Leadership Profile: Denise Hoover, MBA, PMP, SHRM

By Kelley Duron, MEd, CSM

Denise Hoover, Chief Surgical Services Officer at Salem Health, has long been interested in non-profit leadership and building strong communities. When she joined Salem Health as an Administrative Fellow after graduating from Willamette University’s Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Denise was well placed to become a leader in the healthcare industry.

Her fellowship gave her insights from the human resources perspective and Denise says that is where she added the project management lens to her work. “When I arrived, the hospital was involved in a benefits management project and then a major HR information system update,” she says.

Since completing her MBA, Denise has held numerous roles at Salem Health, including Director of Compensation and Benefits and Service Line Director for Orthopedics, Neuroscience, & Rehabilitation before moving to the surgical side of the organization. A PMP, she also is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional, a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist, and a Fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Throughout her time with Salem Health, she says she’s watched the organization grow in its dedication to Lean principles.  Denise says the mindset and practice of Lean at Salem Health started at the Board level. Though traditionally seen as a practice focused on manufacturing, more and more organizations are finding the benefits translate well to general business practice.

“I was fortunate to be one of the first leaders to get Lean training,” she says. Managers and supervisors were trained next and they also learned how to coach their staff to understand the Lean methodologies and recognize elements of their departments and their own job responsibilities that could be improved.

Since implementing the concept and tools more than a decade ago, Denise says the implementation of Lean thinking in her organization is “pretty universal.” One key way Salem Health may differ in its use of Lean, she says, is that it is very visible. “It is talked about in all departments – what are the strategies, how is my division affected and how is my role affected? This is part of our Lean practice.”

Success lies in recognizing the fundamental role of front-line staff.  “They are the ones who know their work the best. They can say, ‘this product or this service is more difficult than it needs to be’ and they are empowered to suggest solutions.

“If the solution doesn’t work, OK, we stop it. If it does work, let’s spread it to other parts of the organization.”

In addition to her duties as Chief Surgical Service Officer, Denise also teaches Project Management at two universities and is an avid scuba diver who has explored the depths of the South Pacific, the Solomon Islands, the Indian Ocean and even Iceland. What is the best thing she’s seen on a dive? “So many things leave me breathless.” She hopes to hear a humpback whale singing sometime soon.