Kathy Oswald
Co-Founder and Principal
Kathy is the Chief Executive Officer for Co-Founder and Principal of the Center for Physician Leadership Excellence. In addition to Kathy’s role with CPLE, she also serves as Chief Administrative Officer of H2O Energy, a family-owned business. Kathy has over 40 years’ experience in Human Resources, and her career spans a variety of industries including healthcare, manufacturing, global automotive, information technology staffing and services, and organizational consulting and she has worked in both for-profit and not-for profit sectors. Her most recent position was as the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Henry Ford Health System. Kathy is also certified as an ACC Coach with the International Coaching Federation.
Kathy began her career as a secretary at the Chrysler Corporation in 1972. During her 28 years with Chrysler, she grew to become Chrysler’s top female executive before retiring in 2000. At the time of her retirement, Kathy was DaimlerChrysler’s Chief Administrative Officer responsible for Human Resources, Labor Relations, Community Relations, Public Relations and Communications.
Following her career at Chrysler, Kathy joined Right Management as President, Great Lakes Region. While at Right she was responsible for all operations of their offices in the Great Lakes region including Southfield, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Toledo. Her key roles included leading their Organizational Consulting, Key Executive and Business Development activities, as well as growing their customer base. During her tenure at Right Great Lakes, she led them to year-after-year records for growth and profit.
In July 2008, Kathy joined Henry Ford Health System as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. In this position she was responsible for all aspects of Human Resources for over 30,000 employees and over 1,200 employed physicians; including succession planning, leadership and physician development, performance management, talent selection, credentialing, employee/physician engagement; compensation, pensions, benefits, health engagement, employee safety; diversity, security and employee relations.
Kathy earned both her Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Personnel Management from Central Michigan University. She has also completed Duke University’s Advanced Management Program as well as the University of Michigan’s Advanced Human Resources Executive Program. She is certified by the Coach Academy International and in the Birkman and the Hay Group Emotional Intelligence Assessment. Throughout her career, Kathy has received numerous awards and recognition for her professional achievements. She was featured in Human Resources World’s “Top 50 HR Executives in the World” (2000); Automotive News’ “100 Leading Women in North America’s Auto Industry” (2000); Crain’s Detroit Business’ “Top 100 Women in Michigan” (1997) and “100 Most Influential Women” (2007); and American Society of Employers Michigan Human Resources Executive of the Year (2011).