Every executive career is helped along by individuals who have lent support in various ways. Mentors tend to be more senior leaders who provide sage advice and serve as role models. Allies are the peers who serve as sounding boards, cheerleaders, and confidants along the professional journey. Sponsors are proactive champions who use their clout and reputations to help executives get to the next level. (And any of these individuals can serve as job references.) It’s in an executive’s career interest to consciously identify and seek out these individuals as they progress through their careers. This session shows how it can be done, and emphasizes that each relationship with a mentor, ally, or sponsor should have an element of give and take so that both individuals benefit. The webinar will also share best practices for serving as a mentor, ally, or sponsor to others.

This event has been approved for 1.0 Qualifying Education ACHE Credits.

Panelists:

Raj Ramachandran, Ed.D, Senior Partner, Leadership Advisory – WittKieffer

Raj Ramachandran is a trusted talent advisor and experienced business leader focused on helping executives and their teams more courageously navigate the complexities of their roles and the challenges they face. As a senior partner for WittKieffer’s Leadership Advisory practice, he collaborates closely with colleagues and clients to broaden the firm’s ability to Improve
Quality of Life through Impactful Leadership.

Raj, a 25-year veteran in leadership consulting, is dedicated to enriching the lives of his clients, their institutions and the larger world. Raj has assessed, advised and coached CEOs and top teams to help them create the conditions for operating at their purpose-driven best to positively impact their organizations and customers.

Grounded in a deep sense of purpose, Raj is passionate about helping executives and leadership teams in healthcare, life sciences, higher education and other industries achieve optimal performance and fulfill their personal and organizational missions. Representative client impact includes:

• As a part of a CEO succession initiative, worked directly with the search committee of a major hospital system to assess and place their next CEO leading to accelerated growth of the organization. Furthermore, continued to work with the CEO to better align the senior team on leadership imperatives and growth objectives.

• Partnering with the president of a university, assessed the organizational culture and delivered a scalable culture transformation initiative to the improve cabinet and staff effectiveness leading to increased student retention and satisfaction.

Previously, Raj was a senior client partner for a global executive search and talent advisory firm, focused on leadership assessment, executive coaching and culture transformation. Prior to that, he served as a partner in the enterprise leadership practice for another global executive search and talent advisory firm. Raj has worked with global companies in a variety of sectors including technology, healthcare, life sciences and higher education. He began his career as a management consultant at Accenture and IBM/PwC in the learning technology/change management space.

Valerie Weber, M.D., Principal – WittKieffer

Valerie Weber, M.D., M.S., FACP is a physician leader and International Coaching Federation-credentialed executive coach with over 25 years of experience in academic medicine, healthcare systems leadership, and clinical operations. Informed by her clinical background in Internal Medicine, she is passionate about identifying and developing executives who can truly make a difference in their work. As a Principal for WittKieffer, Valerie supports the recruitment of CEOs, chief medical officers, deans, department chairs, and other senior academic medicine executives.

In her past role as Dean at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University, she was responsible for the academic operations of the medical school, a multi-specialty group
practice, and community-academic partnerships with regional health systems. (She remains Dean Emerita for BSOM.) Earlier, as Senior Vice Dean for Educational Affairs at Drexel University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Valerie led all aspects of undergraduate and graduate medical education, creating multiple new clinical campuses, including a new four-year medical school campus, and spearheading a wide-ranging curriculum renewal process that resulted in a state of the art, innovative medical curriculum. She was on the founding leadership team for a new medical school, The Commonwealth Medical College (now Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine), where she served as Chair of Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs. Prior to that, she spent ten years in a clinical and operational leadership role at Geisinger Health System. She has served on the administrative board of the Council of Deans, AAMC, and has extensive knowledge of LCME accreditation requirements.

Valerie received her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in health care management from the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. Outside of her professional life, she enjoys masters rowing (“crew”), traveling with her fiancé, and spending time with her two adult children.