Dale brings more than two decades of safety, reliability, and performance improvement experience in the healthcare industry. Prior to joining Press Ganey, she served as Director of Performance Improvement and Vice President of Quality and Safety at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. There, Dale co-led the design and implementation of reliability culture transformation, Safety First Every Day, which resulted in >50% reduction in preventable harm and was recognized with the American Hospital Association Quest for Quality award.
Under Dale’s leadership, performance improvement teams have delivered countless improvements in patient care, including 20% reduction in hospital mortality, national top decile performance in safety and improved patient experience, as well as achieved millions in value-based incentive dollars. These successes are, at least in part, due to her collaborative leadership, deep understanding of quality measurement and performance improvement skills.
Dale is an expert in high reliability leadership, event investigation and analysis, management of human behavior in complex systems, just culture, as well as project management and change management. In addition to quality, safety and performance improvement leadership in complex health systems, she also has leadership experience in risk management and regulatory compliance. Dale has academic teaching experience as adjunct faculty, is a published author, and is an experienced consultant.
As a national quality leader, Dale has served in numerous national and state leadership roles and delivered multiple national presentations, including National Association for Healthcare Quality and the Virginia Center for Healthcare Excellence Advisory Council. Dale has been recognized as Virginia Quality Professional of the Year, Virginia Nurses Association Centennial Nurse, and the HPI-Press Ganey Kerry Johnson Safety Champion Award.