improvement!  

Kickoff: A Culture of Continuous Improvement

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  • Pradeep Khosla, Chancellor, UC San Diego
  • Elizabeth H. Simmons, Executive Vice Chancellor, UC San Diego
At UC San Diego, we embody a culture of continuous improvement. It infuses all that we do as we empower staff to achieve excellence and raise the bar of what’s possible.

To kick off Process Palooza 2021, you’ll hear straight from campus leadership with their thoughts on the importance of continuous improvement in
  • Instilling a culture of innovation
  • Empowering staff to drive change
  • Responding to unprecedented challenges

Featured Interview: The Power of Continuous Improvement

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  • Chase Boehringer, Founder, The Bucketlist Adventures

You often hear that continuous improvement is about the process, not about the people. Chase Boehringer, an adventurer, speaker, Guinness World Record holder and author will offer a different view: that continuous improvement is about the people - for those who affect change and for those who benefit from it. 

By overcoming mental barriers and embracing an open, collaborative mindset, Chase was able to make incremental changes in his personal and professional life that led him to founding two organizations that inspire others to do the same. 

Join Chase as he discusses his journey, and leave with inspiration to become your own changemaker empowered to affect those around you.

On Your Marks, Get Set, Go! The Great LSS Race

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As a signature component of Process Palooza, the Great LSS Race is back in a virtual format! Teams use their Lean Six Sigma knowledge to analyze a real campus process, suggest improvements, and then pitch their ideas to judges. We'll introduce the teams and concept, and provide updates on a weekly basis! 

Interested in competing yourself, or helping out? Read more! 

Lightning Round: Infusing Our Culture

Staff empowerment at UC San Diego is truly grassroots. Teams and projects from all across campus push themselves to spark change and move the needle. The spirit of our movement comes to life through various voices and initiatives that showcase the value of investing in training, providing opportunities to put practice into action and more. 

During the Lightning Round we'll hear from:

  • Mojgan Amini, Director, Process Management & Continuous Improvement, UC San Diego
  • Matthew Helton, Program Manager, Transformational Healthcare, UC San Diego Health
  • Angela Miller, Program Manager, UC San Diego Extension
  • Shawn Munro, Coordinator, Administrative Process Excellence, Jacobs School of Engineering
  • Tony Nava, Senior Strategic Programs Officer, Operational Strategic Initiatives, UC San Diego
  • Allorah Pradenas, Managing Director, Operational Strategic Initiatives, UC San Diego
  • Kevin Waldrop, Administrative Officer, EVC Business Office, UC San Diego

Speaker Bios

Kickoff Messages

  • Pradeep K. Khosla, Chancellor, UC San Diego

    Pradeep K. Khosla, Chancellor, UC San Diego

    Pradeep K. Khosla became UC San Diego’s eighth Chancellor on August 1, 2012. As UC San Diego’s chief executive officer, he leads a campus with more than 40,000 students, seven undergraduate colleges, six academic divisions, and six graduate and professional schools. UC San Diego is also home to the prestigious Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the UC San Diego Health System. With annual revenues of $5.4 billion in fiscal year 2019, UC San Diego is an academic and research powerhouse, with faculty, researchers and staff attracting more than $1.45 billion in sponsored research funding a year. UC San Diego is recognized as one of the top 15 research universities in the world and is the largest civilian employer based in San Diego County.

    View Chancellor Khosla's full biography.
  • Elizabeth H. Simmons, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, UC San Diego

    Elizabeth H. Simmons, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, UC San Diego

    Elizabeth H. Simmons is the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at UC San Diego. She is the institution’s second-ranking executive and serves as chief academic officer, overseeing academic programs and policies as well as academic personnel services. Simmons is passionate about advancing the goals of UC San Diego’s strategic plan, which emphasizes excellence in education, research and public service, and the commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. Simmons is also a theoretical high-energy physicist and Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego. 

Featured Interview

  • Chase Boehringer, Founder, The Bucketlist Adventures

    Chase Boehringer, Founder, The Bucketlist Adventures

    As the Founder of The Bucketlist Adventures, Chase has led the world’s wildest adventures and expeditions, gaining six Guinness World Records, some scars and a few wild stories along the way. He’s a nine-time award winning event coordinator, a high-performance coach and a best-selling author. Today Chase helps curate unique and awe-inspiring experiences for innovative companies around the world.

Lightning Round

  • Mojgan Amini, Director, Process Management & Continuous Improvement, UC San Diego

    Mojgan Amini, Director, Process Management & Continuous Improvement, UC San Diego

    Mojgan Amini, M.S. Computer Science, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, serves as the Director of Process Management & Continuous Improvement in UC San Diego's IT Services department. Her group's mission is to provide frameworks, guidelines, communication channels and standards to simplify IT Service Management, Project and Portfolio Management, Governance, Organizational Change Management, Culture and Outreach across UC San Diego and in coordination with the UC system. Mojgan currently serves as the chair of the Business Excellence Community of Practice at UC San Diego, and has served as the chair of the University of California IT Architecture Group.
  • Matthew Helton, Program Manager, Transformational Healthcare, UC San Diego Health

    Matthew Helton, Program Manager, Transformational Healthcare, UC San Diego Health

    Matt is Program Manager for Transformational Healthcare at UC San Diego Health and has worked at UC San Diego since 2015. Originally part of the Operational Strategic Initiatives team, he managed and grew the Lean Six Sigma training and scholarship programs on the academic side. In his current role, Matt manages the Transformational Healthcare project portfolio and partners closely with the team in providing logistical support for key departmental activities including the Daily Engagement System (DES), Lean Healthcare Training, Rapid Process Improvement Workshops, and the monthly Transformational Healthcare Report Out event. Matt is proud to be part of a team seeking to create 10,000+ problem-solvers relentlessly improving the value of patient care while loving their jobs.
  • Angela Miller, Program Manager, UC San Diego Extension

    Angela Miller, Program Manager, UC San Diego Extension

    Angela is a Program Manager with UC San Diego Extension and oversees the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) training programs. In her tenure at Extension, she has developed and maintained a robust LSS alumni network and has helped to launch an LSS Yellow Belt, Green Belt, and Leadership program. She collaborates extensively with campus and continues to help host the LSS Scholarship program to staff members, and serves as a board member with UCSD’s BECOP (Business Excellence Community of Practice). 

    Prior to her role at UCSD, Angela coordinated the Lean Enterprise program at San Diego State University. 

    Angela is also a proud alumnus of UC San Diego. 
  • Shawn Munro, Sr. Business Process Analyst, Jacobs School of Engineering

    Shawn Munro, Sr. Business Process Analyst, Jacobs School of Engineering

    Shawn Munro is a Lean Bench manager and coordinator for Administrative Process Excellence (APEX) in the Jacobs School of Engineering.
  • Antonio Nava, Senior Strategic Programs Analyst, OSI, UC San Diego

    Antonio Nava, Senior Strategic Programs Analyst, OSI, UC San Diego

    Antonio serves as a Senior Strategic Programs Analyst on UC San Diego’s Office of Operational Strategic Initiatives team. Antonio is responsible for managing the campus Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt program, provides training and administration for Promapp, and supports IdeaWave. Antonio also works alongside Lean Bench in support of the Enterprise System Renewal.  A UC San Diego alumnus, Antonio has also earned his Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from UC San Diego Extension in 2021.
  • Allorah Pradenas, Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives, OSI, UC San Diego

    Allorah Pradenas, Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives, OSI, UC San Diego

    Allorah is the Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives for UC San Diego's Office of Operational Strategic Initiatives. As Managing Director, Allorah provides leadership and strategy for the OSI projects and programs portfolio, focused on continuous improvement, organizational effectiveness, strategic planning, and operational efficiency. Innovation-focused programs managed by her team include the Standing Committee on Service and People Oriented Administrative Culture (SC-SPOC), IdeaWave, and OSI’s Continuous Improvement & Lean Six Sigma programs.  Before joining UC San Diego in 2015, Allorah acquired over a decade of project management and leadership experience at various higher education institutions. Allorah earned her bachelor’s degree in writing from the University of Redlands and her Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from UC Riverside. She is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a ProSci change management practitioner. Her current focus is on delivering strategic initiatives that drive process optimization at a campus-wide level by encouraging data-informed decision-making, building campus partner relationships and engagements, and conducting organizational reviews that identify critical needs and present innovative solutions to address the root cause of issues. Additionally, as a LEAD Fellow, Allorah serves as a campus champion for equity, diversity, and inclusion, who engages and leads crucial conversations around improving organizational learning and campus climate.
  • Kevin Waldrop, Organizational Consultant, Office of the EVC, UC San Diego

    Kevin Waldrop, Organizational Consultant, Office of the EVC, UC San Diego

    Kevin is an Organizational Consultant in the Office of the EVC Business Office where his work includes process improvement, project management and change management. Kevin has a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, is trained in Prosci Change Management, contributes to planning and presenting staff development opportunities, and is the Vice Chair of the Business Excellence Community of Practice (BECOP) at UC San Diego.

Host

  • Tracy O’Rourke, Co-Founder, Just-In-Time Café

    Tracy O’Rourke, Co-Founder, Just-In-Time Café

    Tracy is Co-Founder of the Just-in-Time Cafe and co-host of the Just-In-Time Cafe Podcast. She is also the co-author of “The Problem-Solving Toolkit: A Surprisingly Simple Guide To Your Lean Six Sigma Journey." Tracy is a Master Black Belt, facilitator, trainer and instructor. Over the last 20 years, Tracy has trained over 2,000 people, mentored 500+ people and has helped complete 500+ projects with results that range between $50,000 and $12 million in savings.  

    Tracy is also a Lean Six Sigma Instructor at UC San Diego Extension.