Deb Schaal

Professional Background and Education:

Deb Schaal is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with over 16 years of experience driving transformational improvement across global corporations. With a strong management and organizational change background, she specializes in coaching stakeholders to implement best practices that foster long-term success. Deb has led enterprise-wide Lean and Six Sigma initiatives, leveraging internal resources and external partnerships to achieve strategic business objectives. Her industry expertise spans healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, engineering, and corporate operations, where she has successfully guided organizations through complex process improvements and change management strategies. Deb earned her Bachelor of Science from Washington State University and completed her MEA at the University of Phoenix while working full-time.

Select Client Experiences:

Prologis – Global Logistics Real Estate:

 Director of Operational Excellence

Scaled a Lean and Innovation Program for the entire Western Region across the Real Estate Operations teams, Development, Construction, and Capital Deployment. Leading cross-functional teams through improvement projects, enabling the achievement of company roles and remaining ahead of what’s next. Created a robust innovation process and system with at least two ideas submitted daily and projects in all stages of innovation. Led the development of a resource prediction model using available data and A.I. Increased the predictability of the Development and Construction schedule in a pipeline of projects valued at over $500 Million.

Farmers Life Insurance:

 Director of Operational Excellence & Enterprise Lean:

Modernized company approach to business and internal communication. Built an Operational Excellence team and program, including a library of tools and training. Led a process automation team. Shrunk cycle times for Underwriting, Policy Service, Customer Care Teams, Claims, IT, Legal, and Compliance units. Instilled growth mindset throughout company culture by coaching 60% of leadership through the Lean Leader Program. Embedded Lean principles into business by shaping company vision, mission, guiding principles, and 5-year strategy. Recovered $49M and accelerated profit generation by clearing outstanding payments backlog in 3 days.

Nordstrom – Retail & Technology:

 Senior Continuous Improvement Specialist:

Empowered entry-level to executive staff to initiate change by coaching through a Continuous Improvement Roadmap. Built, taught, and refined internal programs and materials on Continuous Improvement Transformation, Coaching, and Metrics. Structured and supplied resources for Technology organization. Modernized Nordstrom technology by coaching C-suite leaders through a Continuous Improvement Roadmap. Shrunk code deployment frequency by 80% and halved cycle time for four delivery teams by tailoring the program to Tech units. 50% reduction in cycle time for the Mobile App Tech Team by deploying a Continuous Improvement System.

Philips Healthcare – Ultrasound:

 Senior Program Manager, Process Improvement

Trained and mentored employees in Lean and Six Sigma and Certified Lean courses through internal workshops. Created and tracked metrics and portfolios for large to small improvement projects. Accelerated employees’ track process by providing business-level Lean program for 2000+ employees in 7 sites globally. Avoided $2M in costs and cut $41K non-value annual hours by directing and promoting the closure of 100 projects. Shrunk Clinical Studies cycle time by 60%.

Top Skills:

• Lean Six Sigma
• Change Management
• Executive Coaching
• Project Management
• Agile
• Design Thinking
• Innovation
• Value Stream Mapping
• Strategy
• Visual Management
• Root Cause Analysis
• Problem Solving
• Data Analysis
• Metrics Development
• Time Management
• Process Design
• Capacity Analysis

Industry & Functional Experience:

• Insurance
• Pre-Clinical
• Research
• Medical Device
• Real Estate
• Technology
• Human Resources
• Service Desk
• Automation
• Finance
• Operations
• Call Centers
• R&D
• Legal
• Fraud
• Credit Union
• Construction