Kristin Baird

Kristin Baird is a nationally recognized thought leader in the patient experience and service excellence. Whether presenting a keynote to thousands or a skill-building workshop for twelve, her presentations are thought provoking and inspirational, yet extremely pragmatic. Having been in the trenches of healthcare for over thirty-five years as a nurse and hospital executive, Baird speaks the language of someone who's "been there, done that." A highly sought-after consultant, she works with individuals and groups from the frontline, medical staff, and C-suite, guiding them through culture changes with measurable results in patient satisfaction and employee engagement.

Baird began her career as a Registered Nurse with clinical experience ranging from critical care, to obstetrics, and public health. Her passion for listening to the voice of the consumer led her into healthcare marketing and business development. Already a staunch patient advocate, it was here that she found the deep-seated bond between the patient experience, loyalty, and the bottom line. During her eight years as Vice President of Business Development and Marketing for Watertown Area Health Services (now UW-Health Partners) she led an award-winning service excellence initiative.  Her initiative is chronicled in her best-selling book, Customer Service in Health Care: A grassroots approach to creating a culture of service excellence (2000, Jossey Bass).  Her grassroots model formed the foundation of the Baird Model for Service Excellence: a roadmap for culture transformation and patient experience enrichment.

As Baird's reputation in the industry grew and other hospitals and healthcare systems sought her expertise, Baird left Watertown to launch her own consulting firm, which has provided culture service excellence and training servicesto hundreds of healthcare organizations nationally. Now President and CEO of the Baird Group, she leads a team of skilled professionals who help transform culture and shape the patient experience.

Highlights of Baird's career include:

• Authored Customer Service in Healthcare: A grassroots approach to creating a culture of service excellence
• Developed the Baird Model for Service Excellence: a roadmap for culture transformation
• Authored Reclaiming the Passion: Stories that celebrate the essence of nursing
• Authored Raising the Bar on Service Excellence: The healthcare leaders guide to putting passion into practice
• Appointed by Secretary of Health to serve as an advisor for the National Health Service Corps
• Developed mystery shopping methodology to help healthcare clients understand the patient experience from an insider's perspective
• Received the Award of Professional Excellence from the Wisconsin Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society
• Authored You Make the Call: Healthcare's mandate for post-discharge follow up (to be released as an e-book soon!)
• Selected by Case Western's Weatherhead School of Management to develop a full-day customer service workshop for healthcare leaders