Meet Our Team
Debbi McCreary
Debbi McCreary is President and Founder of Summit Optimization Group (OG), LLC, a woman-owned, business process improvement company, specializing in value creation for their clients. Headquartered in Georgia, Summit OG provides national consulting services, across various industries, to organizations seeking cultural improvement, efficiency gains, revenue enhancement, and cost reductions.
Professional Profile
During her tenure in corporate leadership positions, Debbi recognized that organizations needed to become more strategic in process improvement. Also, she recognized a market opportunity where consultants can execute project deliverables while educating and working with company employees to achieve continuous process improvement skills. These skills empower employees to drive results including culture change, revenue enhancement, cost reduction, increased margin, and customer and staff satisfaction, long after the engagement has ended.
Debbi’s uniqueness in approach is the hallmark for her success. She focuses on full organizational deployments, strategy alignment, executive and employee education, sales and marketing throughput and reach, accounting and finance, customer service, including sales handoffs, simulation and modeling, including lean design for facilities, staffing, and organization process change. She utilizes her direct financial and operational experience and expertise to help her clients target and calculate financial and efficiency returns. These returns not only pay for Summit’s engagements, but the client organization realizes substantial margin gains from project work. Her approach, expertise, professionalism, and positive energy are sought by her clients, peers and staff.
Debbi has an extensive background in private equity owned companies, legal firms, healthcare, shared service, manufacturing, blood banking, treasury operations and cash management and distribution. She has held management positions in operations, treasury, financial management and process improvement in multi-billion dollar corporations, including IKON Office Solutions and HealthSouth. At HealthSouth, she led a five year reconstruction and two year restatement of financials project while designing and implementing go-forward processes that have been leveraged to other companies.
She has been a frequent guest speaker with the Association of Financial Professionals (AFP), Children’s Hospital Association (CHA), the American Association of Blood Banking (AABB), American Society of Quality (ASQ) and the America’s Blood Centers (ABC) Quality Council, colleges and technical schools and corporate events. She holds certifications as a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Six Sigma Trainer, and Certified Treasury Professional. Her affiliations include AFP, AABB, iSix Sigma, and Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). Debbi is a Board Member of the Macon, Georgia Exchange Club, Vice President of Operations for the Kellogg Executive MBA Women’s Association, CFO of LEHI Consulting, LLC, and Treasurer for her neighborhood association. She received a BA in Accounting from Georgia College and State University and has earned a certficate in Business Analytics at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. Debbi earned her Executive Master of Business Administration at Kellogg Northwestern University, in 2022.
Shawn Kaul
Shawn Kaul is a lean guru. He has more than 18 years of experience with implementing Lean throughout North America. His lean implementation experience ranges from discrete manufacturing to process industries as well as business processes including the medical and financial services sectors. Shawn possesses a wide variety of lean manufacturing skills and is very knowledgeable in all aspects of manufacturing processes from front-end to the back-end of the business. He possesses a natural ability to work seamlessly with all skill levels, from line workers to upper management. Shawn’s experience, excellent communication skills, and enthusiasm are keys to his effective and hands-on approach with your team. Prior to launching out into the professional services arena, Shawn has held positions such as Senior Consultant with TBM Consulting Group, Manufacturing Engineering Manager with Haskell High Pressure, Inc. and Continuous Improvement Manager with Telair (Teleflex Control Systems, Inc.). Shawn is an active member of the Association of Manufacturing Excellence and has published several Lean-related articles in well-known manufacturing publications.
Portfolio
- ATK Aerospace
- Halliburton
- Hayward Pool Products
- Headwaters, Inc.
- Kaiser Aluminum
- AAL Hubbell
- Millipore
- S&C Electric
- Enhanced Vision
ROI Delivered
- 20+ Million
- Semiconductors
Number of Lean Events Conducted
- 580+
Industry Experience
- Automotive
- Aerospace
- Blood Banks
- Financial Services
- Distribution
- Healthcare
- Medical Devices
- Retail
- Semiconductors
Number of Employees Trained
- 2500+
Maron Boohaker, CHC, FHFMA
An accomplished healthcare executive bringing sixteen plus years of documented progressive and successful leadership experience earned in increasingly complex multi-faceted healthcare systems and major multi-hospital environments. Well-versed in today’s changing healthcare compliance guidelines with a proven record for leveraging internal operations to advance organizational success with a commitment to policies and procedures. An energizing leader bringing the vision, initiative, innovation and interpersonal skills necessary to make a decisive impact.
Portfolio
- Grady Health System, Atlanta, Georgia – Compliance Manager
- Providence Hospital, Washington, DC – Corporate Responsibility Director
- Greystone Neurology, Birmingham, Alabama – Chief Operating Officer
- Caraway Neurology, Birmingham, Alabama – Administrator
- Apex Clinical Trials, Birmingham, Alabama – Administrator
- Medical International, Dubai, UAE – Administrator
- Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Pine Bluff, Arkansas – Chief Compliance Officer
- Walker Express, Birmingham, Alabama – Courier
- HealthSouth Corporation, Birmingham, Alabama – Compliance Audit Manager
- UAB Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama
- Hospital Compliance Manager
- Patient Financial Services Compliance Officer
- Admissions Coordinator
- Bradford Health Services, Warrior, Alabama-Patient Account Representative
- UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, Alabama – Research Assistant
- Brungart Equipment Company, Birmingham, Alabama
- Personnel/Payroll
- Payables/Receivables Clerk
- Parisian, Incorporated, Birmingham, Alabama – Sales Consultant
Education
- Master of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Bachelor of Science, Birmingham–Southern College
Teresa Tobias
Ms. Tobias’ goal is to lead teams and execute projects to successful results. This certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt has been teaching, coaching, working projects and mentoring clients since 1996. Ms. Tobias has extensive experience working with leadership to select the right projects, aligned with business goals, and assign resources to executive those projects. She also takes pride in the practical application of what she teaches by executing projects herself and leading project teams to transform their organizations.
Experience in Services
Teresa’s most recent experience has been working with SummitOG client, Texas Children’s Hospital. There, she trained and mentored Black Belts and Green belts working projects to enhance patient flow and reduce cost. Hard dollar project savings in a 13 month time frame exceeded $2.6MM annualized. Prior to this, Teresa provided Lean Six Sigma services as a consultant to the University of Oklahoma Lean Institute, George Group (now Accenture), and Six Sigma Academy, training many of these organizations clients, including the United States Postal Service, Bank of America, Marsh, Bank of New York, and Thrivent Financial. At Bank of America she trained associates in the Customer Service, Call Centers, Credit Card, and Finance divisions. She has also trained individuals/ organizations in Information Technology, Retirement Services, Insurance, and Investment Services (see organization list below).and Master Black Belts at various organizations.
Experience in Manufacturing
At AlliedSignal, Teresa worked manufacturing projects on gears, shafts, and impellers. In addition, she directly managed and mentored Black Belts working projects in plating, welding, grinding, braising, heat treat, assembly, fan balancing, fuel control testing, and engine testing. Total savings on both mentored and worked projects in excess of $19MM. After becoming a consultant, Teresa trained individuals at Delta Airlines Technical Operations group, Dupont, Johnson Controls, Abbott Laboratories, Eli Lilly, On-Semi, Sealed Air, Ecolab, and Merck. At Delta Airlines, she trained and mentored Black Belts, Green Belts, and Master Black Belts in Technical Operations with cumulative project savings in excess of $79MM over a 3 year time frame.
Education/Degrees, Professional Memberships/Certifications
Oklahoma State University
- Bachelor of Science, Industrial Engineering and Management, 1991
- Masters of Science, Industrial Engineering and Management, 1993.
- Minor, Mathematics, 1991.
Six Sigma Certifications
Six Sigma Quality Black Belt Training, 05/1995. A four month training program provided by Six Sigma Associates in conjunction with Six Sigma Academy. Certified 10/1995.
Six Sigma Master Black Belt Training, 08/1996. Twelve month training program provided by Six Sigma Associates. Certified 05/1997.
Company Listing
- AlliedSignal Aerospace
- Dupont
- Johnson Controls
- Delta Airlines
- Thermo King
- Bank of America
- Merrill Lynch
- Thrivent Financial
- Bank of New York
- Marsh
- Abbott Laboratories
- Eli Lilly
- On-Semi
- Sealed Air
- Merck
- Ecolabs
- Owens Illinois
- Safeco
- Valspar
- Army – Joint Munitions Command (JMC)
- United States Postal Service
- Texas Children’s Hospital
Ken Patterson
His extensive hands-on experience in technology includes stints as a dBASE IV programmer, Unix systems programmer, Help Desk Manager, Senior Network Engineer, Senior Systems Engineer and Senior Security Engineer. He led teams responsible for Network Infrastructure upgrades totaling over $10 million, establishing a Help Desk and the associated policies and procedures, implementing national and international payroll process changes, and the management of the national data center infrastructure for a Fortune 500 company.
Industry Experience
- Government/Military
- Financial Services
- Information Technology
Program & Project Benefits
- Completed risk assessments to provide risk mitigation as opposed to risk avoidance; thus reducing the need to purchase additional hardware or software.
- Designed and implemented a Help Desk with applicable policies and procedures to assist in prioritizing trouble calls; providing more efficient customer service.
- Designed, developed and implemented network infrastructure for 200 users to allow them to share/pass data more effectively.
- Analyzed network data captures to identify specific issues related to network latency problems and formulated fix actions for each one.
- Implemented new methods for testing the security posture of information systems while performing on-site security test and evaluation; reducing the number of hours it takes to test.
Education
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
Memberships
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA)
Ann Marie
Ann Marie is an experienced leader with demonstrated success in payroll management, project management, finance and accounting, consulting and senior management. She is experienced in accounting research and GAAP application, SOX compliance, external SEC reporting, IT implementations and upgrades, operational reporting, budgeting, financial analysis, payroll, sales, and tangible taxes, foreign subsidiary management and reporting, intercompany transactions, as well as small business set-up.
Professional experience
- Summit Hotel Management – Tax Accountant
- Huron Consulting Group — Project Consultant
- Project Consultant — Payroll Manager, Team Lead, SOX Consultant
- NDC Health Corporation — Director of Payroll, Accounting Manager, Senior Accounts Payable Manager
- Dittler Brothers — Accounting Manager/Controller
- Rollins, Inc. — Accounting Manager
Representative examples of Ann’s professional experience include:
- Sole responsibility for payroll conversion and system upgrades, as well as the implementation of automated timekeeping.
- In-House payroll processing, as well as ADP processed payroll.
- Responsible for Payroll Tax Reporting and Remittances, including Form 940, W-2s, 1099s, with strict adherence to the $100,000 rule, as well as Reporting and Remittances in a multi-state environment.
- Specific hands-on experience regarding migration to a shared-services environment including payroll, accounts payable and purchasing.
- Responsible for Payroll Accounting, including Expatriate Payroll, Vacation Liability, Stock Options, multi-state and international.
- Responsible for Relocation Reimbursement and grossing up for taxes.
- Ensured appropriate flex spending, insurance, 401k, savings, loan payments, garnishment, bond purchase, union dues, etc. deductions occurred.
- Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting, filings (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K).
- Sarbanes Oxley compliance including documentation of process flows using Visio, identified key controls at the entity and transactional levels, created test plans, performed testing, recommended remediation, performed regression testing and further remediation.
- Specific hands-on experience and accounting research related to restatement of financial statements, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, asset valuation, segment definition and reporting, leases, minority interest, joint ventures.
- GAAP research, including but not limited to FAS 52, Foreign Currency Translation; FAS 123, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation; FAS 142, Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets; FAS 144, Accounting for Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets; FAS 13, Accounting for Leases.
- Mergers and Acquisitions – due diligence, closing and implementation phases.
- Multi-national experience including payroll and payroll taxes, expatriate accounting, intercompany transactions, and foreign currency translations.
- System implementation experience, including Oracle, Lawson, PeopleSoft and QuickBooks.
- Centralized fixed assets as well as electronic timekeeping in relation to project accounting and payroll.
- Managed large teams and groups of accountants working in a high-volume transaction environment.
- Implemented metrics reporting for performance analysis.
- Experienced in cost accounting for WIP and COGS.
Education and certification
- Certified Public Accountant, CPA – GA
- Bachelor of Business Administration, Accounting – University of Georgia, GA